CANNABIS-BASED SPRAY APPROVED FOR MS

People with multiple sclerosis who suffer from neuropathic pain will soon
have a new relief option available with Health Canada's recent approval of
a cannabis-based mouth spray.

Sativex was developed by GW Pharmaceuticals and is marketed in Canada by
pharmaceutical giant Bayer.

Canada is the first country in the world to approve the drug.

Halifax radio personality Shawna MacKinnon hasn't experienced severe
neuropathic pain since around the time she was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis seven years ago.

But she remembers it vividly.

"It comes to the point you don't want to put any clothing on because it
hurts," she said in a recent interview. "I was itchy. I wanted to scratch
right down to the bone."

Ms. MacKinnon, 41, has a relapsing/remitting form of MS. The disease
attacks the protective myelin covering of the central nervous system,
causing inflammation and often destroying the myelin in patches. That can
interfere with nerve pathways and cause muscular weakness, loss of
co-ordination, and speech and visual disturbances.

She had neuropathic pain, which can also include tingling, burning or
numbness, for about two weeks.

"Some people live with this for weeks and months," she said.

Ms. MacKinnon was pleased to see Sativex hit the market.

"I don't need it at this point in time but you damn well better believe if
I have that again, I'm getting it," she said.

It's estimated that about half of the 50,000 Canadians living with MS
suffer from chronic neuropathic pain.

While there is no cure for the pain caused by the disease, a double-blind
study - in which neither participants nor the researchers knew who was
getting which treatment - showed Sativex provided "significantly" greater
pain relief than a placebo, a GW Pharmaceuticals release said.

The companies describe the product as a whole plant medicinal cannabis
extract containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and cannabidiol as its
principal components.

The companies said Sativex is expected to be available through pharmacies
by late spring.

Dr. Jock Murray, a neurologist at Dalhousie University's MS research unit,
said Sativex will allow patients to vary their dosage.

"They can use it as little or as much as is required," he said. "One of the
major advantages of this method is that they can control side-effects as well."

Side-effects can include nausea, fatigue, dizziness and application site
reactions but users can adjust the strength of the spray.

He said the drug doesn't have the mind-altering effects of smoked
marijuana, which has also been used to combat neuropathic pain.

"You're not going to use this stuff to get high," Dr. Murray said. "If you
smoke marijuana, you can't control the dose and you can't easily control
the side-effects."

He said Sativex can also help patients sleep and when they're more rested
they feel better and they can tolerate their symptoms and problems better.

Both he and Ms. MacKinnon praised Health Canada for approving the drug
despite controversy over the medical use of marijuana.

"The fact that Health Canada is going forward with something this quickly
indicates that they're listening to people," Ms. MacKinnon said. "They're
listening to what the doctors and the patients themselves are saying about
certain drugs."