EU NATIONS EYE NETHERLANDS MOVE TO SELL CANNABIS

The move by Netherlands this week to start selling cannabis as a
prescription drug to seriously ill patients is being closely watched by
other European countries.

The UK, Belgium and Luxembourg were particularly interested to see how the
Netherlands fares as the first country in the world to sell the drug on
prescription, the Dutch health ministry said.

The Dutch move is the latest pioneering social reform in a country which
was first to legalise euthanasia and where cannabis, although illegal, is
widely available in licensed coffee shops.

Two government-contracted suppliers yesterday began transporting the drug
to several hundred pharmacies across the country, where it will be
available to patients, in five gram pots or packets, by the end of the week.

Its use will be permitted for the relief of symptoms related to the
treatment of terminal cancer, Aids and HIV, and for patients with multiple
sclerosis or Tourette's syndrome. The health ministry expects the drug to
be initially available to between 4,000 and 7,000 patients, rising to
15,000 in a year.

First used as a Chinese herbal remedy 5,000 years ago, the Dutch began
studying the benefits of cannabis in 2000, and - with parliamentary
approval - quickly took a first legal step to legitimising its medical use
by establishing an Office of Medicinal Cannabis.

Dutch medical experts monitored research and patient experience before
approving the drug's use only as a last resort and for illnesses where
scientific studies showed benefits.

The move also reflected the fact that many chronically sick people were
already known to be using cannabis for pain relief, either buying it in
coffee shops or receiving it illegally from doctors and chemists, the
health ministry said.

"It was ridiculous that people were using this drug while no doctor was
permitted to prescribe it, despite the fact that scientific studies showed
benefits," a Dutch health ministry official said.

Health experts were also concerned to regulate the strength of the drug,
which varies widely when supplied through illegal channels. "This is a
safer method, because the quality is assured, and it will allow doctors to
better monitor patient response," said the official.

Dutch health experts recommend that the drug is taken only via an inhaler
or mixed in tea.

The move has raised few eyebrows in the Netherlands. Indeed what criticism
there has been relates as much to price as to medical or legal worries.
Cannabis will cost more in a chemist than in a coffee shop.

That, said the ministry, reflected higher quality and 6 per cent VAT.