UK: Government intends to liberalize recreational cannabis use!

Science: THC and cannabis alleviate pain in multiple sclerosis

At the Fourth Congress of the European Federation of IASP Chapters on 2-6 September 2003 in Prague two new clinical studies on cannabis products in multiple sclerosis were presented, one by Danish researchers who investigated the effects of THC (dronabinol) in 24 MS patients and one by British researchers who studied the efficacy of a sublingual cannabis spray in 66 MS patients.

Under the guidance of Dr. KB Svendsen of the Danish Pain Research Center of the Aarhus University Hospital, 24 MS patients with neuropathic pain underwent a double blind placebo controlled crossover trial with dronabinol (THC), which was titrated up to a maximum of 10 mg daily. The two three week treatment phases were separated by a three weeks wash out period. Spontaneous pain intensity decreased significantly during dronabinol treatment compared with placebo. Pain relief was significantly higher during dronabinol.

Drs. CA Young and DJ Rog of the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Liverpool presented results of their placebo controlled parallel study with a sublingual cannabis spray containing 2.7 mg THC and 2.5 mg CBD per spray, of which they could take up to 48 units a day, in 66 MS patients. After four weeks there was a significant mean reduction in pain for cannabis and a significant reduction in sleep disturbance.

*Industrial-Hemp has no psychoactive properties following definition of the European Economic Community (EEC); THC content is less than 0.3%. In general, low THC-seed varieties without psychoactive properties are those that have a THC content of less than 1%. (See also No-THC Hemp-seed.) THC= Delta-9 TetraHydroCannabinol.