The trials are expected to take two years, after which the results will be studied for two decades, and the report delayed for two centuries and the arrests will continue for two millennia. Well, if present trends continue…)

New guidelines are to be announced on Monday for conducting trials into the medical use of cannabis.

Clinicians are expected to be asked to volunteer to run the trials, which are likely to take two years.

If the results are accepted by the World Health Organisation, they could lead to the UK government legalising cannabis for medical use.

The guidelines, published by the Medical Research Council and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), are the result of a Working Party on the Therapeutic Use of Cannabinoids set up by the RPS in 1998.

They relate specifically to cannabis use for people with multiple sclerosis and post-operative pain.

It is thought that the trials will offer conclusive proof of whether a standardised preparation of cannabis and tetrahydrocannabinol, an active ingredient of cannabis, can have a therapeutic benefit for some patients.

Professor Tony Moffat, chief scientist at the RPS, said: "The new protocols will ensure that a large number of patients participate in the trial and that the trials are scientifically based to give sufficient proof of cannabinoid effectiveness.

"No trial has ever been able to do this in the past and we very much hope clinicians present at the meeting will want to be a part of this unique opportunity to establish effectiveness."

The Multiple Sclerosis Society, which was represented on the RPS working party, said the launch of the guidelines was a constructive step towards clinical trials, for which it has long been campaigning.

A recent House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report backed the medicinal use of cannabis.

Patients with certain illnesses, such as multiple sclerosis, say it relieves their symptoms.

The Lords report said recreational use of cannabis should remain illegal, but proposed listing cannabis as a "schedule two" drug -downgrading it from its current prohibited "schedule one" status.
See
Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee
Criticizes UK Government’s Rejection Of Report On Medical Marijuana
– 2 Articles With 2 of the Worst Prohibitionist Arguments

The committee estimated that about 1% of MS patients already used cannabis for pain relief, effectively making themselves criminals.

However, the government ruled out the committee’s recommendation that cannabis be made available on prescription.

It called for more clinical trials before a change in the drug laws could be considered.

Smoking

Doctors were also critical of the report, saying they backed the medicinal use of cannabinoids, part of the cannabis plant. They believe the plant itself causes harmful side-effects.

The fact that smoking is currently the preferred way of taking it also increases health risks, they say.

The drugs firm GW Pharmaceuticals is growing thousands of cannabis plants at a secret glasshouse facility in the south of England for medical research.

It is the first to get special Home Office licences allowing it to grow and supply the drug for research purposes. An initial crop of 5,000 plants was sown in August at a secure glasshouse in the south of England.

January 11, 1999

From Reuters
Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited.
By Daniel Simpson
HIGH HOPES AS UK TESTS CANNABIS FOR MEDICAL USE

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Two clinical research doctors are to volunteer to run the first government-sanctioned trials on the therapeutic value of cannabis, the governing body for British pharmacists announced on Monday.

Two separate trials, examining the effects of cannabis and cannabinoids (its active ingredients) on spasms in multiple sclerosis patients and on post-operative pain sufferers, will follow new protocols to give the results scientific weight, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain said.

"Although trials into the therapeutic use of cannabis and cannabinoids have taken place in the past, they have never been accepted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as proof of therapeutic benefit," the society’s chief scientist Tony Moffat said.

"Nobody has yet conclusively proven there is anything in cannabis which will help alleviate suffering," he added.
(Marijuananews note: This is a rather bizarre statement, given that THC has been approved by the DEAland FDA.)

See
Two Days After The Medical Marijuana Initiatives
The DEA Proposes Making Marinol A Schedule III Drug!! "Like Codeine With Tylenol."
More Like Cynicism With Desperation

Previous tests have been hampered by the illegal status of cannabis, listed by the WHO and thus the British government as a schedule one drug of abuse, with no therapeutic value.

If the trial results are conclusive, the WHO line will probably change, paving the way for Britain to reclassify cannabis for controlled medical use.

The new clinical tests, each of which would cost around 500,000 pounds ($800,000) and involve around 300 volunteers, should present their findings within two years.

Under the likely guidance of Dr John Zajicek, a placebo group of about 100 patients, mostly MS sufferers, would be given the normal treatment for controlling muscle spasms.

A second group would be given a standardised preparation of cannabis with a high concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), believed by scientists to be the principal active ingredient with pain-relieving properties.

The third group would receive a dose of THC alone, so scientists could see if other cannabinoids were responsible for the benefits reported by many MS suffers using the drug.

A spokesman for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, which has been involved in clarifying the protocols for clinical testing, said: "We are very pleased to have taken this significant step towards proper trials."
See
A Few UK MS Patients To Be Allowed To Inhale Whole Cannabis Without Being Arrested – Next Year!
That’s Why They Are Called "Patients;" We Expect Them To Wait! -- 2 Articles

"Cannabis is made up of lots of constituents, some of which are psychoactive and some which are toxins. We want to identify the bits which can be helpful and to demonstrate they’re safe."

The second series of trials, to be conducted by Dr Anita Holdcroft, would follow a similar pattern, using patients suffering from acute post-operative pain or from cancer.

If cannabis is reclassified, THC could be prescribed by doctors, as in the US, to named patients in controlled capsule doses. Several pilot projects are also growing cannabis under government licence to explore ways to take the drug without smoking it.

Geoffrey Guy, whose firm GW Pharmaceuticals harvested 5,000 potent cannabis sativa plants last Tuesday, hopes to develop plant extracts for inhalation. "We have moved further in the past year than I dared think," he said. GW now plans its own series of nationwide clinical trials on 2,000 MS sufferers.