Filed under: Hemp&Law, HempTherapy, hemp in general | Tags: cannabis, ganja, hashish, hemp, marijuana, medical cannabis, medical marijuana, medical research, Michigan, pot, skunk, therapeutic use, weed
Michigan — Support appears to be deep and widespread for a measure on the Nov. 4 ballot that would allow for the medical use of marijuana in Michigan.
If approved, cancer chemotherapy patients suffering from nausea and vomiting would be able to use marijuana to ease those symptoms. Other patients who might seek this treatment would be those with HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma.
Former state lawmaker Dianne Byrum said a recent poll showed 67 percent of voters statewide support the ballot measure.
“I think it speaks to the compassion that this proposal is about,” said Byrum, spokeswoman for the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care. The organization obtained 500,000 voters signatures to get it on the November ballot.
Currently, five Michigan communities — Ann Arbor, Flint, Traverse City, Ferndale and Detroit — have local ordinances that allow for medical marijuana use. There are 12 states in the United States which permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
“There have been no law enforcement issues on it,” Byrum said, referring to the five Michigan communities.
Under the proposal, a physician would need to approve marijuana use for a patient with a debilitating medical condition.
Byrum said patients would receive an identification card. She also said they would only have protected use in their home and could not smoke it in public places.
The measure would only permit limited quantities for private use.
Organizers do not have figures on how many patients might seek this approach, but it’s been estimated to be between 10,000 to 35,000 in the state.
Byrum said physicians would remain an essential part of the treatment process.
“This is an option that they would be able to use when other medicines aren’t working,” she said.
Byrum said there is a pill that contains a synthetic form of one of marijuana’s 66 compounds that can be prescribed.
However, she said, a pill isn’t going to work for patients with severe vomiting because they can’t keep it down.
Byrum said certain medicines and treatments work for some people and not others.
“It’s just saying this could be a treatment option that your doctor would recommend to you,” Byrum said.
Source: Livingston Daily
Filed under: Hemp&Law, HempTherapy, hemp in general | Tags: California, cannabis, ganja, hashish, hemp, marijuana, medical cannabis, medical marijuana, medical research, pot, Santa Cruz, skunk, WAMM, WAMM Festival, weed
Santa Cruz, CA — Thousands of medicinal marijuana patients and supporters attended WAMMfest to celebrate and learn about the herbal medicine Saturday.
Though medical marijuana patients were able to smoke their medicine at the event that featured music, crafts and speeches, that portion of the festivities was in question until this week. After failing to muster the votes to lift the city smoking ban in parks in a prior meeting, the council Tuesday agreed to do so. Only those with a medical marijuana identification card were allowed to smoke in a specially-designated tent Saturday.
Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana co-founder Valerie Corral said the event is an opportunity to normalize the use of medicinal marijuana and bring its members’ stories to the public eye.
“Almost 200 of our members have died in the past 15 years since our inception,” said Corral. “We do this work for a lot of reasons and for all aspects of illness. We get to be with people at the most important time in their lives when they are facing death. We are here to take care of each other and to be by their bedside and it takes you to places you can’t even imagine.”
WAMM is a collective of patients and caregivers that offers free medical marijuana to seriously ill patients with a doctor’s recommendation and aims to, provide hope and build community.
Santa Cruz police reported that there were no problems during the event, and that the festival provided its own security.
Organizers began setting up the celebration of the herbal drug at 6 a.m. Saturday and said by the end of the day they expected to see 2,500 visitors.
Colorful tents filled San Lorenzo Park with vendors offering a range of organic hemp soaps from Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps to bright tie-dye shirts and jewelry. Plastic marijuana leaf tiaras were also for sale in addition to sunglasses and hemp bags.
Councilman Tony Madrigal, who spoke at the event, said he was happy the council was able find a compromise that allowed patients to use their medication in a controlled, confined and secure area, while still taking part in a community event.
“This is an example of the community working together with the local government to find a solution for many of the problems the city faces,” Madrigal said. “People are loyal to WAMM and come to celebrate the good work that WAMM does.”
A newly expanded children’s area was moved to the front of the park to invite members of the community to the family friendly event said WAMM member Babianna Mince.
“It’s a family affair here. My husband is working security and I am in charge of the kids area,” Mince said. “We have had about 20 kids come by since noon, which is more than we have ever had.”
A survivor of uterine, bone and breast cancer, Mince said that being a medicinal marijuana patient has allowed her to participate in events such as the festival and get through 40 surgeries within the past five years.
“I feel like after that I can get through anything,” Mince said.
A small memorial for WAMM members who have died was set up by the medicinal marijuana tent, featuring their names and faces.
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel
Filed under: Hemp&Law, HempTherapy, hemp in general | Tags: cannabis, ganja, hashish, hemp, law enforcement, marijuana, medical cannabis, medical marijuana, medical research, medicine, Michigan, pot, research, skunk, stem cell, weed
Michigan — A majority of Michiganians is inclined to legalize marijuana for sick people, but a second statewide ballot proposal to relax restrictions on stem cell research in Michigan is a closer contest — and the advertising blitz has just begun on that measure.
The latest Detroit News-WXYZ Action News poll found that the voters, by a 59-37 margin, favor the ballot proposal to allow terminally and seriously ill people to legally use marijuana if a doctor certified the drug could ease their suffering.
The statewide poll was conducted for The News, WXYZ and three outstate television stations from Saturday to Monday by Lansing’s EPIC-MRA. It showed that the biggest backers were women (63 percent support), Metro Detroiters (60 percent) and Democrats (68 percent). Among men, the proposal garnered 51 percent support and 49 percent of Republicans favored it.
If Proposal 1 is approved by voters in November, Michigan would become the 13th state to legalize medical marijuana. Supporters estimate that as many as 50,000 Michigan residents would legally qualify for medical marijuana to treat a host of “debilitating” medical problems such as cancer, HIV /AIDS, hepatitis C, Alzheimer’s disease, Crohn’s disease and chronic diseases or their treatments that produce wasting syndrome, severe pain, sever nausea, seizures or muscle spasms, such as those caused by multiple sclerosis.
“I’m all for it,” said poll participant Jeff Bergel, a 52-year-old wholesale representative and father of two from Walled Lake.
“I lost a brother-in-law to brain cancer last year and I think marijuana could have helped make his more comfortable. My dad has glaucoma and I understand it could help him as well.”
On the controversial issue of stem cells, poll respondents, by a 50-32 margin, favor amending the state Constitution to allow scientists to derive embryonic stem cells from human embryos for medical research. Support among women is 57 percent compared to 42 percent among men. Support is 56 percent in Metro Detroit, but 45 percent among voters in the rest of the state.
Michigan has one of the nation’s most restrictive laws on stem cell research; a scientist here who uses new human embryos for stem cell research can face a $10 million fine and up to 10 years in prison.
Supporters of embryonic stem cell research say research could lead to better therapies and possible cures for a host of diseases and injuries such as cancer, Parkinson’s, juvenile diabetes and spinal cord injuries. Opponents — including political heavy hitters Right to Life of Michigan and the Michigan Catholic Conference — say research on human embryos is morally wrong because it destroys life. Critics of the measure also say its adoption could lead to human cloning, although the proposal doesn’t seek to change state law that already bans cloning.
“I’ve thought about it a lot and I think stem cell research would be all right,” said Regina Gerling, a grandmother from Muskegon who took part in the poll.
“I’m a diabetic, so I wish they would find new cures.”Law enforcement groups are near unanimous in their opposition to medical marijuana, saying it’s part of a broader agenda to legalize marijuana for everyone. But there doesn’t appear to be any group ready to spend money on an ad campaign to defeat the measure.
Michael Opland, a 64-year-old father of three from Harrison Township, said he supports medical marijuana, although he believes a lot of people would get the marijuana even though their medical conditions wouldn’t warrant it.
“A certain number of people would probably take advantage of the law,” he said. “But it’s worth it to get marijuana to people who really need it.”
The stem cell campaign is likely to get red-hot in the coming weeks. Opponents of the proposal started running TV commercials this week, suggesting that Michigan taxpayers would shell out hundreds of millions of dollars for the research. The opposition group, Michigan Citizens Against Unrestricted Science and Experimentation, filed a financial statement with the state on Thursday, showing it has rose about $595,000 — including $500,000 from the Catholic Conference — and had $233,000 on hand as of Sept. 18.
Supporters of stem cell research have not yet launched an ad campaign, although they are expected to shortly. They say the ballot proposal doesn’t direct a dime of state money to research.
Judith Maser, a retired clothing buyer from Novi, was originally opposed to stem cell research.
“Now I believe stem cell research could help a lot of people,” she said. “I think medicine has gotten so advanced that this is the future for our young people.”
Source: http://www.detnews.com/
Filed under: HempTherapy, hemp in general | Tags: cannabis, ganja, hashish, hemp, marijuana, medical cannabis, medical marijuana, medical research, Pharma, pot, weed
SA — The US government’s longstanding denial of medical marijuana research and use is an irrational and morally bankrupt public policy. On this point, few Americans disagree. As for the question of “why” federal officials maintain this inflexible and inhumane policy, well that’s another story.
One of the more popular theories seeking to explain the Feds’ seemingly inexplicable ban on medical pot goes like this: Neither the US government nor the pharmaceutical industry will allow for the use of medical marijuana because they can’t patent it or profit from it.
It’s an appealing theory, yet I’ve found it to be neither accurate nor persuasive. Here’s why.
First, let me state the obvious. Big Pharma is busily applying for — and has already received — multiple patents for the medical properties of pot. These include patents for synthetic pot derivatives (such as the oral THC pill Marinol), cannabinoid agonists (synthetic agents that bind to the brain’s endocannabinoid receptors) like HU-210 and cannabis antagonists such as Rimonabant. This trend was most recently summarized in the NIH paper (pdf), “The endocannabinoid system as an emerging target of pharmacotherapy,” which concluded, “The growing interest in the underlying science has been matched by a growth in the number of cannabinoid drugs in pharmaceutical development from two in 1995 to 27 in 2004.” In other words, at the same time the American Medical Association is proclaiming that pot has no medical value, Big Pharma is in a frenzy to bring dozens of new, cannabis-based medicines to market.
Not all of these medicines will be synthetic pills either. Most notably, GW Pharmaceutical’s oral marijuana spray, Sativex, is a patented standardized dose of natural cannabis extracts. (The extracts, primarily THC and the non-psychoactive, anxiolytic compound CBD, are taken directly from marijuana plants grown at an undisclosed, company warehouse.)
Does Big Pharma’s sudden and growing interest in the research and development of pot-based medicines mean that the industry is proactively supporting marijuana prohibition? Not if they know what’s good for them. Let me explain.
First, any and all cannabis-based medicines must be granted approval from federal regulatory bodies such as the US Food and Drug Administration — a process that remains as much based on politics as it is on scientific merit. Chances are that a government that is unreasonably hostile toward the marijuana plant will also be unreasonably hostile toward sanctioning cannabis-based pharmaceuticals.
A recent example of this may be found in the Medicine and Health Products Regulatory Agency’s recent denial of Sativex as a prescription drug in the United Kingdom. (Sativex’s parent company, GW Pharmaceuticals, is based in London.) In recent years, British politicians have taken an atypically hard-line against the recreational use of marijuana — culminating in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s declaration that today’s pot is now of “lethal quality.” (Shortly thereafter, Parliament elected to stiffen criminal penalties on the possession of the drug from a verbal warning to up to five years in jail.) In such an environment is it any wonder that British regulators have steadfastly refused to legalize a pot-based medicine, even one with an impeccable safety record like Sativex? Conversely, Canadian health regulators — who take a much more liberal view toward the use of natural cannabis and oversee its distribution to authorized patients — recently approved Sativex as a prescription drug.
Of course, gaining regulatory approval is only half the battle. The real hurdle for Big Pharma is finding customers for its product. Here again, a culture that is familiar with and educated to the use therapeutic cannabis is likely going to be far more open to the use of pot-based medicines than a population still stuck in the grip of “Reefer Madness.”
Will those patients who already have first-hand experience with the use of medical pot switch to a cannabis-based pharmaceutical if one becomes legally available? Maybe not, but these individuals comprise only a fraction of the US population. Certainly many others will — including many older patients who would never the desire to try or the access to obtain natural cannabis. Bottom line: regardless of whether pot is legal or not, cannabis-based pharmaceuticals will no doubt have a broad appeal.
But wouldn’t the legal availability of pot encourage patients to use fewer pharmaceuticals overall? Perhaps, though likely not to any degree that adversely impacts Big Pharma’s bottom line. Certainly most individuals in the Netherlands, Canada, and in California — three regions where medical pot is both legal and easily accessible on the open market — use prescription drugs, not cannabis for their ailments. Further, despite the availability of numerous legal healing herbs and traditional medicines such as Echinacea, Witch Hazel, and Eastern hemlock most Americans continue to turn to pharmaceutical preparations as their remedies of choice.
Should the advent of legal, alternative pot-based medicines ever warrant or justify the criminalization of patients who find superior relief from natural cannabis? Certainly not. But, as the private sector continues to move forward with research into the safety and efficacy of marijuana-based pharmaceuticals, it will become harder and harder for the government and law enforcement to maintain their absurd and illogical policy of total pot prohibition.
Of course, were it not for advocates having worked for four decades to legalize medical cannabis, it’s unlikely that anyone — most especially the pharmaceutical industry — would be turning their attention toward the development and marketing of cannabis-based therapeutics. That said, I won’t be holding my breath waiting for any royalty checks.
Oh yeah, and as for those who claim that the US government can’t patent medical pot, check out the assignee for US Patent #6630507.
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6630507/fulltext.html
Note: While the the American Medical Association claims pot has no medical value, Big Pharma is busy getting patents for marijuana products.
Complete Title: Big Pharma Is in a Frenzy To Bring Cannabis-Based Medicines To Market
Paul Armentano is the senior policy analyst for the NORML Foundation in Washington, DC.
Source: AlterNet (US)
Website: http://www.alternet.org/
22 Mar 2008
Cowichan News Leader
Since the current incarnation of Canada’s medical marijuana program was established, doctors have been forced by Health Canada to act as sentinels for a product whose complexities, methods of delivery and side effects they have little firsthand information.
It’s a situation that leaves many physicians hesitant to sign their names to the documents required for patients to access government pot.
“Our No. 1 complaint is that patients can’t find a doctor who will endorse their MMAD application,” says Eric Nash of Duncan’s Island Harvest.
However, physicians’ reluctance often has more to do with the bureaucratic reach of Health Canada than it does with their own personal misgivings about prescribing a drug that remains in legal limbo.
The Canadian Medical Association is slowly coming around to recognizing the valuable role medical cannabis can play in helping users achieve a higher quality of life.
But as recently as 2003 then-CMA president Dana Hanson said, “physicians should not be the gatekeeper for a substance for which we do not have adequate scientific proof of safety or efficacy.”
Observers say the CMA’s regularly parroted line rings hollow when general practitioners regularly prescribe drugs with little more knowledge than what they were told by representatives of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.
The Canadian Medical Protective Association, the organization that insures 95 per cent of Canada’s physicians, continues to issue its doctors a release from liability form that protects them from legal action relating to a clients’ use of medical marijuana.
No such special form is required when prescribing addictive and dangerous drugs like Valium and codeine.
South of the border-where the “war on drugs” drags on-the 124,000-member American College of Physicians released a January 2008 position paper that supports comprehensive research into the therapeutic uses of medical marijuana.
It concludes: “Evidence not only supports the use of medical marijuana in certain conditions but also suggests numerous indications for cannabinoids. Additional research is needed to further clarify the therapeutic value of cannabinoids and determine optimal routes of administration.”
In Canada, new government research on the therapeutic value of medical marijuana will be a long time coming given the Harper government’s cancellation of the $4-million Medical Marijuana Research Program in 2006.
The continuing prohibitionist view of the product by Health Canada and its political masters necessitates a need to micromanage distribution of the drug. It is this overt control that makes doctors wary of becoming entangled in the bureaucracy that accompanies the MMAR.
During the past few years, Health Canada has taken to phoning doctors directly to question attempts to prescribe more than five daily grams to a patient.
Physicians and patients alike see this as a gross invasion of their privacy. It seems Health Canada may also be awakening to that fact.
In a March 2007 correspondence obtained by Canadians for Safe Access through an ATI request, MMAD division program manager Barry Jones tells MMAD manager Ronald Denault: “I also feel that we may be going more into the realm of influencing, rather than informing the renewals.”
In a 2007 letter to Jason Wilcox, Denault writes, “The use of dried marijuana for medical purposes has not yet been proven scientifically.”
For chronically and terminally sick Canadians, the country’s physicians are not so ill-informed as to overlook the benefits their patients derive from medical cannabis and often will endorse compassion club applications.
“Doctors would rather sign a form for a quasi-legal, grey market source like a compassion club, than get involved with Health Canada,” says Vancouver Island Compassion Society’s Philippe Lucas.
Filed under: HempTherapy | Tags: hemp, medical cannabis, medical research, multiple sclerosis
An estimated 350,000 people in the United States are living with multiple sclerosis (MS), a painful, debilitating, and sometimes fatal disorder of the central nervous system. MS is the most common debilitating neurological disease of young people, often appearing between the ages of 20 and 40, and affecting more women than men. Symptoms vary considerably from person to person; however, one frequently noted is spasticity, which causes pain, spasms, loss of function, and difficulties in nursing care.
MS exacerbations appear to be caused by abnormal immune activity that causes inflammation and the destruction of myelin (the protective covering of nerve fibers) in the brain or spinal cord. MS most frequently presents at onset as a relapsing and remitting disorder, where symptoms come and go. Current treatment of MS is primarily symptomatic, focusing on such problems as spasticity, pain, fatigue, bladder problems and depression.
Anecdotal reports and a small controlled study have reported that cannabis improved spasticity and, to some extent, improved tremor in MS patients. Many studies of the pharmacology of cannabis have identified effects on motor systems of the central nervous system that have the potential of affecting tremor and spasticity. A recent carefully controlled study of the efficacy of THC in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, the animal model of MS, demonstrated significant amelioration of these two MS symptoms. Moreover, cannabis has demonstrated effects on immune function that also have the potential of reducing the autoimmune attack that is thought to be the underlying pathogenic process in MS.
Many MS patients report that cannabis has a startling and profound effect on muscle spasms, tremors, balance, bladder control, speech and eyesight. Many wheelchair-bound patients report that they can walk unaided when they have smoked cannabis.
A House of Lords reports states that the British Multiple Sclerosis Society (consisting of some 35,000 MS-suffering patients) estimates that as many as 4% of their population already use cannabis for the relief of their symptoms despite the considerable legal risks associated with prohibition. The chairman of the committee went on to state that, “We have seen enough evidence to convince us that a doctor might legitimately want to prescribe cannabis to relieve…the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and that the criminal law ought not to stand in the way.”
Many of the witnesses for that report shared the British Medical Association’s view that “A high priority should be given to carefully controlled trials of cannabinoids in patients with chronic spastic disorders.” The BMA has requested that the synthetic cannabinoids Nabilone and Dronabinol be officially licensed for use in MS and other spastic disorders.
Research findings on cannabis and MS
Numerous case studies, surveys and double-blind studies have reported improvement in patients treated with cannabinoids for symptoms including spasticity, chronic pain, tremor, sexual dysfunction, bowel and bladder dysfunctions, vision dimness, dysfunctions of walking and balance (ataxia), and memory loss. Cannabinoids have been shown in animal models to measurably lessen MS symptoms and may also halt the progression of the disease.
A recent British survey of MS patients found that 43 percent of respondents used cannabis therapeutically. Among them, nearly three quarters said that cannabis mitigated their spasms, and more than half said it alleviated their pain. A survey published in August 2003 in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences reported that 96 percent of Canadian MS patients believe that cannabis is therapeutically useful for treating the disease. Of those who admitted using cannabis medicinally, the majority found it to be beneficial, particularly in the treatment of chronic pain, spasticity, and depression.The accompanying editorial states, “This is an exciting time for cannabinoid research. There is a growing amount of data to suggest that cannabis (marijuana) can alleviate symptoms like muscle spasticity and pain in patients with MS.”
The published results of a number of GW Pharmaceuticals Phase III studies show that pain relief from the cannabis preparation Sativex® was significantly superior to placebo, and there were subjective improvements in spasm frequency, bladder control, spasticity, and sleep. The authors of one such trial concluded that “the results of this study suggest that Sativex® is an effective treatment for spasticity associated with MS.” In April 2005, GW announced that it had received approval to distribute Sativex in Canada for the symptomatic relief of neuropathic pain in adults with Multiple Sclerosis.
A U.K. study published recently in the journal Lancet looked at 630 multiple sclerosis patients after 15 weeks of orally delivered treatment. Fifty-seven percent of the patients taking a whole cannabis extract said their pain had eased, compared with 50% who took capsules containing THC and 37% who were given placebo capsules. Patients also reported improved sleep and fewer or less intense muscle spasms and stiffness. Those who could walk were significantly more mobile as measured by a walking test. The investigators also noted there were fewer relapses in the treatment groups; however, the study was not designed to investigate impact on relapses.25 An accompanying editorial suggests that current data supporting the benefit of cannabinoid treatment of spasticity in MS is now as strong as for any available pharmaceutical agent.
Research on the distribution of cannabinoid receptors in the brain suggests that they may play a role in movement control. Only recently have scientists found an animal model for MS, called experimental allergic encephalomyelitits (EAE), allowing testing for symptom suppression. Recent pre-clinical reports found that cannabinoids lessened both tremor and spasticity in mice suffering from EAE.
In addition to studying the potential role of marijuana and its derivatives in the treatment of MS-related symptoms, scientists are exploring the potential of cannabinoids to inhibit neurodegeneration. A 2003 study that the American MS Society calls “interesting and potentially exciting” demonstrated that cannabinoids were able to slow the disease process in mice by offering neuroprotection against EAE. After analyzing the findings, authors at London’s Institute of Neurology concluded, “In addition to symptom management, cannabis may also slow down the neurodegenerative processes that ultimately lead to chronic disability in multiple sclerosis and probably other diseases.”
References http://www.safeaccessnow.org/
Between 1840 and 1900, European and American medical journals published more than 100 articles on the therapeutic use of the drug known then as Cannabis Indica (or Indian hemp) and now simply as cannabis. Today, new studies are being published in peer-reviewed journals that demonstrate cannabis has medical value in treating patients with serious illnesses such as AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and chronic pain.
The safety of the drug has been attested to by numerous studies and reports, including the LaGuardia Report of 1944, The Schafer Commission Report of 1972, a 1997 study conducted by the British House of Lords, the Institutes of Medicine report of 1999, research sponsored by Health Canada, and numerous studies conducted in the Netherlands, where cannabis has been quasi-legal since 1976 and is currently available from pharmacies by prescription.
Recent published research on CD4 immunity in AIDS patients found no compromise to the immune systems of patients undergoing cannabis therapy in clinical trials.
The use of medical cannabis has been endorsed by numerous professional organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Public Health Association, and the American Nurses Association. Its use is supported by such leading medical publications as The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet.
While research has until recently been sharply limited by federal prohibition, the last few years have seen rapid change. The International Cannabinoid Research Society was formally incorporated as a scientific research organization in 1991. Membership in the Society has more than tripled from about 50 members in the first year to over 300 in 2005.
The International Association for Cannabis as Medicine (IACM) was founded in March 2000. It publishes a bi-weekly newsletter and the IACM-Bulletin, and holds a bi-annual symposium to highlight emerging research in cannabis therapeutics.
The University of California established the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Studies in 2001. It currently has 14 studies in progress and four others awaiting state and federal approval, including studies of cancer pain, nausea control in chemotherapy, general analgesia and a proposed study on refractory cancer pain.
In the United Kingdom, GW Pharmaceuticals has been granted a clinical trial exemption certificate by the Medicines Control Agency to conduct clinical studies with cannabis-based medicines. The exemption includes investigations in the relief of pain of neurological origin and defects of neurological function in the following indications: multiple sclerosis (MS), spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve injury, central nervous system damage, neuroinvasive cancer, dystonias, cerebral vascular accident and spina bifida, as well as for the relief of pain and inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis and also pain relief in brachial plexus injury.
GW has completed Phase III studies in patients with MS neuropathic pain, spasticity, and bladder dysfunction. Phase II trials on perioperative pain, rheumatoid arthritis, peripheral neuropathy secondary to diabetes mellitus or AIDS, and patients with neurogenic symptoms.
In 2002, GW conducted five Phase III trials of its cannabis derivatives, including a number of double-blind, placebo-controlled trials with a sublingual spray containing a combination of THC:CBD in more than 600 patients with MS. In total, more than 1,000 patients are currently involved in phase III trials in the UK. All of GWs MS trials have provided positive results, and confirmed an excellent safety profile for cannabis-based medicines.
In 2002 GW Pharmaceuticals received an IND approval to commence phase II clinical trials in Canada in patients with chronic pain, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury, and in April 2005 GW received regulatory approval for Sativex in Canada for the relief of neuropathic pain in adults with Multiple Sclerosis. Following meetings with the FDA, DEA, the Office for National Drug Control Policy, and the National Institute for Drug Abuse, GW was granted an import license from the DEA and has imported its first cannabis extracts into the U.S., and in January of 2006 was granted permission to begin Phase III Clinical Trials into cancer pain.
References http://www.safeaccessnow.org/
