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All the latest news stories...May 2012 |
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| Since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 13 years ago, Alison Myrden has suffered from pain so intense it feels like "lightning going off in my face." To reduce her agony, Myrden, 41, has long taken dozens of prescription pills a day, including the powerful Dilaudin. Now, though, she has a new weapon in her arsenal: Sativex, billed as the world's first cannabis-based drug. "I think it has good potential," says Myrden, squirting Sativex into her mouth from a small sprayer. "It's really fabulous that the government has taken marijuana seriously and is making a medicine of it." This spring, Canada became the first country to approve Sativex, a prescription drug for MS that contains tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and other active ingredients of the Cannabis sativa plant. The drug went on sale throughout Canada in mid June, just a week after the medical marijuana movement in the United States was dealt a major setback by the U.S. Supreme Court. Sativex is so new and expensive that few Canadians are using it so far. But given the timing of its debut, it has highlighted the divergent views on marijuana's therapeutic benefits. Sativex "is an important step, but why should this whole field be centered in Canada and England instead of the United States? It's because of the repression of science in the United States," says Rick Doblin, whose Sarasota-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies funds research of marijuana's medical effects. But the U.S. government's Office of National Drug Control Policy, which deems marijuana a dangerous drug, says many of those touting its therapeutic use want to legalize its recreational use as well. "Of course we would look at any medicine proven safe or efficacious," says spokesman Tom Riley. "But the medical marijuana issue has been kind of larded with hype for a number of years by a lot of people with agendas in this area." Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/01/Worldandnation/Marijuana_medicine_te.shtml |
