POT PAIN-KILLER UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR BRITONS

LONDON - Britons suffering from multiple sclerosis and other forms of
severe pain could legally be prescribed cannabis-based drugs within two
years, health chiefs said on Monday.

Sufferers from diseases such as MS, which attacks the central nervous
system, have been calling for a pain-relieving cannabis medicine for years
and many have broken the law by buying the drug from street dealers.

The government is studying its use as a painkiller, a move likely to
reignite debate over relaxing Britain's drug laws.

Canada became the first country to legalize the use of marijuana as a
treatment for chronic illnesses last year.

Trials have been set up in Britain to assess the use of cannabis in
multiple sclerosis and post-operative pain, Health Minister Lord Hunt said.

Britain's government-funded Medical Research Council is testing
cannabis-based tablets on hundreds of MS sufferers.

The results of those tests, expected at the end of 2002, will be forwarded
to NICE, Britain's medical watchdog, which will decide whether the cannabis
tablets should be offered on prescription through the National Health Service.

"A decision whether one or more of these products will be licensed for
official medical use is likely in 2004/5," the Department of Health said in
a statement.

Hunt warned against linking the medicinal use of cannabis to its
recreational use.

Britain has relaxed its stance on marijuana, saying users caught with small
quantities of the drug for personal use will escape with a police caution
rather than a fine or jail term.

Cannabis is favored by many MS or cancer sufferers, who say it kills pain
and stimulates appetite without the corrosive side effects of many
prescription alternatives.

A British company, GW Pharmaceuticals, is developing cannabis-based
prescription medicines. It recently said it would expand clinical trials
into dealing with cancer pain.

Dr. Geoffrey Guy, executive chairman of GW, said: "This is a positive move
by the government."

The Multiple Sclerosis Society, the United Kingdom's largest charity for
the 85,000 British people affected by the crippling disorder, said it
welcomed any new, safe treatments.

"Anecdotal evidence tells us that existing drugs are not effective in
dealing with their symptoms and they do get benefit from using cannabis,"
said a spokesman for the society.

Cannabis was outlawed in Britain in 1928 and possession and supply remain
illegal.