Zilos

Four hospitals and 60 pharmacies in the north-eastern Spanish region of Catalonia will distribute cannabis to patients suffering from Aids, cancer, multiple sclerosis or chronic pain of nervous origin, local media reported on Tuesday.

The Catalan regional government has agreed with the Spanish health ministry that patients not responding to conventional treatments may be prescribed capsules containing powder made of cannabis, the plant from which marijuana and hashish are made.

The one-year pioneering experiment, which follows a similar one in The Netherlands, is due to start mid-year.

Cannabis is believed to increase appetite in Aids patients, to reduce nausea and vomiting in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and to alleviate muscular pain caused by multiple sclerosis as well as chronic pain of nervous origin.

Marijuana is banned in Spain, but many people are already using it for medicinal purposes. Many of them smoke it instead of taking it orally, a method that can irritate and cause cancer of the respiratory tract, experts said.

The goal of the experiment is to monitor such patients and to allow others to benefit from the possible therapeutic effects of cannabis. -- Sapa-DPA

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SacredJellybean

Do I detect just a slight hint of bias against medical marijuana by the author? Why do the medicinal benefits of cannabis only exist subjectively? Maybe I'm only making a big deal out of nothing. I guarantee you, though, that if there weren't so many liars in the media that so vehemently discredit and dismiss the premise of medical marijuana, this would be presented as an objective fact.

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"Every age has its peculiar folly and if Charles Mackay, the author of the 19th century classic, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds were alive today he would surely see 'cannabinophobia' as a popular delusion along with the 'tulipmania' and 'witch hunts' of earlier ages. ... I also believe that future historians will look at this epoch and recognize it as another instance of the 'madness of crowds.'"
~Dr. Lester Grinspoon

Buzzby

Who are these unnamed "experts"? There is no evidence of anyone ever developing mouth, throat, or lung cancer from smoking marijuana alone.

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