DEPARTMENT 'WOULD CONSIDER' TRIALS ON CANNABIS

The Department of Health said yesterday it would consider any proposal from
a pharmaceutical company wanting to carry out trials on drugs containing
cannabis compounds which would be solely for therapeutic use. The trials
would have to be given the go ahead by the Irish Medicines Board which
would look after the patient's welfare, said a spokesman.

Fine Gael spokesman on health, Gay Mitchell, yesterday said cannabis-based
drugs should be made available as medication.

Mr Mitchell pointed to the decision of the Department of Health in Britain
to carry out trials on cannabinoids in Multiple Sclerosis patients and in
patients suffering from post operative pain.

Doctors in Britain believe they may be actually prescribing these drugs by
2004, provided the trials prove successful.

The UK firm GW Pharmaceuticals said it was hopeful that the first
cannabis-based drugs would be available on prescription by that date.

GW, which floated on the London stock exchange in June, is the only company
to legally develop and produce cannabis-derived drugs.

It reports that research is progressing well, with clinical trials showing
patients benefiting. The drug is now expected to enter the final Phase III
testing.

Executive chairman, Dr Geoffrey Guy, said that GW occupies a lead position
worldwide and is uniquely placed to become the first company in the world
to achieve regulatory approval for prescription cannabis-based medicines.