1 April 2003

Cannabis: good or bad?

The Royal Society of Medicine is opening Cannabis, a meeting of its Open and Clinical Neurosciences Sections to the press at 6pm on 7th April. Highlights include:

Cannabis use now 'more dangerous'
Professor John Henry, St Mary's Hospitals & Imperial College, London, - The dangers of cannabis
There has been a recent, dangerous shift in the way people use cannabis and alcohol, Professor Henry will warn. Ordinary recreational use has given way to a cultural acceptance of regularly getting stoned to a "far more debilitating degree". Modern cannabis is nearly ten times the strength the 'flower power' generation was used to, and in Amsterdam it is at least twice as strong as in the UK. Professor Henry will outline his concerns about the lack of data on the risk of smoking cannabis compared with smoking tobacco, and the emerging mental health problems associated with THC, cannabis's main active ingredient.

Which diseases can cannabis help?
Dr John Zajicek, Peninsula Medical School, Plymouth, - The medicinal uses of cannabis
Dr Zajicek is currently involved in the largest double-blind trial of cannabis-derived medicine ever performed, sponsored by the MRC, in which patients with multiple sclerosis take capsules of cannabis-oil or the major component of cannabis, known as THC, orally. The results of this major study are expected within the next 3 months. He will explain the rationale for assessing the potential use of these medicines in multiple sclerosis, but also mention other conditions which may benefit from this group of drugs including cancer and aids-related weight loss, prevention of nausea and vomiting, and also their possible role in head injury and stroke.

Journalists have 'got it wrong' on cannabis safety
Dr Ian Oliver, Independent Consultant to the UN Drug Control Programme, UK, - The control of cannabis
Dr Oliver's work in the UK and worldwide has made him very concerned about the way cannabis is portrayed in the media as 'harmless', particularly with the government's proposal to reclassify the drug by July 2003. He will talk about what we can learn from countries such as Holland, where "contrary to what is written in just about every newspaper in the UK" there is a lack of control and a severe drug problem which is increasing significantly.

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