British Firm To Spend
Huge Sums To Turn Medical Marijuana Into An Expensive Pharmaceutical
While Arrests Continue
(Ed. note: If people were free to use medical
marijuana while this research goes on this might be something to cheer. Eventually
scientists will find a way to duplicate expensively what is now available cheaply, and
perhaps even improve on it. Wonderful.
But implicit in this research program is the recognition that cannabis offers some
patients relief that is not provided by existing pharmaceuticals. When the research is
completed, the "authorities" will parade around proclaiming that they are
enlightened. In fact, they should be paraded off to jail for the mass murder of all the
people who have dropped out of chemotherapy because the standard pharmaceuticals did not
work or were too expensive. They should also be tried for crimes against humanity for the
suffering they inflicted on people with MS, glaucoma, etc. If this seems like an
overstatement, then please explain. Cannabis has always
worked. It worked before it was officially "proven to work," and years
after there was much evidence, therefore people were denied access to it when it would
have saved their lives and/or relieved their suffering. They have even been arrested for
using it. It is as simple as that. Are there to be no consequences? No apologies? This
article does not show any awareness of any of this.)
See
British Medical
Journal Reports That UK "Experts" Will Speed Up Work On Alternatives To Medical
Marijuana
and
British Medical
Association Calls For Decriminalizing Medical Marijuana, But Wallows in Reefer Madness
and
British Medical Journal
"Cannabis As Medicine: Time For The Phoenix To Rise?" Some Facts; No Courage
and
British Medical
Association and Government Graciously Allow Sick and Dying Synthetic Cannabis In
2 Years, Maybe
June 12, 1998
The Manchester Guardian
By Owen Bowcott
letters@guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
CANNABIS TO BE GIVEN CLINICAL TRIALS
A pioneering biotechnology company has been granted two Home Office licences to build a
high security greenhouse for cultivating cannabis plants and carry out the first
large-scale clinical trials of the drug.
The decision signals government recognition of the growing volume of research into
medical uses of cannabis as a pain reliever, appetite stimulant and anti-nausea treatment.
The banned Schedule 1 substance is also known to help sufferers of the eye disease,
glaucoma.
GW Pharmaceuticals, established by Geoffrey Guy, has spent US$6.5 million leasing the
greenhouse which it will fill with specialist strains of Cannabis
sativa bought from a Dutch horticultural firm. The seeds have not yet been planted.
The site is surrounded by a high, razor-wire perimeter fence, CCTV cameras and under
24-hour guard. Its location, somewhere in the southeast of England, is - so far - a
well-kept secret.
Dr Guy, who also set up Ethical Holdings plc and the
biotechnology company Phytopharm Ltd, specialises in developing herbal treatments for
chronic conditions such as asthma, eczema and hormone replacement therapies. His companies
have previously investigated exploiting African herbs for the treatment of diabetes, and
spider venom from Russia for curing nervous disorders.
Cannabis has already been used in limited clinical trials in Britain. A handful of
licences are in force. Both the Laboratory of the Government Chemist and the University of
London are permitted to grow their own plants.
But Dr Guy claimed his programme, which will cost US$190 million
over a decade, would give Britain a leading role in research.
Several US states
allow doctors to prescribe the drug, but they face being struck off. In
Italy, patients can grow up to six plants.
"We are going to be producing pharmaceutical grade extracts of cannabis to carry
out clinical trials," explained Dr Guy. "As many as 2,000 patients may be
involved."
The first tests will be with those suffering muscle spasms due to multiple sclerosis,
and patients with severe spine injuries. "Pain relief can be more easily assessed in
a shorter-term clinical programme," Dr Guy said. "Cannabis is not a panacea but
there is such a wealth of medical possibilities that it needs to be explored."
Although patients will not be smoking cannabis, Dr Guy
believes the active cannabinoid acids are most easily delivered through inhalation.
"As we get more experienced in dose-delivery, perhaps we will use oral tablets.
"The support the Home Office and Department of Health have given is indicative of
the fact that the Government welcomes proper clinical research into this drug."
(Ed. note: So long as they can keep arresting sick people in the
meantime.)
Until now the problem for medical researchers has been the lack of standardised
cannabis extracts which can be chemically assessed.
Earlier this year, the Home Office minister, Lord Williams, said: "If and when the
benefits of cannabis-based medicine are scientifically-demonstrated . . . the Government
would be willing to propose an amendment to the misuse of drugs legislation to allow the
prescription of such a medicine."
Hemp plants, which have a far lower concentration of the
psychoactive cannabis constituent THC, are increasingly being grown by farmers to produce
rope and specialist papers. More than 100 licences have been issued or renewed this year
for 12 varieties of EU-approved hemp.
Special Branch was consulted before Dr Guy’s project was given the go-ahead. In
the UK, cannabis still accounts for 85 per cent of drug arrests, and there are estimated
to be 500,000 illegal cannabis plants being grown.
The number of police cautions for possession of cannabis grew 10-fold to 40,391 in the
decade to 1995. A 1996 survey revealed that 8.3 million adults between the ages of 16 and
59 had admitted using cannabis.
Supported