Medicinal marijuana can relieve the suffering of those dying in great pain

FAIRFAXNZ

Many trials are continuing throughout the world into the use of medicinal marijuana

EDITORIAL:The use of medical cannabis is an issue that won't go away. The word has got out that it can relieve the agony of dying patients. So those patients and their families will use it, whatever anyone else might say.

A new report says medicinal cannabis helped ease the suffering of Alex Renton, 19, whose case received a lot of publicity last year. Alex had "status epilepticus", a terrible form of epilepsy, and was allowed to use Elixinol, a cannabidoil (CBD), for a short time before he died on July 1.

The product had no effect on Alex's underlying illness, says a report by Wellington Hospital doctors, and medical staff saw no improvement in his level of awareness. But its use was justified because it made him more comfortable.

"While the treatment was ultimately unsuccessful, we feel the use. ..was justified as it addressed an immutable need for the family who were forced to deal with a very tragic scenario," the report says.

And here is the point. The medicinal cannabis met a profound need, and his mother Rose had been secretly giving him Elixinol for weeks before Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne gave permission for its use.

Most parents would do exactly the same. If your dying child is suffering you won't wait for doctors or politicians to give you permission to use a drug that would relieve their pain. In this case permission was given only in June, shortly before Alex died.

Why the long delay? And why, many parents will wonder, is a politician involved in prescribing medicine? Dunne says the only reason his approval was needed was that Elixinol was not approved for use here.

Otherwise, he seems to be blaming the doctors, saying the fact they either choose not to, or are slow to use, such products "reflects their clinical judgment". He couldn't make them use cannabis-based products "just because a patient wants it".

Just why it took the system so long to help Alex remains unclear, but that is no use to his family and the family of others in his situation. It is hard to understand what objection there could be to using the drug in these circumstances.

For sick people whose condition is not terminal, the promise of "medical marijuana" is more mixed. The strongest evidence is for its use for chronic pain and muscle stiffness in multiple sclerosis, according to a comprehensive study of research on its potential benefits in the Journal of the American Medical Association last June.

But the study also found that medical marijuana had not been proven to work for many illnesses for which it had received state approval. The study authors suggested this meant that in some cases the enthusiasm for the drug had outpaced rigorous research. About half of the American states have laws allowing the use of medicinal marijuana.

Its use for the relief of distress among the dying is one thing. It is quite another to suppose that the very free use of marijuana will help cure or treat a range of real diseases without bad side effects.

The drug can be highly dangerous to the brains of young people, as the report's authors noted. On the wider front, therefore, the many clinical trials now being carried out on medicinal marijuana in different parts of the world are still clearly needed.