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Coolguy

Patient died during cannabis drug trial
Russell Jenkins | Times Online | 12/13/2005

A woman taking part in trials of an experimental cannabis-based drug appeared drunk and became so confused that she was admitted to hospital where she later died, an inquest was told yesterday.

Rene Anderson, 69, of Frecheville, Sheffield, was prescribed the drug Sativex by researchers to ease pain caused by diabetes. She developed pneumonia, respiratory problems and died of kidney failure, the hearing in Sheffield was told.

Some patients claim that cannabis-based medicines relieve their symptoms and ease pain but Sativex has yet to win a licence in Britain, pending further data from GW Pharmaceuticals, its manufacturer. It has been licensed in Canada and can be used in Britain under special licence from the Home Office, and at a doctor’s discretion.

Yesterday the Royal College of Physicians said that more clinical trials were needed into cannabis-based medicines, which appeared to be beneficial in some cases.

Christopher Dorries, the coroner, said at the start of yesterday’s hearing that its purpose was to decide whether there was a “clear or direct link” between the patient’s death and the drug.

Mrs Anderson had suffered from diabetic neuropathy, a complication of diabetes that causes extreme pain and numbness in the limbs. She was considered to be a suitable candidate for the trial to find out whether the condition would respond to a cannabis-based drug. Soloman Tesfaye, the consultant in charge of the trial, told the inquest that he had wanted to test claims made by users of cannabis.

Mrs Anderson was on the trial drug for 23 days. Dr Tesfaye said that on the third day he learnt that things were “not quite right”. Her family complained that she appeared to be in a state of confusion, as if she were drunk. The drugs company advised reducing the dose, and the symptoms appeared to dissipate. But 18 days into the trial, Jackie Sadler, the patient’s daughter, told reseachers that her mother was behaving strangely. Mrs Anderson was admitted to hospital several days later after a series of hypoglycaemic attacks. She died on March 3 last year.

John Shortland, the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem examination, said he understood that Mrs Anderson’s mental condition and mobility had changed after taking the trial drug.

He was asked whether there was a relationship between Mrs Anderson’s mental problems and the physical “shut-down” that occured while she was in hospital. Dr Shortland said: “There was a progressive decline and worsening of her general condition. She developed acute renal failure that required dialysis. I can only say that the two came together”.

The inquest is expected to hear evidence from experts in cannabis psychosis, a condition that is seen in some users of the drug. Sativex contains two chemicals found in cannabis: tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidol.


coolguy note: I really dislike the misleading headline here. Why does the title read "Cannabis" and not "Sativex"? It also implies the drug trial is what killed her..

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vladimir

not a doctor on any level, but:
i have seen people with diabetes when their system accidentally gets outta whack, as in, their blood sugar levels drop suddenly. they appear "drunk and confused," as described in the article. i dont know anything about her case of diabetes, but this sounds familiar with normal diabetics.
also, she was on a trial to determine whether or NOT sativex would help her condition...maybe it did nothing, and she just died because of implications of her diabetes that had nothing to do with whether or not she had been taking sativex.

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If a drug (or technique or process) were ever to be discovered which would consistently produce a plus four experience in all human beings, it is conceivable that it would signal the ultimate evolution, and perhaps the end of, the human experiment.

urania3

The most misleading statement of the whole article is the final one, "Sativex contains two chemicals found in cannabis: tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidol." This is a false statement by omission. Sativex is an extracted drug, not a synthesized one, and contains co-extracted plant extract as well.

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Why is it that we cannot face the simple truth? Religion is at best unsubstantiated superstition. (Massimo Pigliucci)

Buzzby

The title refers to a "cannabis drug". Sativex, being a whole-cannabis extract, would rightly be called a "cannabis drug".

A 69-year-old diabetic dying from pneumonia, respiratory problems, and kidney failure would be no surprise to me. Trying to connect it to sativex seems ludicrous when marijuana, from which it's extracted, has not been known to cause any of these problems.

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Cassius

The ignorant can connect it by way of thinking to themselves, "well smoking marijuana causes respiratory problems, therefore marijuana causes respiratory problems."

If we did a better job of educating our public, they would see through such obvious causality fallacies. However, we don't. We keep our citizens ignorant sheep, so that they can be sheared many time over by those really in the know, the wealthy.

Down with the bourgiouse! Up with the proletariat!

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{ Cassius, Your Humble Narrator }
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Gkat13

This whole article seems like a whole bunch of non-sense thrown together so they can say MJ is a killer. They have so much trouble trying to prove that MJ IS in fact harmful. So I guess now they have to make stuff up. Connect things that, in reality, have no real conection. It's lovely isn't it?

killer12382

OMG....the first death from killer weed. The DEA was right all along. They said she died a horrible death....thats what marijuana does to you. Mini-strokes and convulsions then DEATH.

TheNewGuy

I think its time we all stopped smoking/eating/vaping marijuana now that they've proven that it can kill one person every several thousand years. Oh wait, they didn't even prove that it had anything to do with this persons death, or that its ever been the direct cause of someone's death for as long as humankind has been keeping records? Nevermind, keep toking

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"Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power." ~P.J. O'Rourke

killer12382

The DEA says its just the tip of the iceberg. Our childrens and grandchildrens lives are at stake.....we need to stay away from the WEED OF DEATH!!!!!

king cola

If they want to blame Sativex for her dying, then they cannot blame marijuana. Sativex is a manufatured drug controlled by the pharmaceuticals, they have killed thousands of people with the drugs they have made and marketed. People who have smoked marijuana have never died from it, then people also have the option of cooking the pot in food and eating it, again no deaths. I read about an experiment where someone had been monitored, had eatin a lot of marijuana, they became very sick for a few days and had bad nightmares(hallucinating) but eventually recovered and didn't die.

If she did die from Sativex and not anything else, people need to remember that it wasn't bud from a plant she had consumed, the drug companies were the ones that manufactured it using extracts from marijuana and who knows what else it's made with. If it only has 2 cannabis chemicals in it, marijuana itself has about 60 if not more chemicals that are beneficial for medical use and the 2 chemicals she was getting from it might have not been the right ones she needed.