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MS patients report that cannabis gives symptom relief
..by Professor John Marshall CBE (retired), Emeritus Professor of Clinical Neurology, Univ. London.
Taken from Medical Monitor magazine.
There has been much controversy about the use of cannabis to relieve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), not least because of the legal implications.
A total of 230 patients with MS were sent an anonymous questionnaire containing 68 questions about their experience, if any, of cannabis used therapeutically. The study was conducted by the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics. Replies were received from 132 (57 per cent), of whom 14 had never used cannabis. The respondents ranged from 22 to 67 years in age and had suffered from MS for between two and 38 years; 46 were bed or wheelchair-bound.
They had used cannabis for 0.2 to 28 years, taking it on average 2.7 times a day on 5.6 days per week; 107 took it in the evening or before going to bed, the object in 103 cases being to relieve specific symptoms. These were (in descending order of effectiveness) spasticity, chronic pain in the extremities, acute paroxysmal phenomena and tremor.
Other specific symptoms to benefit included slurred speech, numbness and paraesthesiae, weakness and sphincter problems. A non-specific symptom that was greatly helped was depression.
However, the study has serious defects. There is no indication as to how the patients were recruited, or of how firm was the diagnosis of MS.
Despite this, the results do suggest that cannabis may help to relieve some of the symptoms in MS and that the effect may be specific to certain symptoms rather than a general uplift caused by the drug.
The authors conclude that it provides a justification for mounting properly controlled clinical trials. MS is such a devastating disease that any drug that has been shown objectively to be of value should be available and any legal difficulties removed.
Summary
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There is some evidence that smoked cannabis can relieve specific symptoms in MS |
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Most benefit is found with spasticity and chronic pain |
In the condition known as MS the normal functioning of the nerves in the brain and spinal cord is disrupted, probably caused by abnormal activity in the immune system. Debilitating attacks, which last for weeks, come and go unpredictably, with gradual deterioration and eventual disability. Because the central nervous system controls the entire body, the effects may appear anywhere. Common symptoms include tingling, numbness, impaired vision, difficulty in speaking, painful muscle spasms, loss of co-ordination and balance, fatigue, weakness or paralysis, loss of bladder control, urinary tract infections, constipation, skin ulcerations and severe depression.
There is no known effective treatment. Almost all MS patients experience some degree of spasticity, including stiffness, muscle spasms, cramps or muscle pain. The standard drugs used to treat the muscle spasms are addicitve, have severe short-term side effects and worryingly damaging long-term side effects. Many MS sufferers find that they don't even work.
Animal studies have shown that cannabinoid receptors are densely populated in the areas of the brain which control movement, which suggets that cannabis may have anti-spastic effects. It seems indeed that cannabis has a startling and profound effect on the symptoms of MS. It stops muscle spasms, reduces tremors, restores balance, restores bladder control and restores speech and eyesight. Many wheelchair-bound patients report that they can walk unaided when they have smoked cannabis. Patients also report that they find smoked herbal cannabis better at controlling their symptoms that synthetic derivatives. It is now thought that cannabis may even retard the progression of the disease.
A certain degree of efficacy can be shown purely in the huge amounts of anecdotal evidence that abound. A House of Lords reports states that the Multiple Sclerosis Society (consisting of approximately 35000 MS-suffering patients) estimates that as many as 4% of their population already use cannabis for the relief of their symptoms despite the considerable legal and health risks associated with the seemingly inhumane current prohibition of cannabis for any condition. The chairman of the committee went on to state that 'we have seen enough evidence to convince us that a doctor might legitimately want to prescribe cannabis to relieve...the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and that the criminal law ought not to stand in the way.'
Many of the witnesses for that report shared the British Medical Association's view that 'A high priority should be given to carefully controlled trials of cannabinoids in patients with chronic spastic disorders'. Indeed, at the current time a BMA report requests that the synthetic cannabinoids Nabilone and Dronabinol are officially licensed for use in MS and other spastic disorders.
Billy Gartside - Multiple Sclerosis - Tuesday 30 Oct 2001
My name's Billy Gartside and I've been using cannabis medicinally since 1992.
It works very well, it's not 100% effective but the 80-95% relief from symptoms it gives me does allow me to play golf 3-4 times a week and I've broken 100 for 18 holes, 48 out and 45 in so it's quite good for stamina too.
February 2002 Mr Gartside was found quilty at Liverpool Crown Court for possession of cannabis, he said the £10,000 cost of a crown court trial was not in the public interest. I agree, he was fined £35.00 and bound over for 3 months.
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