Spain's Health Ministry to allow doctors to prescribe cannabis

[emad]

The Independent
By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid
06 February 2005


In a bold venture that puts Spain at the forefront of the medical use of cannabis in Europe, 60 pharmacies and four hospitals in Catalonia are to prescribe marijuana for therapeutic use where other treatments have failed.

The pioneering scheme surpasses measures taken by the Dutch, leaders in the field, and puts British efforts in the shade. A British drug company has been denied permission to produce medicinal cannabis for trials - because of lack of political will, critics say.

Doctors in Catalonia will be able to prescribe cannabis in capsules or as an infusion to help four specific conditions: anorexia among Aids patients; nausea caused by chemotherapy in cancer patients; constant pain - including migraine - that has been unresponsive to other treatments; and muscular problems among those with multiple sclerosis. About 150,000 patients are expected to benefit.

Spain's Health Minister, Elena Salgado, said she accepted that cannabis "has some therapeutic value". She approved "the controlled use of tablets in specific cases and under medical supervision", but insisted on the need to fight drug addiction. Spanish health policy is devolved to the regions, but must receive Madrid's blessing.
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=608191

[donsu]

1. oh hooray for progressive Spain!

but isn't it understood that the tablets don't work as well as toking real grass?

[foo_bar]

2. the pulmonary damage presents a medical dilemma

Toking is the best way to self-titrate, since the effects are immediate (or so my hippie friends tell me); gastric absorption takes an hour to cross the blood-brain barrier, so there's more potential for "overdose" (in a subjective sense, since cannabis has no appreciable toxicity or LD-50).

On the other hand, clinicians are loathe to prescribe something that makes you cough and turns your lungs black. That shouldn't be an issue in terminal disease, but this is the medical establishment that swabs your arm with an antiseptic after administering lethal injection.