cannabisnews.com: International Interest in Marijuana Inhaler!





International Interest in Marijuana Inhaler!
Posted by FoM on June 05, 1999 at 16:49:54 PT
Source: BBC
There is growing interest in giving marijuana to patients suffering from painful long-term illnesses in an asthma inhaler-like device, according to a report.
The device is designed to ensure medically beneficial doses are given without the patient getting high. Developed by UK firm GW pharmaceuticals, the device is reported to have attracted the attention of Canada's health department. In March, the country's health minister Allan Rock authorised clinical trials of the drug, which - although considered by many a recreational narcotic - is thought to have significant potential as a medical treatment. Benefits without abuse The Canadian Government wants to establish how people can gain these health benefits without abusing the drug. Bonnie Fox-McCintyre, a spokeswoman for Mr Rock, said: "Certainly we are looking at what is going on in the international community. "But I think it would be too fine a point to say we're already negotiating." If trials show that marijuana offers effective pain relief, the department is expected to license it for medical use. Mark Rogerson, a spokesman for GW Pharmaceuticals, said the device could help prevent patients getting high on normal cannabis. "It's not that there's some strange marijuana somewhere that doesn't have a psychoactive effect," he said. "It's just that the dosage required to relieve the pain would be much less than what is required to make you high." UK trials Trials of cannabis, which may also use the device, are due to start in the UK within the next two weeks. GW Pharmaceuticals is growing thousands of cannabis plants at a secret glasshouse facility in the south of England for medical research. It was 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 last August at a secure glasshouse in the south of England. Eventually 20,000 plants will be grown there.References:Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain:http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/UK Cannabis Information:http://www.ukcia.org/Medicines Control Agency:http://www.open.gov.uk/mca/mcahome.htmMedical Research Council:http://www.mrc.ac.uk/
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