Pubdate: Fri, 03 Jun 2005 Source: Daily Mail (UK) Copyright: 2005 Associated Newspapers Ltd Contact: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/108 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom) CANNABIS 'CAN EASE MENTAL ILLNESS' Severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bi-polar depression could be eased with cannabis, according to new research. While some experts have warned about the long-term mental damage that cannabis smokers risk, scientists at Newcastle University believe in regulated doses it can ease manic attacks. Professor Heather Ashton, who led the study by the department of psychiatry, stressed the medicinal use of cannabis was quite separate from heavy, recreational use. She said: "There are certain things in cannabis which can be helpful in certain forms of mental disease. People who take it for relief of these symptoms do not need the heavy doses that recreational users take." She did not advocate smoking the drug, but said there were certain chemicals known as cannabinoids in it which can be synthesised into a spray and administered under the tongue. In certain doses, it can have a sedative, anti-psychotic or anti-depressive effect, she said. One ingredient THC makes users feel "high", while another, known as CBD, can have a calming effect. Prof Ashton, a psycho-pharmacologist, wanted to study the effect of a mixture of those two specific chemicals. Prof Ashton said current anti-psychotic drugs, often a mixture of lithium, was not satisfactory as they can render patients emotionally "flat". "We thought it might be useful to patients to try, as an add-on not as a single drug, a known mixture of certain cannabinoids." The department was now looking for funding to begin a trial, which could be done in collaboration with North American scientists, who have access to the two cannabinoids as they have already been licensed in Canada. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom