Cannabis as Medicine

It is a strange irony that after decades of declaring that cannabis is medically ineffective, drug agencies are now enthusiastically backing the synthetic (but more expensive) alternatives, by arguing that they are equally as effective.

They are taken in tablet form, and do not produce the rapid-onset high that cannabis does when smoked, although they may cause euphoria, or 'thinking difficulties' according to manufacturers.

Unfortunately, tablets provide patients with little control over dosage. When cannabis is inhaled, it works so quickly that once the effects are felt, people simply stop smoking. However, all control is lost once a tablet is swallowed, and as oral THC takes so long to work, patients may take a second dose. It is perhaps for this reason that people using these substitutes are believed by some to experience more adverse psychological effects that when using cannabis.
More information is available at http://www.marinol.com

Nabilone is available for prescription-only hospital use in the UK as an anti-nausea drug for chemotherapy patients who are unresponsive to other treatment. Dronabinol (Marinol) is available in the UK but only on a 'named-patient basis' (which involves complex administration). It may be used as an anti-nausea medicine or as an appetite-stimulant for people with AIDS. Marinol users are advised to avoid alcohol as the two can interact with dangerous consequences.

In the UK, a recent recommendation by the Select Committee on Science and Technology that doctors should be permitted to prescribe an appropriate preparation of cannabis if they saw fit (albeit as an unlicensed medicine and on a named-patient basis) was rejected by the Government. In 1997 The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Workshop on Medical Marijuana, stated "Marijuana looks promising enough to recommend that there be new controlled studies done."

The Medical Research Council recently authorised grants totalling over £1.5 million involving two new trials:

(i) Dr. Zajicek, a neurologist at Derriford Hospital is conducting a three-year study to assess the efficacy of cannabis extract and THC in the treatment of spasticity in people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis.

(ii) Dr. Holdcroft at Hammersmith Hospital is conducting a two-year study to assess the efficacy of cannabis extract and THC as post-operative analgesics (painkillers).

The UK company GW Pharmaceuticals Ltd has also been granted Home Office licenses to cultivate, possess and supply cannabis for research purposes.