PAIN PATIENTS GREET CANNABIS NEWS WITH RELIEF

LONDON - Chronic pain sufferers expressed their relief on Monday at news
that British doctors could soon be allowed to prescribe cannabis-based
drugs on the National Health Service.

Cannabis is illegal in Britain but many of the thousands of people in
Britain afflicted by chronic pain already use the drug to make it through
the day.

"It's very good news. Cannabis is a must," said Beverly Lowe, who suffers
from the wasting disease multiple sclerosis (MS) and is taking cannabis in
trials conducted by drug company GW Pharmaceuticals.

"It's been marvellous. It controls the pain and I can start living a normal
life again...There is no comparison with other pain killers," Lowe told
Reuters.

Pauline, 50, a social worker and MS sufferer, started taking cannabis in
January 2001 -- also as part of a trial -- after debilitating bladder
problems left her afraid to leave the house.

"Before the trial I needed to empty my bladder 17-20 times every 24 hours,"
she said in a letter to the Medicinal Cannabis Research Foundation. "Taking
cannabis, my bladder functioning has vastly improved...It doesn't rule my
life so much."

Doug, a lecturer, turned to cannabis after 20 years of MS with little
relief from other painkillers.

"I have watched so many do-gooders on television say that making cannabis
legal will open the floodgates for people to take more dangerous drugs.
Rubbish," he said.

"I don't want to take any other drug and do not find cannabis addictive.
Without it my life would be pure hell."

Willy Notcutt, a doctor specialising in chronic pain and its treatment with
cannabis, said between 10 to 15 percent of his patients "smoke a little
weed" to make it through the day.

But Notcutt dismisses claims cannabis is a miracle drug.

"It's not a cure-all," he said. "Morphine purification first happened in
1806 and we're still doing research today. We only launched cannabis
purification two or three years ago. We've still a long way to go."