Medical cannabis on the NHS moves a step closer

The use of cannabis-based drugs to treat multiple sclerosis and terminal cancer moved a step closer yesterday when ministers asked for an investigation by the panel which vets medicines for the NHS.

Cannabis derivatives are undergoing clinical trials to see if they relieve the symptoms of MS and alleviate the pain endured by cancer patients as well as those with spinal-cord damage.

The trials will run for at least another year and if they prove successful the earliest envisaged date by which a manufacturer could obtain a licence to market the drugs would be 2004.

But yesterday the Department of Health included cannabinoids in the latest batch of drugs to be referred for assessment by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. The move was seen as a tacit acceptance that the medicines will prove to be of value in relieving symptoms such as spasms, bladder dysfunction and pain in patients with severe nerve damage.

It comes ahead of plans by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, to make possession of cannabis a non-arrestable offence. This more relaxed approach to cannabis, will be endorsed by a report from the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee today.

If approved for medicinal use, drugs derived from the cannabis plant would probably be formulated so the patient did not experience any narcotic effect.