First? Large Study of Cannabis for MS Shows Benefit

DdC · 11-06-2003, 07:59 PM

Worlds Biggest MS Trial Shows Benefits of Cannabis

Results from the world's largest study into the medical effects of cannabis have shown that the drug can reduce pain and improve the lives of people with multiple sclerosis. Scientists concluded that patients for whom other treatments have failed should be given tablets made from cannabis derivatives.

The three-year study, published in the medical journal The Lancet today, is the first clinical appraisal of whether cannabis-derived drugs can help treat MS.

Mike O'Donovan, chief executive of the Multiple Sclerosis Society said: "These improvements to quality of life can make a significant difference to people with MS. On the evidence now available, the MS Society believes those who might benefit should be able to have treatment prescribed on the NHS."

Patients say that smoking the drug reduces symptoms such as muscle stiffness and tremors, and gives them greater mobility. Pharmaceutical companies are working urgently to develop drugs using cannabinoids, the natural chemicals found in cannabis which appear to soothe pain and alleviate muscle stiffness.

About 85,000 people suffer from MS in Britain, and it is the most common neurological disease affecting young adults in the Western world.

Researchers from the University of Plymouth tested more than 600 patients with MS, giving some of them cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and the others a placebo. The groups were not told whether they were taking THC or the placebo.

When the researchers used standard clinical tests, they found little evidence that THC reduced muscle stiffness. But in interviews, 60 per cent of the THC patients said they had less muscle stiffness, compared with 46 per cent of the placebo group. Fifty-four per cent of the THC group said their pain was reduced, compared with 37 per cent of those taking the placebo. Twelve per cent of those on THC found it easier to walk a short distance, compared with 4 per cent of the other group.

Dr John Zajicek, the lead researcher, said: "Our findings provide some evidence that cannabinoids could be clinically useful in treatment of symptoms related to multiple sclerosis, but more work is necessary."

Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council which funded the study, said: "This work underlines the importance of funding large-scale clinical trials of possible treatments so the evidence can be weighed up."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said:"It is important to try to evaluate the claims on a proper scientific basis ... If the benefits of a cannabis-based medicine were to be scientifically demonstrated, the Government would be willing to amend the misuse of drugs controls to allow the prescribing of such a medicine."

Worlds Biggest MS Trial Shows Benefits of Cannabis
By Maxine Frith, Social Affairs Correspondent
Source: Independent UK November 06, 2003
Contact: letters@independent. co.uk * Website

CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives

First Large Study of Cannabis for MS Shows Benefit
By Helen Branswell, Canadian Press November 06, 2003
Toronto -- The first large clinical trial looking at whether marijuana actually has a medicinal effect for people with multiple sclerosis has found there is probably a clinical benefit from taking the drug. The British trial was designed to see if doses of cannabinoids, the active compounds in cannabis, reduce spasticity in people who have MS. While it made no discernible difference on that front, people who received the drug had less pain, slept better and had better mobility than people who received a placebo.
Read More...www.cannabisn ews...17745.shtml

DdC · 11-06-2003, 08:03 PM

Ethan Russo MD on November 06, 2003
Good, But Could have Been Better
I wrote an LTE on this same extract in another study in the journal Neurology:

Numerous methodological issues require discussion with reference to the recent article on cannabis in MS (Killestein J, et al. Safety, tolerability, and efficacy of orally administered cannabinoids in MS. Neurology 2002;58(9):1404-1407), in which a poorly characterized cannabis extract was studied in 16 MS patients with spasticity, few benefited and significant side effects were reported. This contrasts dramatically with a previous double-blind study in 9 subjects employing THC 5-10 mg that demonstrated improvement in spasticity measures to the P<0.01 level.

(1). In fact, the material employed in the current study contained daily doses of up to 5 mg tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) with 2 mg cannabidiol (CBD), and was likely inadequate to produce benefit. No dose titration was pursued. A subsequent study in Switzerland employing a larger patient cohort with the identical extract in higher doses has provided improved results (2): 57 patients in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study used 15 mg THC with 6 mg CBD daily in 3 divided doses, demonstrating significant reductions in spasms (P<0.05), and improvement in mobility, with no quantitative differences in adverse events compared to placebo. Results from a much larger study in the UK employing the same extract are pending. Available results with another cannabis-based medicine extract (CBME) trial in the UK are even more encouraging (3).

Large scale Phase III trials are underway in multiple sclerosis patients employing sublingual application of whole plant extracts containing equal proportions of THC and CBD. This oro-mucosal route of administration provides a more predictable onset of action and an improved ability for patients to titrate their own required dosages, which in the pilot study (3) averaged 22.5 mg THC and/or CBD daily in divided doses, most often within the range of 7.5-40 mg of THC daily. Results to date support significant improvements in pain, spasticity and muscular spasm attacks in MS (3), bladder-related symptoms, and sleep. Adverse events were characterized as predictable and well tolerated, and lowest in the 1:1 THC:CBD mixture, underlining the well-known tendency of CBD to counter THC-associated side effects. These results mirror those seen in MS patients employing cannabis in medical practice.

My personal experience and correspondence with approximately 100 MS patients would indicate failure of tolerability or symptomatic improvement with oral THC as Marinol®, but marked benefit with oral, smoked or vaporized cannabis on spasticity, hyper-reflexia, appetite, sleep, neuropathic pain, and mood, but not ataxia. We should not ignore the fact that experimental data not only documents the benefit of cannabinoids in spasticity and tremor, but also immunomodulatory aspects of MS in a chronic relapsing experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (CREAE) model (4), supporting the finding of an improved MRI result in one clinical cannabis patient with chronic MS not taking interferon treatments (5). Overall, the future of clinical cannabis as a useful tool in the pharmacopoeia of MS treatments appears much brighter than would be evident from the preliminary results from Killestein and colleagues.

References 1. Petro DJ, Ellenberger C. Treatment of human spasticity with delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol . Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 1981;21:413S-416S. 2. Vaney C, Jobin P, Tschopp F, Heinzel M, Schnelle M. Efficacy, safety and tolerability of an orally administered cannabis extract in the treatment of spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis. In: Symposium on the Cannabinoids; July 13, 2002; Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, CA: International Cannabinoid Research Society, 2002: 57. 3. Robson PJ, Wade DT, Makela PM, House H. Cannabis medicinal extracts (CME), including cannabidiol, alleviated neurogenic symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury. In: Symposium on the Cannabinoids; July 13, 2002; Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, CA: International Cannabinoid Research Society, 2002: 56. 4. Baker D, Pryce G, Croxford JL, Brown P, Pertwee RG, Huffman JW, et al. Cannabinoids control spasticity and tremor in a multiple sclerosis model. Nature 2000;404(6773):84-87.

First Major Study of Medicinal Marijuana Indicates It Could Help in Multiple Sclerosis
MSNBC on Canadian medicine
Web MD: Cannabis May Help Multiple Sclerosis

GW Pharmaceuticals
GW and Bayer Announce Marketing Agreement
Door Opens for Medical Cannabis

NORML's Weekly News Bulletin
Talk Show Host, MS Patient Montel Williams Cited For Medical Marijuana
Read More...www.cannabisn ews...17739.shtml

Yahooka: Talk Show Host Fined For Drug Paraphernalia November 04, 2003
Williams Reportedly Authorized To Use Pot
Source: ClickOnDetroit.com
Talk show host Montel Wiliams was reportedly fined Monday night for carrying drug paraphernalia into Metro Airport. Williams has apparently been prescribed medical marijuana to control his pain from multiple sclerosis.
Read More...www.cannabisn ews...17732.shtml

MARIJUANA RESCHEDULING PETITION
FRANCIS L. YOUNG, Administrative Law Judge
Dr. Andrew Weil, a general medicine practitioner in Tucson, Arizona, who also teaches at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, accepts marijuana as having a medical use in the treatment of spasticity. In multiple sclerosis patients the muscles become tense and rigid because their nerve supply is interrupted. Marijuana relieves this spasticity in many patients, he has found. He would prescribe it to selected patients if it were legally available,

Webster's Dictionary 1952
Bhang-(bang). n Hind.from Sans.. bhanga,hemp
An Indian variety of the common hemp, the resin of which is highly narcotic and intoxicant, and a popular Oriental stimulant, otherwise called hashish. Also employed in medicine, for its anodyne, hyponotic, and anti-spasmodic qualities; also spelled bang, beng.

Cannabis Shrinks Tumors: Government Knew in 74
Patient Touts Anti-Cancer Properties of Marijuana
Doctor Testifies Thousands with Multiple Sclerosis Using Cannabis
Drug Policy Forum of Wisconsin

Pain Drove Me To Pot
Multiple sclerosis sufferer Biz Ivol has found a way to ease her shakes and pains - she smokes cannabis, as advised by her doctor. The Orkney Islander also sends "care parcels" to other sufferers.
References on Multiple Sclerosis and Marijuana
Therapeutic Use of Cannabis

Marijuana Drug Czar Distorts Report
DEAth Flunky

MEDICAL MARIJUANA DOCTORS AND RELATED ORGANIZATIONS

How To Obtain A Physician Referral

1894, 1944, 1968 --- Cannabis is Safe

Sureshot · 11-07-2003, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kosh
I know one guy with MS, one minute he is twitching and spasming quite badly and then a couple of minutes after a spliff his symtoms almost disapear...nothing short of amazing.

My anecdotal evidence is the same.

SS

BlunTMaN · 11-08-2003, 11:31 AM

my mom has ms, and her symptoms seem to be slightly worse. ive been trying to tell her to smoke some herb, for the pain and all that, but she is so conservative she thinks marijuana is like crack or something. thx for the info and testimonies on this thread and the links, im gunna show it to her and hope it can open her eyes a little bit to this wonderful herb.

-Blunts

11-06-2003, 07:59 PM	#1 (permalink)
DdC Decade Yahookan Join Date: Feb 1999 Location: Santa Cruz,CA,USA Posts: 2,117 Blog Entries: 5 Thanks: 51 Thanked 607 Times in 399 Posts	First? Large Study of Cannabis for MS Shows Benefit Worlds Biggest MS Trial Shows Benefits of Cannabis Results from the world's largest study into the medical effects of cannabis have shown that the drug can reduce pain and improve the lives of people with multiple sclerosis. Scientists concluded that patients for whom other treatments have failed should be given tablets made from cannabis derivatives. The three-year study, published in the medical journal The Lancet today, is the first clinical appraisal of whether cannabis-derived drugs can help treat MS. Mike O'Donovan, chief executive of the Multiple Sclerosis Society said: "These improvements to quality of life can make a significant difference to people with MS. On the evidence now available, the MS Society believes those who might benefit should be able to have treatment prescribed on the NHS." Patients say that smoking the drug reduces symptoms such as muscle stiffness and tremors, and gives them greater mobility. Pharmaceutical companies are working urgently to develop drugs using cannabinoids, the natural chemicals found in cannabis which appear to soothe pain and alleviate muscle stiffness. About 85,000 people suffer from MS in Britain, and it is the most common neurological disease affecting young adults in the Western world. Researchers from the University of Plymouth tested more than 600 patients with MS, giving some of them cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and the others a placebo. The groups were not told whether they were taking THC or the placebo. When the researchers used standard clinical tests, they found little evidence that THC reduced muscle stiffness. But in interviews, 60 per cent of the THC patients said they had less muscle stiffness, compared with 46 per cent of the placebo group. Fifty-four per cent of the THC group said their pain was reduced, compared with 37 per cent of those taking the placebo. Twelve per cent of those on THC found it easier to walk a short distance, compared with 4 per cent of the other group. Dr John Zajicek, the lead researcher, said: "Our findings provide some evidence that cannabinoids could be clinically useful in treatment of symptoms related to multiple sclerosis, but more work is necessary." Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council which funded the study, said: "This work underlines the importance of funding large-scale clinical trials of possible treatments so the evidence can be weighed up." A Department of Health spokeswoman said:"It is important to try to evaluate the claims on a proper scientific basis ... If the benefits of a cannabis-based medicine were to be scientifically demonstrated, the Government would be willing to amend the misuse of drugs controls to allow the prescribing of such a medicine." Worlds Biggest MS Trial Shows Benefits of Cannabis By Maxine Frith, Social Affairs Correspondent Source: Independent UK November 06, 2003 Contact: letters@independent. co.uk * Website CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives First Large Study of Cannabis for MS Shows Benefit By Helen Branswell, Canadian Press November 06, 2003 Toronto -- The first large clinical trial looking at whether marijuana actually has a medicinal effect for people with multiple sclerosis has found there is probably a clinical benefit from taking the drug. The British trial was designed to see if doses of cannabinoids, the active compounds in cannabis, reduce spasticity in people who have MS. While it made no discernible difference on that front, people who received the drug had less pain, slept better and had better mobility than people who received a placebo. Read More...www.cannabisn ews...17745.shtml

11-06-2003, 08:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
DdC Decade Yahookan Join Date: Feb 1999 Location: Santa Cruz,CA,USA Posts: 2,117 Blog Entries: 5 Thanks: 51 Thanked 607 Times in 399 Posts	Ethan Russo MD on November 06, 2003 Good, But Could have Been Better I wrote an LTE on this same extract in another study in the journal Neurology: Numerous methodological issues require discussion with reference to the recent article on cannabis in MS (Killestein J, et al. Safety, tolerability, and efficacy of orally administered cannabinoids in MS. Neurology 2002;58(9):1404-1407), in which a poorly characterized cannabis extract was studied in 16 MS patients with spasticity, few benefited and significant side effects were reported. This contrasts dramatically with a previous double-blind study in 9 subjects employing THC 5-10 mg that demonstrated improvement in spasticity measures to the P<0.01 level. (1). In fact, the material employed in the current study contained daily doses of up to 5 mg tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) with 2 mg cannabidiol (CBD), and was likely inadequate to produce benefit. No dose titration was pursued. A subsequent study in Switzerland employing a larger patient cohort with the identical extract in higher doses has provided improved results (2): 57 patients in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study used 15 mg THC with 6 mg CBD daily in 3 divided doses, demonstrating significant reductions in spasms (P<0.05), and improvement in mobility, with no quantitative differences in adverse events compared to placebo. Results from a much larger study in the UK employing the same extract are pending. Available results with another cannabis-based medicine extract (CBME) trial in the UK are even more encouraging (3). Large scale Phase III trials are underway in multiple sclerosis patients employing sublingual application of whole plant extracts containing equal proportions of THC and CBD. This oro-mucosal route of administration provides a more predictable onset of action and an improved ability for patients to titrate their own required dosages, which in the pilot study (3) averaged 22.5 mg THC and/or CBD daily in divided doses, most often within the range of 7.5-40 mg of THC daily. Results to date support significant improvements in pain, spasticity and muscular spasm attacks in MS (3), bladder-related symptoms, and sleep. Adverse events were characterized as predictable and well tolerated, and lowest in the 1:1 THC:CBD mixture, underlining the well-known tendency of CBD to counter THC-associated side effects. These results mirror those seen in MS patients employing cannabis in medical practice. My personal experience and correspondence with approximately 100 MS patients would indicate failure of tolerability or symptomatic improvement with oral THC as Marinol®, but marked benefit with oral, smoked or vaporized cannabis on spasticity, hyper-reflexia, appetite, sleep, neuropathic pain, and mood, but not ataxia. We should not ignore the fact that experimental data not only documents the benefit of cannabinoids in spasticity and tremor, but also immunomodulatory aspects of MS in a chronic relapsing experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (CREAE) model (4), supporting the finding of an improved MRI result in one clinical cannabis patient with chronic MS not taking interferon treatments (5). Overall, the future of clinical cannabis as a useful tool in the pharmacopoeia of MS treatments appears much brighter than would be evident from the preliminary results from Killestein and colleagues. References 1. Petro DJ, Ellenberger C. Treatment of human spasticity with delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol . Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 1981;21:413S-416S. 2. Vaney C, Jobin P, Tschopp F, Heinzel M, Schnelle M. Efficacy, safety and tolerability of an orally administered cannabis extract in the treatment of spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis. In: Symposium on the Cannabinoids; July 13, 2002; Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, CA: International Cannabinoid Research Society, 2002: 57. 3. Robson PJ, Wade DT, Makela PM, House H. Cannabis medicinal extracts (CME), including cannabidiol, alleviated neurogenic symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury. In: Symposium on the Cannabinoids; July 13, 2002; Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, CA: International Cannabinoid Research Society, 2002: 56. 4. Baker D, Pryce G, Croxford JL, Brown P, Pertwee RG, Huffman JW, et al. Cannabinoids control spasticity and tremor in a multiple sclerosis model. Nature 2000;404(6773):84-87. First Major Study of Medicinal Marijuana Indicates It Could Help in Multiple Sclerosis MSNBC on Canadian medicine Web MD: Cannabis May Help Multiple Sclerosis GW Pharmaceuticals GW and Bayer Announce Marketing Agreement Door Opens for Medical Cannabis NORML's Weekly News Bulletin Talk Show Host, MS Patient Montel Williams Cited For Medical Marijuana Read More...www.cannabisn ews...17739.shtml Yahooka: Talk Show Host Fined For Drug Paraphernalia November 04, 2003 Williams Reportedly Authorized To Use Pot Source: ClickOnDetroit.com Talk show host Montel Wiliams was reportedly fined Monday night for carrying drug paraphernalia into Metro Airport. Williams has apparently been prescribed medical marijuana to control his pain from multiple sclerosis. Read More...www.cannabisn ews...17732.shtml MARIJUANA RESCHEDULING PETITION FRANCIS L. YOUNG, Administrative Law Judge Dr. Andrew Weil, a general medicine practitioner in Tucson, Arizona, who also teaches at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, accepts marijuana as having a medical use in the treatment of spasticity. In multiple sclerosis patients the muscles become tense and rigid because their nerve supply is interrupted. Marijuana relieves this spasticity in many patients, he has found. He would prescribe it to selected patients if it were legally available, Webster's Dictionary 1952 Bhang-(bang). n Hind.from Sans.. bhanga,hemp An Indian variety of the common hemp, the resin of which is highly narcotic and intoxicant, and a popular Oriental stimulant, otherwise called hashish. Also employed in medicine, for its anodyne, hyponotic, and anti-spasmodic qualities; also spelled bang, beng. Cannabis Shrinks Tumors: Government Knew in 74 Patient Touts Anti-Cancer Properties of Marijuana Doctor Testifies Thousands with Multiple Sclerosis Using Cannabis Drug Policy Forum of Wisconsin Pain Drove Me To Pot Multiple sclerosis sufferer Biz Ivol has found a way to ease her shakes and pains - she smokes cannabis, as advised by her doctor. The Orkney Islander also sends "care parcels" to other sufferers. References on Multiple Sclerosis and Marijuana Therapeutic Use of Cannabis Marijuana Drug Czar Distorts Report DEAth Flunky MEDICAL MARIJUANA DOCTORS AND RELATED ORGANIZATIONS How To Obtain A Physician Referral 1894, 1944, 1968 --- Cannabis is Safe __________________ Al Capone and Watergate were red herrings to divert the countries attention from the Fascist acts of eliminating competition. Booze/Ethanol then Ganja//Hemp.

11-08-2003, 11:31 AM	#4 (permalink)
BlunTMaN Old School Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: SoCAL Posts: 347 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	my mom has ms, and her symptoms seem to be slightly worse. ive been trying to tell her to smoke some herb, for the pain and all that, but she is so conservative she thinks marijuana is like crack or something. thx for the info and testimonies on this thread and the links, im gunna show it to her and hope it can open her eyes a little bit to this wonderful herb. -Blunts __________________ AIM - orgnzdcunfzn

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