Brunei

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<span class=postbold>LIFE</span>

Cannabis, then and now


09-Oct-06
The Brunei Times

HEMP, from which marijuana and hashish are made, is notorious as a `gateway drug' even though cannabis, its botanical name, is one of the oldest medicinal plants in human history.

``Cannabis was used in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine to treat nervous disorders, sleeplessness, vomiting and inflammation,'' noted Ursula Sellerberg, a pharmacist in Berlin.

In Germany, the only cannabis product now legally available is Dronabinol, whose active ingredient is a partly synthetic derivative of hemp. Pharmacies can make capsules with the ingredient for people who have a doctor's prescription. In addition, medicines containing Dronabinol can be obtained legally from outside Germany via German pharmacies. ``Cannabinoids represent a significant gain for pain therapy,'' said Thomas Nolte, vice president of the German Pain Therapy Association. Scientific studies have proven their effectiveness in treating many ailments, particularly chronic pain and neurological diseases.

On the other hand, ``cannabis products aren't wonder drugs,'' pointed out Franjo Grotenhermen, a physician and chairman of the Neunkirchen-based Association for Cannabis as Medicine. He said some patients benefited greatly from them, but many others little or not at all. Cannabinoids activate different receptors in the body than do traditional pain-killing medicines, and can therefore be taken in combination with them to good effect, Nolte noted.

Though experts agree that cannabis is a psychotropic substance, Nolte said its addiction potential was not a factor in therapy.

Grotenhermen and his comrades urge that cannabis be made legally available to seriously ill persons.

They also believes that Germany's public health insurance companies should cover the costs.

``Doctors are allowed to prescribe Dronabinol, but public health insurance companies aren't required to pick up the costs,'' Grotenhermen said. Pain therapy based on cannabinoids is expensive. At about +euro+80 cents for a milligram of Dronabinol, a month of therapy costs more than +euro+250.

``Illegal hemp is 10 to 20 times cheaper,'' Grotenhermen noted.

Should a patient's public health insurance company refuse to pay, there is always the nearest drug dealer to turn to.

An alternative is the ``hemp pharmacy'' (www.hanfapotheke.com).

``The hemp pharmacy refers the inquiry to a medical examiner,'' Grotenhermen explained.

The examiner contacts the patient a nd verifies the need for treatment. If the need is confirmed, the hemp pharmacy is informed. The pharmacy then gives the patient's address to a hemp donor that it has contacted anonymously on the Internet.

The donor sends the marijuana or hashish to the patient for free.

But patients should know the quality, or composition, of their medications.

DPA