Pubdate: Fri, 03 Jun 2011 Source: Copenhagen Post, The (Denmark) Copyright: 2011 The Copenhagen Post Contact: http://www.cphpost.dk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1941 MINISTER APPROVES MARIJUANA DRUG Sclerosis Patients to Get Legal Access to Drug Containing Cannabis Extract The minister for internal affairs and health, Bertel Haarder, has ordered a law change that will legalise the prescription and sale of a prescription drug with marijuana as its active ingredient. The law change will allow doctors to prescribe the drug Sativex, which has the same chemical compounds found in marijuana, to patients with multiple sclerosis, reports Berlingske newspaper. "I understand from the Danish Medicines Agency that Sativex can help patients with multiple sclerosis, who have not responded to other sclerosis drugs. So, we're not going to let stiff bureaucratic rules stand in the way of those patients getting a treatment that can help them," Haarder said. The rule change goes into effect on June 3, and makes it possible for the Danish Medicines Agency to allow doctors to prescribe Sativex to sclerosis patients. Only neurologists and doctors specialising in neuromedicine will be authorised to write the prescriptions. Sativex is an oral spray that is chemically identical to marijuana in liquid form. It was developed by the UK-based company GW Pharmaceuticals to alleviate pain, spasms, over-active bladder and other symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis. Sativex has been approved in the UK and Canada, and is exported to some 28 countries worldwide, mostly as unlicensed prescriptions. It has also been approved for late stage trials in the US. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.