Following reports in the Dutch daily ‘Het Financieele Dagblad’ that the British government offered Dutch health minister Els Borst cannabis grown in Britain for research into the medical properties of the drug, Hassela Nordic Network contacted A D Macfarlane, Chief Inspector of the Action Against Drugs Unit with the British Home Office.

	In a letter to R Lousberg, Chief Inspector for Health Care in the Netherlands, Macfarlane stated that the British Government has not offered anyone cannabis grown in this country or anywhere else;
	the International Narcotics Control Board has not visited the Home Office to investigate any aspect of cannabis (marijuana) research; (This was confirmed by Mr. Fujino, Deputy Secretary of the Vienna-based UN agency International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) yesterday);
	the British Government has the necessary technical and legal powers to licence cannabis research. Its Home Office Drugs Branch functions as the necessary organ under the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961 for that purpose.

What then are the conditions to be fulfilled for research in Britain into the medicinal effects of cannabis?

LICENSING CANNABIS FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH

	The British Home Office has issued licences to Dr G W Guy under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, to research into the therapeutic use of natural cannabis. The licenses will be operated by the UK company GW Pharmaceuticals Ltd. See British Firm To Spend Huge Sums To Turn Medical Marijuana Into An Expensive Pharmaceutical While Arrests Continue
	This is not the first licence to be issued for this purpose. There are four other licences currently held in the UK for the research into the therapeutic use of cannabis.
	In addition there are 18 licences currently valid for cannabis research not directly related to medical research. They are held for academic purposes, according to the Home Office Drugs Branch.

GENERAL LINES ON THE USE OF CANNABIS FOR PALLIATIVE CARE

If and when the benefits of a cannabis-based medicine are scientifically demonstrated and a marketing authorisation is issued by the Medicines Control Agency, the Government would be willing to propose amendments to the misuse of drugs legislation to allow the prescription of such a medicine;

RAW CANNABIS WOULD NOT BE A VALID MEDICINE; (Ed. note: Before the research, the conclusion.)

	It would not be right to amend the misuse of drugs legislation to allow the prescription of a cannabis-based medicine, or any other potential medicine, unless or until its quality, efficacy, and safety have been established. In this we are treating cannabis no differently from other substances which are claimed to have therapeutic usefulness;
	Mechanisms exist under the misuse of drugs legislation to allow research into the effects of cannabis under the Home Office licence.
	Applications are scrutinised by the Home Office and the Department of Health and licensees are required to ensure that they meet the strict conditions as to the safe custody and record-keeping in respect of controlled drugs.

The British home Office has issued a licence for GW Pharmaceuticals, founded by Dr Geoffrey Guy. The company has been licensed under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 to proceed with a complete pharmaceutical research and development programme into cannabis and its chemical compounds, and in particular into delivery methods other than smoking. The objectives of the research and development programme will be: initially to develop standardised extracts of cannabis sativa (the most common cannabis plant), specially grown under controlled conditions;

to establish the best delivery method into patients, other than smoking, of cannabis and/or its constituents, and to establish if safe therapeutic uses exist in a range of illnesses; (Ed. note: Before the research, the conclusion.)

	to provide materials for clinical trials and extended monitoring programmes;
	to prepare data for Product Licence Approval by the Medicine Controls Agency;
	to expand the programme internationally with academic researchers and pharmaceutical partners;
	eventually to identify purified fractions and/or subsets including single entities, which may have useful therapeutic applications or can serve as research tools. All work will be carried out at secure research facilities in the UK.