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Cannabis Helps

Medicinal cannabis was introduced to the UK in 1839, Indian Hemp (cannabis) was the main analgesic prescribed by Doctors and pharmacists during the reign of Queen Victoria, indeed it was actually prescribed to her by her personal physician.
 
Images of cannabis medical preparations can be viewed in our online gallery HERE 

A Brief History of Medical Cannabis by Ian Williams Goddard
For thousands of years prior to its prohibition in the 20th century, cannabis was used as a medicine throughout the world. During the 19th century the potent extract of cannabis was one of the top three most prescribed medical agents in the United States. 

Until the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, cannabis, being a powerful topical analgesic, muscle relaxant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-spasmodic agent, was found in virtually all fistulas, corn and mustard plasters, muscle ointments, and fibrosis poultices

Medical Cannabis: the 20th Century
Marijuana is one of the oldest natural herbs known to human beings. It is also one of the safest, as it is impossible to consume enough to produce a toxic effect in the body. 

"Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality...Simply stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough marijuana to induce death...In practical terms, marijuana cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity...In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume...Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man."
DEA Administrative Law Judge, FL Young, 1988  

Cannabis has fewer side effects than other analgesics, and users report it "rounds off" the pain quickly after smoking. An Institute of Medicine report contains a minimal list of 5 situations in which cannabis-based medicines are of use in treating pain:

There are medical conditions or patients in which they are more effective than any currently available medication.
They have a broad clinical spectrum of efficacy and a unique side effect profile that differs from other analgesics.
They have synergistic interactions with other analgesics.
They exhibit "side effects" which are considered useful in certain clinical situations.

Cannabis has had a long history of use as an analgesic, and was widely used in 19th century Britain, including in the royal household. Dr. J. Russell Reynolds, Fellow of the Royal Society and Physician to Queen Victoria reported in the Lancet in 1890 that he had been prescribing cannabis for 30 years and considered it "one of the most valuable medicines we possess". According to Reynolds Indian hemp remained effective as an analgesic for months and even years without an increase in the dose. 

Indeed, the British Medical Association has gone on record as stating that 'the prescription of nabilone, THC and other cannabinoids...should be permitted for patients with intractable pain'. Other official bodies have found similar results. A House of Lords report summed up the situation stating that 'there is scientific evidence that cannabinoids possess pain relieving properties, and some clinical evidence to support their medical use in this indication'. In a press conference on October 26th 1997, the US Society for Neuroscience claimed that 'substances similar to or derived from marijuana...could benefit the more than 97 million Americans who experience some form of pain each year'.
Cannabis trials to start on patients
The first clinical trials of cannabis-based medicines involving patients suffering from MS, spinal cord injury and other forms of severe pain have been given the go-ahead.

They will be carried out by GW Pharmaceuticals; the company licensed by the UK Home Office to research and develop prescription cannabis-based medicines. If successful they could lead to cannabis-based drugs being made widely available.
 
The trials, to be conducted at a number of locations, will begin in the Pain Relief Clinic at the James Paget Hospital, Great Yarmouth, under the supervision of Dr Willy Notcutt. Dr Notcutt said: "Our aim is to test some of the claims which have been made for the medicinal qualities of cannabis in a structured clinical research programme. This is an exciting moment, and we hope very much that our findings will lead to significant improvements in the pain relief available for sufferers of MS and other debilitating conditions."

"I have been involved in trying to get movement in this area for many years now. It has been a long haul from the wilderness but I am just thrilled that we have got there first, Now I hope that this is the thing which ignites the blue touchpaper to get these trials going all over the country. In the last two years everyone has woken up to the fact that cannabis used as a medicine is something that should not be ignored and now at last we will be able to do something about. It has been around as a medicinal drug for 5000 years but it has never been in a medicine form before. So until this point we have not been able to do any proper clinical tests as you cannot really use cannabis smoked in a joint or taken orally as the basis of a clinical trial."
Dr Notcutt said that while some might consider the announcement controversial, those suffering from debilitating diseases would welcome the news who for years had asked for proper clinical trials. He urged anti-drug campaigners to consider the trials, which are not Government-funded, as a medical step forward and not see them as the start of a relaxation in current drug laws. "I don't think people can argue this because you can prescribe heroin as a drug - and I don't talk about heroin as a painkiller in the same breath as heroin as a recreational substance. These trials cannot in any way be linked with drug abuse, it is an entirely different thing,"

He said it was a misconception that those suffering debilitating illnesses would receive the same feeling from the drugs as recreational users or that they would take such high doses. "A lot of patients are incapacitated by the pain but they don't want to be incapacitated by taking so much that they get high."

Tests will be carried out using a device that sprays medicine under the tongue so that it is absorbed by the body rather than swallowed. Only a strictly limited number of patients will take part in the first trials. However, it is expected that some 2000 people will eventually take part in the trial programme over the next two to three years.

Dr Geoffrey Guy, announcing the launch of the licensed trials, said the numbers of people who could have their suffering relieved was mind-boggling and the trials would help to establish the dose needed to relieve pain, and the best way of delivering the drugs to patients. He said: "There is a considerable body of evidence to suggest that cannabis may have a number of medicinal uses, including the relief of pain and spasm in multiple sclerosis, and for pain relief in disorders such as spinal cord injury and neuralgia. We are now well on the way to being able to demonstrate this in a controlled clinical research environment."

Two thousand patients will take part in the trials over the next two or three years. They will spray the cannabis under the tongue from where it will be absorbed quickly into the system.

"We hope to demonstrate to the authorities the safety and efficacy of the medicine," said Dr Guy. "There are patients who will benefit from these medicines but who would not think of taking cannabis if they had to break the law."

GW has already completed preliminary trials in which a small group of subjects took different cannabis preparations to determine the safe range of dose. GW has set up a database for patients who may be suitable for participation in clinical trials.
The government has indicated that if the trials were successful it would be prepared to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 to allow the prescribing of a cannabis-based medicine. GW hopes to market prescription medicines as early as 2003.

The Medical Research Council is also about to conduct trials on cannabis. Neurologists will use different compounds of cannabis in capsule form.

It is estimated that 10,000 people suffering acute pain and distress take cannabis illegally. One of them is 52-year-old Elizabeth Ivol. She and 8,000 other MS sufferers regularly use cannabis in defiance of the law. She risked jail three years ago when she was caught growing marijuana at her home in the Orkneys but escaped with an admonishment. 

Since then she has continued to use the drug and to supply it to other sufferers. She said yesterday: "There is a huge network of people who are using cannabis and helping each other get the drug. One of the favourite ways of taking it is in melted chocolate. It controls my pain, which is otherwise unbearable. One thing that happens to me is that my eyesight goes. I only need to smoke cannabis and my vision is restored."

There are 85,000 people suffering from multiple sclerosis and 45,000 with spinal cord injury - two conditions being targeted in the trials.

Labour MP Paul Flynn, who has a Bill to legalise medicinal cannabis coming before the Commons, said: "I'm sure the trials will be successful. Cannabis was even used by the Egyptians who built the pyramids."

The prospect of the government legalising the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes is still at least two to three years away

Geoffrey Guy, chairman of GW Pharmaceuticals, has two Home Office licences to research the medical uses of the drug, said the company had completed the first human trials in November. 

The company is testing a cannabis-based prescription medicine that would give patients the medical benefits of dope but without the "unwanted psychoactive side effects" - or the high - and without the health dangers associated with smoking.

Downing Street and the Home Office rejected reports yesterday that a deal had been struck between Tony Blair, Mo Mowlam and Jack Straw that the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes would be given the go-ahead later this year.

The cabinet office minister wanted a government-ordered review of whether cannabis should be decriminalised while the home secretary is adamantly opposed to any relaxation of the drug laws.

Downing Street reiterated yesterday that the Prime Minister was waiting to see the results of the clinical trials before any decision was arrived at.

Dr Guy said that the newspaper reports had simply confirmed the "government's long-held view that it intends to allow cannabis-based medicines to be prescribed to patients once clinical trials are completed.

"GW's trials aim to demonstrate quality, safety, and efficacy to the satisfaction of the medicines control. The reports provide further reassurance that once MCA approval is obtained for cannabis-based medicines, the government will reschedule these products so as to allow prescription use."

The Home Office minister, Lord Williams, told the company early in 1998 that "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 medicine."

A Home Office spokesman confirmed yesterday that the policy had not changed.

GW Pharmaceuticals grew its first crop of 5,000 cannabis plants last summer in a secret greenhouse in the south of England. It eventually hopes to grow 20,000 plants at the site, which is being guarded around the clock.

GW are now growing 40,000 plants AND cannabis is STILL not available on the NHS

WARNING - Cannabis is still illegal in the UK, we DO NOT encourage individuals to break the law. However, If you are a genuinely ill person and you feel that you may benefit from the proven therapeutic effects of cannabis then please contact us. Information on this site is for educational and research purposes.
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