Pubdate: 12 Jan 1999 Source: Dominion, The (New Zealand) Contact: http://www.inl.co.nz/wnl/dominion/index.html DOCTORS CHECK CANNABIS FOR MEDICAL BENEFIT LONDON - Reuter Two clinical research doctors would volunteer to run the first government-sanctioned trials on the therapeutic value of cannabis, the governing body for British pharmacists said yesterday. Two separate trials, examining the effects of cannabis and cannabinoids (its active ingredients) on spasms in multiple sclerosis patients and on pain sufferers, would follow new post-operative protocols to give the results scientific weight, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain said. "Although trials into the therapeutic use of cannabis and cannabinoids have taken place in the past, they have never been accepted by the World Health Organisation as proof of therapeutic benefit," society chief scientist Tony Moffat said. "Nobody has yet conclusively proven there is anything in cannabis which will help alleviate suffering." If the trial results are conclusive, the World Health Organisation line will probably change, paving the way for Britain to reclassify cannabis for controlled medical use. The new clinical tests, each of which would cost about A3500,000 (NZ$1.54 million) and involve about 300 volunteers, should present their findings within two years. A spokesman for the Multiple Sclerosis Society said: "We are very pleased to have taken this significant step towards proper trials." British doctors were allowed to prescribe cannabis till 1973, when it was removed from a list of prescription drugs that still includes heroin and morphine. - --- MAP posted-by: Mike Gogulski