cannabisnews.com: Cannabis Spray Painkiller in Use in Months 





Cannabis Spray Painkiller in Use in Months 
Posted by CN Staff on August 16, 2003 at 22:34:07 PT
By Murdo MacLeod, Political Correspondent
Source: Scotland On Sunday 
Multiple sclerosis sufferers are set to get painkillers made with cannabis on the NHS by the end of the year, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. Tests on an oral spray called Sativex have been completed and are being reviewed by regulators. If, as expected, they rule the painkiller should be approved, the law will be changed to allow the cannabis-based drug - the first of its kind - to be prescribed by doctors.
The developers of the drug, GW Pharmaceuticals, claim trials have shown that the spray eases pain, gives MS sufferers control over their muscles and allows them to sleep. Its effects on other people who suffer severe, chronic pain are also being examined. However, cannabis campaigner and MS sufferer Biz Ivol, last night claimed the drug was a ‘distraction’, and urged ministers to allow MS sufferers to use cannabis freely. Hugh Henry, the Scottish deputy health minister, has told MSPs that ministers are waiting for a go-ahead from the Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which is reviewing the evidence from trials of the new drug. If the agency gives the drug the all-clear the law will have to be amended by Westminster to allow cannabis to be processed, and the products derived from the drug to be prescribed without fear of prosecution. The UK government has pledged to change the law quickly if the drug is approved by the MHRA. The trials, which involved 350 people for up to two years, showed that those who used the new drug, as opposed to a placebo, experienced ‘significantly’ less pain, along with better sleep and fewer muscle spasms. It proved so popular that some of those on the trials have asked to continue taking the new drug. Scientists have been working on isolating the key pain-relieving ingredients in cannabis in order to allow them to develop painkilling drugs without the mind-altering effects of cannabis. They managed to isolate two chemicals for use in Sativex - tetrahydrocannabinol or ‘THC’ and cannabidiol, known as ‘CBD’. In addition to asking the MHRA for permission to market the drug, the company has also begun trials to examine whether Sativex could aid the pain of sufferers of cancer and spinal cord injury. A spokesman for the company said: "We are preparing to act very quickly if the drug is approved. We would plan to have it available by the end of the year. It will be part of a transformation in the lives of many people who suffer from MS." However, Ivol gave the plans only lukewarm support. She became an icon for the campaign to allow MS sufferers to be allowed to use cannabis when she was prosecuted for alleged drug supply. Ivol was accused of supplying cannabis by baking chocolates laced with the drug and sending them to fellow MS suffers to help them cope with the pain of the disease. Last month the Crown decided to drop the case against her because she was too unwell to face trial. However, she attempted suicide as a protest against the fact that she had been prosecuted in the first place. Speaking from her home in Orkney, she said: "While it is good to see that the authorities are finally admitting that cannabis is wonderful pain reliever, it seems very grudging, and to have been organised for the good of the drug companies." A spokesman for the MS Society said: "If this treatment is found to be safe and effective then we would want to see it made widely available as quickly as possible. It will be a great help to many people. Unfortunately, it is not a cure and it is only part of the picture. Studies have shown that cannabis, just like other drugs, are only effective for some people." Brian Adam, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen North, who raised the issue with ministers, said: "I welcome the fact that this product is making progress. I certainly hope it will be available by the end of the year. "I believe that this will clarify the issues on whether cannabis should be legalised by removing the medical issue from the argument. Many of those who have argued for the legalisation of the drug have sought to hide behind the medical arguments." Adam also highlighted worries that the drug might not be equally available to all sufferers. Another MS treatment, beta-interferon - which also eases the pain caused by the disease - was at the centre of a furious controversy in 2001 when it emerged that people in certain areas were refused the drug by their local health board on cost grounds. The cases led to a furore over ‘post code prescribing’. MS is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting young adults, with around 85,000 sufferers in the UK. Scotland has the highest prevalence of MS in the world, with about 10,000 people affected. It results from damage to myelin - a protective sheath surrounding nerve fibres of the central nervous system - which then interferes with messages between the brain and other body parts, causing debilitating pain. Source: Scotland On Sunday (UK)Author: Murdo MacLeod, Political CorrespondentPublished: Sunday, August 17, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Scotsman Publications Ltd.Contact: letters_sos scotlandonsunday.comWebsite: http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/Related Articles & Web Site:GW Pharmaceuticalshttp://www.gwpharm.com/Cannabis Drug Set for End of Year Releasehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16649.shtmlGW Hits High as Bayer Snaps Up Cannabis Drug http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16348.shtmlCannabis Medicine On Sale This Yearhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15773.shtml
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on August 19, 2003 at 19:59:14 PT
afterburner
I'd like to disturb my neighbors but we really don't have any. LOL! All four are 150 Watts each. We have two of them mounted high up at the top of the wall. Sound is great. I put all the songs from Greendale on my computer too. If I like something I'll listen to it until I get tired of it which takes a little time. Why I like Greendale so much is because of the message. He makes mistakes but I don't mind them. His message is clear to me. We must save Mother Earth. 
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Comment #21 posted by afterburner on August 19, 2003 at 19:11:30 PT:
150 Watts - WoW!
"I want to disturb my neighbour,
'Cause I'm feelin' so right;
I want to turn up my disco,
Blow them to full watts tonight, eh! -
In a rub-a-dub style, in a rub-a-dub style,
In a rub-a-dub style, in a rub-a-dub style." -Bad card by Bob Marley http://www.alwaysontherun.net/bob2.htm#u3
SOUND CLIP http://www.bobmarley.com/songs/ram/badcard.ram
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on August 19, 2003 at 16:21:38 PT
afterburner & EJ
I wonder how many times a person can play a CD before it wears out? I'm only kidding. It's nice living in the country. I can have the speakers as loud as I want. We have four 150 watt speakers. Two of them came back from Vietnam with my husband from way back when. I love Greendale! I can't wait for the DVD. PS: I'm going to go scrub the bathroom floor now! LOL!http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/young.htm
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on August 18, 2003 at 16:01:11 PT
I Take It Back
Rust Never Sleeps doesn't make me feel old. Not at all. Age is in our minds. I bet everyone thinks almost the same way now as they did when they were 18 or so. Always stay young at heart and you will always be young. That is something that our culture understands.
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on August 18, 2003 at 15:17:22 PT
afterburner
I'm watching Rust Never Sleeps now. He is so young! Boy does this make me feel old. It's great. 
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Comment #17 posted by afterburner on August 18, 2003 at 14:31:28 PT:
FoM and EJ
Decade, a great Neil Young album. Rust Never Sleeps, a classic. Allman Brothers, a boss band. "Rock 'n' roll can never die." -Neil Young
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Comment #16 posted by charmed quark on August 18, 2003 at 11:47:50 PT
Good news, but
The research being doen by GW Pharmeceuticals is wonderful, especially their attempts to detemine which cannabinoids help which health problems. But their products are being used by some to justify attacks on medical cannabis.
For instance, in this article in MAP, about Sativex
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1237/a03.html?999
there is this quote:"Brian Adam, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen North, who raised the issue with ministers, said: "I welcome the fact that this product is making progress. I certainly hope it will be available by the end of the year. "I believe that this will clarify the issues on whether cannabis should be legalised by removing the medical issue from the argument. Many of those who have argued for the legalisation of the drug have sought to hide behind the medical arguments." "A lot of this sounds like why Marinol was approved - to shut up medical cannabis users. I'm not sure what I think about this. A drug wich should be vey cheap and available, cannabis, is made very expensive and difficult to obtain by prohibiion while it is being developed into a very costly and controlled pharmeceutical. Meanwhile, patients have been told for decades to shut up and live in pain or face arrest because there is no medical utility in cannabis.But I wish Dr. Russo the best - at least real research is finally being done on cannabis.-Peter
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on August 18, 2003 at 10:11:18 PT
EJ I Like The Allman Brothers!
I just got Greendale today. Seeing this play live and listening to the songs each week have been a great experience. We just got a DVD player and we bought Rust Never Sleeps. It will be a fun day for me. I'll probably wear them all out! LOL!
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Comment #14 posted by E_Johnson on August 18, 2003 at 09:28:36 PT
Anyone here like the Allman Bros?
I'm having a religious experience listening to the double guitar solos on Allman Bros. Live at Fillmore East. I saw all of their concerts when I was in high school, every single one. They were even better live. Ah back in the days before people were strip-searched going into a concert. Back when everyone was mellow and smoked Colombian Gold and Colombia was still a livable country and the drug war didn't yet involve big fat assault rifles and police dressed like terrorists from the IRA and paramilitary operations at home and abroad.Two lead guitars and two drummers. That was a lot of improvisation and soloing for a rock band. Maybe without pot it never would have had an audience. The Allman Bros. always had so much music going on at once. You need marijuana time-slow to get it all in. 
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Comment #13 posted by E_Johnson on August 18, 2003 at 09:09:37 PT
Science has never demanded a reason either
I live in the middle of the American science establishment, and I see a lot of time and energy of American scientists goes into decrying aspects of society which are viewed by scientists as being "unscientific" or even "anti-science".But how do they spend this time and energy? Which prressing issues concern organized science?They don't care about the scientific soundness of the violent armed war against some substances. That's never been a topic of organized resistance in the science community.No, what they seem to care most about are three fronts:1. Fighting belief in astrology -- this is extremely important to some people I know personally.2. Fighting belief in Biblical creation -- some very famous scientists are up in arms over this.3. Fighting opposition to genetically modified crops -- being against GM is, to some scientists, like being against science itself.Why are American scientists not interested in the scientific soundness of the Schedule I status of marijuana?Several reasons:1. American science is dependent on the kindness of the federal govenment sort of like Blanche Dubois was dependent on the kindness of strangers.2. Most of the negative consequences of marijuana prohibition are visited upon blacks or Hispanics, and almost everyone in American science is white or Asian or from another country.3. Scientists tend to have socialistic tendencies, because of the collective demands of the scientific endeavor and the need for public funding. Throwing nonviolent people in jail for the moral betterment of society is part of the dark side of the collectivist impulse.Reason three is why we have as the head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science the infamous Alan Leshner, the former head of NIDA who once said there didn't need to be any research into medical marijuana because the federal law told us all we need to know on the subject.The American science community has been dragged into the medical marijuana issue with great reluctance on the part of most.Credit for cannabinoid science belongs partly to cannabis users who have been in the forefront of discovering on their own the effects of cannabinoids on different illnesses and ailments.It is because of cannabis users that the government has been forced to do cannabinoid science.So I think we should all get a Nobel Prize some day.
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Comment #12 posted by afterburner on August 17, 2003 at 14:01:15 PT:
Never Given a Scientific Reason for Prohibition...
we see the politicians are already using pharmaceutical cannabis medicine as an excuse to keep the life-corrupting prohibitionist regime intact:Brian Adam, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen North, who raised the issue with ministers, said: "I welcome the fact that this product is making progress. I certainly hope it will be available by the end of the year. "I believe that this will clarify the issues on whether cannabis should be legalised by removing the medical issue from the argument. Many of those who have argued for the legalisation of the drug have sought to hide behind the medical arguments." The "medical arguments" are not the only valid reasons to oppose cannabis prohibition. The waste of tax money on unnecessary prosecution of peaceful and responsible cannabis smokers is unjustifiable. The human civil rights of cannabis smokers, vaporizers, or ingesters have been violated for years on no valid scientific or medical basis. Governments around the world have established and promoted vicious police states, which have ruined lives, confiscated property, and broken up families, just because responsible adults choose to relax with a mild social psychedelic, cannabis, instead of a harsh social sedative, alcohol. It seems governments have had blinders on for generations, blaming cannabis for the negative medical and safety effects that actually belong to legal social intoxicants, tobacco and alcohol. The cannabis legalization movement has a big heart. We have stood shoulder to shoulder with medical cannabis patients and providers as they have been harassed by governments and law enforcement. We have championed the cause of medical cannabis, not as "a stalking horse for legalization," but because we see the people in the medical cannabis cause as human beings in need, worthy of our advocacy. We have supported them when governments, law enforcement, the media, and even doctors have criticized, name-called, and generally treated medical cannabis patients and their providers as second-class citizens. We will not allow governments to attempt to split the movement with their predictable divide-and-conquer techniques. We are hip to the hype, and we will continue to fight in the courts, at the ballot box, and in the arena of public opinion until the travesty of cannabis prohibition passes from the earth!Dr. Ethan Russo, congratulations on your new position, remember your roots and your friends at Cannabis News, and continue to fight the good fight!ego transcendence follows ego destruction, long may you run.
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Comment #11 posted by Motavation on August 17, 2003 at 10:36:39 PT:
Best Wishes Mr. Ethan Russo M.D.
Please do not invent any kind of cannabinoid suppository.
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Comment #10 posted by E_Johnson on August 17, 2003 at 09:58:00 PT
Good luck Dr. Russo :-)
This isn't just about cannabis for me, it's also about the future direction of the relationship between the science and humanity.I'm sure I don't have to remind you to remember our brothers and sisters behind bars when you're consorting with all those well-groomed Ph.D.s with their well-groomed professional distance from their work.
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on August 17, 2003 at 08:58:28 PT
Dr. Russo This Is For You!
We've been through some things togetherWith trunks of memories still to comeWe found things to do in stormy weatherLong may you run.Long may you run.Long may you run.Although these changes have comeWith your chrome heart shining in the sunLong may you run.
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Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on August 17, 2003 at 08:39:19 PT
I suppose science has to evolve too
The flesh-hating puritan mentality that has ruled Western science for so long really needs to be evolved to something better.Cannabinoid science is an enormous challenge for scientific culture itself, because subject human feelings are the very issue that is at stake.The subject "high" from marijuana and the subjective "low" from being held captive in a steel cage for ten to twenty years.Cannabinoid scientists need to understand both of these emotions.But modern science politely abstains from caring for or considering the victims of cannabis laws.Why doesn't the "low" caused by cannabis laws elicit any concerns from scientists who are worried about the psychoactive effects of cannabis?Being confined in prison is a psychoactive experience that just does not interest a bright new Ph.D. with an exciting and highly privileged and comfortable life ahead of him or her.Why is it, Dr. Russo, that people in prison are treated by modern science as if they do not exist as part of the human experience?
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Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on August 17, 2003 at 08:31:07 PT
Here's science that needs to be done Dr. Ethan
Feeling good is GOOD for people.Why can't the cannabinoid research community wrap their expensively educated brains around such an extremely simple idea?That's why we need a Terminator, to help us fight the machines trying to rule the world.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on August 17, 2003 at 08:13:36 PT
Dr. Russo
I'm so very happy for you. We need you. We need you because I know that you are sincere and you care so very much. My mind is racing trying to put my thoughts in words and I just can't type that fast. CNews has been one of the most wonderful experiences in my life and you have helped make it so. For almost five years now I have seen people happy and sad. I've seen people angry and joyful. I've seen people like Ed and Valerie stand tall and make us proud. Steve and Michele Kubby are two more people that I admire and miss. Richard Cowan is right up there too. Someday Cannabis will be legal. When I get discouraged I always think of these people and you are at the top of the list and it keeps me going. I will do my best to keep my focus on this wonderful medicinal plant. I believe in legalization but my heart will always be with those that suffer. I believe that is what I am suppose to do. God Bless Dr. Russo. We love you!
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Comment #5 posted by WolfgangWylde on August 17, 2003 at 07:02:21 PT
Just one note...
...to head off the Prohibitionists. Sativex gets you high. Maybe the journalist who wrote this is a dummy, but saying that THC and CBD are the isolated ingredients that won't give you a buzz is dumber than dumb.
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Comment #4 posted by Treeanna on August 17, 2003 at 06:45:19 PT
I wonder if they will get a patent?
You would think that the "isolation" of naturally-occuring plant products would not be patentable, but hey, who knows :(Dr. Russo, good luck on your new position, and to me it seems perfectly reasonable.From inside the system, you have a much better opportunity to work for change. My husband also abided by this logic when he got his degree in Admin of Justice, and began pursuing law as a career.
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on August 17, 2003 at 05:45:06 PT
Congratulations Ethan
My hat is off to You...Thank You for helping Us understand cannabis.Your timing has been perfect, so many times.(Even if less), when You come back it will always be a perfect time to hear Your wisdom.(If GW Pharm hasn't monitored C.news, they will now.)You are a true Green Collar Worker
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Comment #2 posted by Ethan Russo MD on August 17, 2003 at 04:48:19 PT:
A Personal Note
Summer's end in 2003 finds me in the midst of many transitions: moving our household, closing my neurology practice after 20 years, and taking a new position as strategic medical advisor to the Cannabinoid Research Institute. Because that organization is privately funded by GW Pharmaceuticals, it is clear that many people will assume an unavoidable conflict of interest. It is my belief that the new position will afford me better opportunities to promote research and development of cannabis medicines, and help more people more quickly in the long-term. Thus, I expect to be extremely active and involved with cannabis health issues, if more behind the political scenes, in future years. I may not be absent from CannabisNews.com but I may be more sparing in my comments. This Website has been my absolute favorite for some time,and because it remains the place to keep up to date with all things cannabis around the world, it shall continue to be. My hat is off to FoM and all the C-News family. Cheers, Ethan 
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Comment #1 posted by BGreen on August 16, 2003 at 23:24:13 PT
Baroooosshhh!!!!!!!
That's the sound of the SCHEDULE ONE LIE being flushed down the toilet.The Rev. Bud Green
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