"to relieve symptoms of multiple sclerosis has been labelled as "insufficient"Yet the patients themselves, those that it was tested upon, those in other countries and those few that have been "fortunate" enough to get it here, swear that it helps them.
In fact, cannabis itself has been grown and used illegally by many sufferers for many years - a few years ago Mark and Lezley Gibson and Marcus Davies were prosecuted for supplying free cannabis-laced chocolate through their group then known as THC4MS and given suspended prison sentences. They supplied literally tens of thousands of bars of chocolate to people that said they found huge benefit in them. The bars of chocolate, all clearly labelled, were made by grinding the essential cannabis heads and mixing with high quality chocolate and posted out. They could do that through donations of cannabis from illegal growers without charging anyone even a penny! The evidence of the efficacy was indisputable.
Now, exactly the same chemical constituents, dissolved in alcohol, with a hint of peppermint flavouring, produced on mass is available at a cost of £11 a day but people are not going to be allowed to get it on prescription.
Just who are these cloth-eared tyrants in the NHS?
Stephen Gibson, head of prescribing and medicines management at NHS Lincolnshire, said: "We evaluated Sativex through our effectiveness forum and we felt it was of insufficiently high quality for us to approve it for use.
"It is also more expensive than a whole range of other options we've reviewed."I bet they did not consider herbal cannabis itself, as available in The Netherlands, many US States, Spain and other countries - at a fraction of the cost!
It is not cannabis that we need to get rid of, it's these petty NHS that deny their patients a medicine that they themselves know helps - the decision to refuse to allow it is indeed a sad indictment of the NHS.
UK: Cannabis-based MS drug rejected by NHS Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire Echo
Monday 20 Jun 2011
A NEW drug based on cannabis to relieve symptoms of multiple sclerosis has been labelled as "insufficient" by NHS Lincolnshire.
The drug, Sativex, has been approved by regulators to help relieve spasticity or muscle stiffness in MS patients.
It has been available unlicensed in the UK since December 2005.
But last year it became the first cannabis-based medicine to be licensed for use in the UK by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Sativex costs £11 a day and is issued as an oral spray. Only doctors specialising in MS, such as neurologists and pain consultants, are allowed to prescribe it.
According to figures revealed by the Department of Health (DoH), patients in Lincolnshire have been prescribed Sativex on 28 occasions since August last year.
But NHS Lincolnshire said these prescriptions have been issued to "around three or four" patients taking the drug before it was licensed.
The health authority also said it had rejected Sativex because it had not yielded effective enough results to match the cost.
Stephen Gibson, head of prescribing and medicines management at NHS Lincolnshire, said: "We evaluated Sativex through our effectiveness forum and we felt it was of insufficiently high quality for us to approve it for use.
"We referred that decision to the East Midlands Specialising Commission Group who reached the same conclusion.
"It is not approved for use by any of the PCTs across the health authority.
"We have said that for new patients we don't feel there is enough strong evidence to support prescribing it.
"It is also more expensive than a whole range of other options we've reviewed."
Maureen Patten, manager of the Lincoln MS Therapy Centre in Outer Circle Drive, said: "There are around three or four people our physiotherapist knows of that have been refused the drug in the past, but we don't know the reasons why. When these drugs come out we often know about them in advance through MS forums.
"There was quite a big thing a few years ago with drugs called beta interferons which were said to be the wonder-drug for people with MS – but there were strict criteria. You had to be under 55 years old and have relapsing and not progressive MS.
"It meant it wasn't available for about half of sufferers.
"It's frustrating when drugs aren't available for people. There are quite a few drugs about to deal with MS, but the very strong ones can leave very strong side-affects.
"Other treatments include physiotherapy and having a drop-in centre like ours where people can talk with others with the same condition."
Andy Bazley, 49-years-old from Lincoln, is a sufferer of MS and was diagnosed four years ago.
He said: "All these drugs go through trials and none of them are deemed 100 per cent effective. There's always going to be different side-effects for different people – it depends on the individual and their symptoms.
"My choice is to continue with the quality of life I already have rather than putting it at risk by taking some kind of toxic drug."
I was one of the leaders being prescribed this for Pain management, it worked and also worked on many other chronic health conditions, resulting a better well being. the cost of medications for Arthritic conditions are more expensive than £11.00 per day.
ReplyDeleteTo withdraw funding for such a valuable medicine for those who have had failed allopathic regimes, giving the user a better quality of life, is tantamount to torture.