Cannabis hope for bowel disease

[emad]

August 01, 2005

Cannabis hope for bowel disease
By Sam Lister, Health Correspondent



CANNABIS-BASED drugs could be used to treat thousands of patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease in the future, researchers say.

Medicines derived from the Class C drug have already been developed for the treatment of multiple sclerosis in Canada, although they have yet to be licensed in Britain. Now researchers have turned their attention to how cannabis could be used to treat conditions such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, which affect between 90,000 and 180,000 people in Britain.

Both are bowel conditions which cause the immune system to go into overdrive, producing inflammation in different parts of the gastrointestinal tract. This causes pain, diarrhoea, severe tiredness and weight loss. The conditions are most commonly diagnosed in people aged 15 to 25.

A team from the University of Bath and the Royal United Hospital in Bath say that cannabis-based drugs may help to heal the lining of the gut.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,170-1716239,00.html

[Eagle_Eye]

1. Kind of gives new meaning to 'Blowing smoke up your ass'

[trotsky]

2. *SNORT*

Nice one.

[Kraklen]

3. I've got anecdotal evidence to support this finding.

It's worked quite well for me.