In the first large-scale study of cannabis’s clinical effect, thousands of patients are to be given the drug to test its impact on multiple conditions, including chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder and substance abuse, according to Sky News.
Medical cannabis was legalised in the UK a year ago, but only a handful of patients have since been prescribed the drug on the NHS because medical authorities are concerned over a “paucity of evidence” that it works and is safe.
The only option for patients is to either source cannabis illegally and risk cannabis illegally, or pay for a private prescription of the drug.
Professor David Nutt of the organisation Drug Science, which is running the study, called Project Twenty21, said: “I believe cannabis is going to be the most important innovation in medicine for the rest of my life.
Cannabis medicines can be life-saving in disorders like severe childhood epilepsy.”
The legalisation of medical cannabis followed a series of high profile cases, including eight-year-old Alfie Dingley, whose mother claimed the drug eased his severe epilepsy.
Image credit: Arkansas Times
