Pubdate: Wed, 20 Apr 2005
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Province
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Authors: Don Harrison and Elaine O'Connor, The Province
Cited: GW Pharmaceuticals http://www.gwpharm.com/
Cited: Canadians for Safe Access http://safeaccess.ca/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Sativex (Sativex)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)

MARIJUANA SPRAY APPROVED FOR MS PATIENTS

Canada yesterday become the first country to legalize a medicinal
spray form of marijuana, to treat pain in the country's 25,000
multiple-sclerosis sufferers.

Health Canada said the pain of MS patients was not met by current
prescription and over-the-counter medicines, so approval of the new
marijuana drug was expedited.

The spray Sativex contains THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. It
is to be taken every four hours in a spritz into the mouth, five times
a day.

Sativex will be available by prescription in a 50-dose bottle at the
end of June. Its retail price has yet to be established.

Mark Rogerson of the British manufacturer GW Pharmaceuticals admitted
the new weed spray won't win any flavour contests.

It is "a bit like a breath freshener" and tastes like a "rather bitter
Guinness" beer, he said.

He said patients won't get the pleasant buzz people receive from
smoking a joint, adding the drug numbs pains in the nervous system
without numbing a patient's brain.

"It's absolutely not necessary to become intoxicated in order to get
pain relief," he said.

But Philippe Lucas, founder and director of Canadians for Safe Access,
said overdosing could create a buzz.

Lucas, a legal medicinal-marijuana user, supported the availability of
the spray for chronic-pain treatment.

But he said Sativex would be so closely controlled -- patients need to
see a doctor before refilling a bottle, and bottles would be shipped
on demand and not kept in stock -- that they may find it not worth the
hassle.

"Availability is going to be very restricted. So for people suffering
from MS and neuropathy, it may actually be prohibitive to have that
much to go through." 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake