EXPERTS BACK MEDICAL MARIJUANA TRIAL

People who expressed outrage at a planned trial of marijuana for medicinal
purposes should think of the victims of chronic disease before condemning
the idea, medical experts said today.

Support for the NSW trial came as pain management authorities put forward
an "electronic bong" device capable of administering a controlled amount of
cannabis without the harmful effects of smoking.

Professors, doctors and researchers today threw their weight behind the NSW
government's move to provide the chronically ill with prescription cannabis
where appropriate.

They played down concerns controlled marijuana use in such cases would lead
to addiction or mental illness.

Cannabis dependency was much less of a threat than addiction to other
prescribed pain relievers such as morphine, and those at risk of diseases
such as schizophrenia would be ruled out of contention for the trial.

Instead of scaremongering, those concerned about the trial should consider
the suffering it would alleviate, NSW Cancer Council chief Andrew Penman said.

"I would say to them, think of the patient at the end of the issue," he
told reporters.

"I would say to those people, get off your soapbox and think about the person."

Pain management experts from Royal North Shore Hospital and Sydney
University said health concerns about smoking the drug could be overcome by
using a device that gave the user a concentrated aerosol spray.

"A kind of electronic bong," is how anaesthesia and analgesia researcher
Professor Laurie Mather described it.

"That would be absolutely perfect for doing this."

The device would be activated by the user inhaling and deliver a controlled
quantity of dense aerosol fog containing cannabis, as effective as smoking
but with no cancer risks and more powerful than eating the drug.

The instrument also had the advantage of being an Australian innovation,
Professor Mather said.