CANNABIS ON NHS 'BY 2004'

Advocates say cannabis could be a source of treatments The National Health
Service (NHS) could be prescribing pain-relieving drugs derived from
cannabis within two years, the Department of Health (DoH) has announced.

Hundreds of UK sufferers from multiple sclerosis are already being treated
with cannabis-based medicines in clinical trials funded by the Medical
Research Council.

Ministers have promised to recommend that the Medicines Control Agency
licenses the treatments if the success of earlier experiments is repeated.

Now the DoH is asking the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE)
to investigate whether the NHS could make the drugs available on prescription.

Guidance

The results of the Medical Research Council's trials are expected by the
end of the year and will be used by NICE in carrying out its appraisal of
the drugs.

A decision on whether any of the cannabis derivatives being tested will be
licensed for official medical use is thought "likely" some time in 2004 or
2005.

The department says the NHS would need "timely and clear guidance" from
NICE on the cost-effectiveness of the treatments and which patients would
benefit most.

Health Minister Lord Hunt said: "If these pharmaceuticals are licensed for
medical use, it is of critical importance that NICE guidance is in place
for the clinicians who will have to make decisions about their use."

Drug companies have isolated the active ingredients in cannabis and made
them available in the form of a pill or a spray.

Neither gives a "high" - but some patients say the pills make them nauseous.