CANNABIS ON PATIENT TRIAL

CANNABIS Is To Be Tested As A Painkiller On Patients Recovering From Surgery At
The Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

The Maelor will be one of 36 hospitals across the UK - and the only one in
Wales - to pilot the UKP 500,000 scheme, which will see cannabis used as
treatment for patients who have undergone operations.

One of two extracts from the plant will be given to some volunteers, while
others will get normal pain relief drugs or a placebo.

Some patients will receive a capsule containing standardised cannabis extract
or a capsule containing tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in
cannabis.

The trial, which is being organised by the Medical Research Council (MRC), is
looking to recruit 400 surgical patients from participating hospitals to take
part in the pilot, and the Maelor hopes to receive approval from the Ethics
Committee by September.

A Maelor Hospital spokeswoman said: 'Dr David Counsell, a consultant
anaesthetist at the hospital, is interested in leading the cannabis trials.'

Cannabis use is currently illegal in the UK but campaigners have long fought to
decriminalise the drug.

Medical experts also claim that evidence suggests cannabis can be an effective
pain reliever.

An MRC spokesman said: 'If found to be effective and without adverse side
effects, it could provide another pain relief option to donors and patients.

'There is already some anecdotal evidence that suggests cannabis could be
effective at relieving pain for a variety of debilitating conditions.'

The spokesman added: 'Pain relief side effects will be assessed over a six-hour
period.

'Patients will be asked by a researcher to respond to questions about their
pain and general feelings, such as sickness, every half to one hour while they
are awake.'

Last year, a small trial involving 34 British patients with multiple sclerosis,
spinal cord injuries and other conditions causing severe pain found that using
cannabis-based treat-ments reduced their pain and helped them to sleep more
soundly.

However, campaigner Biz Ivol has accused the NHS of 'delaying tactics',
claiming that clinical trials into cannabis have been conducted in hospitals
for the past 30 years.

Ms Ivol, a wheelchair-bound Multiple Sclerosis (MS) sufferer, said: 'It just
feels like another delaying tactic, saying they have got to do clinical trials.

'They have done these clinical trials over and over again and it seems that
every successive government uses the excuse that you have got to wait for
clinical trial results.

'They must realise that there are thousands of people with loads of different
illnesses right throughout Britain using cannabis for pain relief. Why don't
they just ask them?

'I don't see why people can't just grow the plant and use it as they want it.'