Cannabis' effectiveness as a pain-relief drug is set to be decided by a three-year trial involving 5,000 Britons. The participants in the study will all be suffering from chronic pain caused by conditions such as arthritis and, if the cannabis treatment is successful, it could subsequently be prescribed on the NHS.
The drug will be taken in a vaporised form through an inhaler - a process that will only take five minutes every day, as reported by the Daily Mail. At the end of the trial, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) will then decide whether cannabis - inhaled in that manner - can become an approved treatment.
Chronic pain is defined as any pain lasting for longer than three months and afflicts a third of the UK's adult population. Should cannabis be available through the NHS, it is also hoped that would stop self-medication, when chronic pain sufferers turn to drug dealers and internet suppliers to ease their discomfort.
It is thought that cannabis could be safer than opoids - a regular treatment for chronic pain. Medicinal cannabis has already been legalised for four years in the UK, but only a handful of patients currently have an NHS prescription whilst, in Australia, Canada, Germany and Israel, "whole plant" treatment is already approved.
Private company LVL Health will run the trial, which is open to patients with non-cancerous chronic pain conditions who are aged between 18 and 85. The study will initially be undertaken by 100 people to check for safety, and a three year trial of 5,000 patients is dependent on the evidence of this feasibility study.
Tony Samios, of LVL Health, told The Times: "We're hoping we will provide the data that Nice and the NHS require to get it prescribed because absolutely millions could benefit. You have to take it all in one go which takes up to five minutes – it's not like you can puff on it all day long. You’re not actually smoking it and obviously don’t have all the carcinogens."
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