Cannabis/Sativex Support Group Launches on Facebook

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It was announced in the news recently, that GW Pharmaceuticals, the Porton Down drugs manufacturer which specialises in cannabis based treatments, had passed a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) inspection by the UK regulatory authority, on their manufacturing facility. This paves the way for the eagerly anticipated roll-out of Sativex anytime soon.

 

Which is all good news for the tens of thousands of Multiple Sclerosis sufferer's who have been waiting to hear of just such an announcement.

 

If you suffer from MS, or any other nerve damage/neurological condition and you would like to find out the latest news regarding sativex, you might like to check out a new Facebook group which has launched today.

 

Sativex Support Group Sarah Martin is a multiple sclerosis sufferer who has found relief from her condition by using cannabis, and she is particularly interested in hearing when Sativex will become available for wider consumption. So much so, she has set up a Sativex Support Facebook group for others in a similar situation.

 

I asked Sarah about the new group. Here's what she had to say;

 

"We will endeavor to provide the most up to date information on this medicine which is designed for sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis to alleviate the chronic symptoms such as spasticity, pain and loss of touch sensitivity etc".

 

"Sativex will also be beneficial to sufferers of other painful conditions such as chronic nerve pain etc and we hope it will also be available for their pain management in the near future".

 

"Tell your doctor, if they don't already know, that it is now easier to obtain without applying to the home Office for a license".

 

"Cost will be the next hurdle to overcome and this will involve pressure on politicians which we will gladly undertake and hope that you will join us in our efforts to make this medicine both affordable and easier to obtain".

 

Soon but not yet

Whilst there is still no firm date for when the licensing procedure will complete, as Sarah mentions above, it is currently available, but for some reason doctors seem reticent to prescribe it.

 

The reason for this, according to Jim Starr from 'Protest London ', a campaigning group dedicated to the medicinal use of cannabis, is easy to work out. Jim reckons its down to cost.

 

Jim Starr - UK Medical Cannabis User

I asked him through Facebook, what experience he had of Sativex, and whether or not he was permitted a prescription for the orally administered cannabis tincture.

 

Jim told me, "I can have a prescription for Sativex anytime I want one. The problem is my local Primary Care Trust (PCT) won't pay for the prescription, meaning the medicine I know works best for me is unavailable because of the governments irrational stance on cannabis".

 

"For me to use Sativex" he continued, "I'm forced to pay over £300 per month for the pleasure. Myself and my long suffering wife Emma simply can't afford it, as I'm permanently disabled, and as I spend 80% of my life in a wheel chair, finding a job in order to pay for my medicine is out of the question".

 

On speaking further with Jim I found out his frustrations were nothing new. There were literally tens of thousands of people in the UK growing their own cannabis and using it in the treatment of painful, always debilitating, and sometimes terminal medical conditions.

 

But as Jim himself found out to his cost, this is a path to pain relief which is strewn with landmines.

 

Jim was busted recently for having a small grow operation running at his South Coast UK home. He was found to have 15 cannabis plants and as a result he was carted off to the local police station where he was charged and bailed, and is awaiting a court appearance currently so thats all we can say on this for the time being, so I asked Jim what drugs the NHS were happy to provide him with as a result of the cannabis medicine being too expensive? I was shocked at his answer.

 

"The drugs I receive from my doctor" he said, "includes morphine, steroids, tramidol, gabapentin, beclofen, and a number of others I can't even remember the names of"

 

Which is quite a head cocktail, and this got me to thinking why it is the government refuse to acknowledge the information from the United States, where it has been perfectly legal in California since 1996, for patients with a doctors recommendation to use and possess cannabis?

 

Whether you can admit it to yourself or not, all of the science regarding cannabis is already in place. With over 250 million regular users around the world its fair to suggest no other drug is used as often as cannabis, so the risks in using it and the arguments the British government continues to use regarding mental health issues have been answered a million times over.

 

The very fact British politicians keep cannabis as a political issue, and not a public health issue, suggests the reasons behind the legal status of the worlds favourite recreational drug run a lot deeper than just how "bad" it is for us.

 

Indeed the recent hoo-haa regarding the new generation of legal high's which are permeating the market here in the UK, or rather the government's reaction to them, (if it gets you stoned and we're not getting a piece of the pie, lets ban it), would suggest this to be a lot closer to the mark than first imagined.

 

The fact is, no matter how much sativex you squirt under your tongue its not going to kill you. A great many people have tried and failed to overdose on cannabis. Only to wake up with a huge dose of the munchies, they generally end up trying to eat themselves to death, but as for whether the cannabis itself will kill you? The answer is a firm "no".

 

British PM Gordon Brown once famously termed cannabis as "lethal". As sure an indicator as any, of just how far out of a touch a leader can be from the people he governs.

 

Lets face it whilst the entire Cabinet surrounding him clamoured to empty the cannabis skeletons out of their collective closets, he firmly denied ever trying cannabis at all. "So what right does he have to comment", is a question I hear bandied about often.

 

The fact is, and as Jim Starr's case proves all to clearly, the health service as we know it is all too ready to dole out industrial strength painkillers such as Tramadol, and Morphine (a heroin substitute).

 

But a lot of people would rather take the advice of medical marijuana advocates from the United States, and use cannabis to relieve their pain.

 

In fact this is exactly what motivated Jim Starr to attempt to grow his own medicine, only to wind up in court, facing 5 years in prison for doing no more than would be perfectly acceptable today in San Fransisco, in Amsterdam, in Madrid and in Porto.

 

So on the one hand we have the GW Pharmaceutical marketing men telling us how successful sativex will be in treating certain types of pain, and then we have doctors telling the patients who need the sativex they can't have it because the health service refuses to pay for it?

 

Is there any wonder at all people like Jim Starr run the risk of 5 years in prison, just to sleep one night without pain?

 

If you would like to know more about cannabis and pain relief, please come and join us on Facebook, on the Sativex Support Group.

 

You will be made to feel most welcome, and its a great place to get to know people who may be living in a similar situation to your own.

 

Visit Sarah Martin on the Facebook "Sativex Support Group "

Visit Jim Starr on "Protest London "

 

Author: Ian Malley

Date: 18 July 2009

Source: CannaZine Cannabis News

http://pr.cannazine.co.uk/200907181120/gre...n-facebook.html