EXPERTS TIP CANNABIS PILL, SPRAY

CANNABIS for medicinal use could be administered via Ventolin-like
inhalers, under-the-tongue sprays or dissoluble tablets, medical experts
said yesterday.

NSW Premier Bob Carr, who on Tuesday announced plans for a four-year trial
to allow cannabis to be used by patients suffering chronic pain, said
British company G.W. Pharmaceuticals was working on a number of delivery
technologies.

The company's website said that while smoking cannabis was an effective
method of relieving pain, it did not consider it appropriate for medically
prescribed cannabis because of the damage it caused to the bronchial tract.

The WA Government says it will monitor the NSW trial before it decides
whether to hold a similar trial.

Greens MLC Christine Sharp called on the State Government yesterday to
follow NSW's lead.

Mr Carr denied that the trial, the first in Australia, was the thin edge of
the wedge towards decriminalisation.

An education campaign targetting the illegal use of drugs would coincide
with the trial's start later this year.

Australian Medical Association NSW president Choong Siew Yong welcomed Mr
Carr's announcement, saying the association had been calling for such a
trial since 1999.

Dr Yong said more research was needed on potential negative
side-effects. Long-term cannabis use had been linked to psychiatric
problems such as psychosis and depression.

Federal Education and Science Minister Brendan Nelson said the NSW trial
was baased on the false assumption that there were no other effective
registered alternatives to treat chronic pain.

Dr Nelson, a former AMA president, said there were effective treatments for
people suffering painful, life-threatening diseases.

Federal Opposition health spokesman and MHR for Perth Stephen Smith said
cannabis had the potential to greatly improve the lives of cancer and AIDS
patients. "On that basis I think that the trial that the Premier in NSW
has proposed is a sensible thing to do," he said.

Sydney medical researcher Professor Laurie Mather said an Australian
invention, which he described as "a kind of electronic bong", could deliver
a controlled quantity of dense aerosol fog containing cannabis.

Professor Mather said it would be as effective as smoking cannabis, without
the associated cancer risks.