By
Claudia Tanner
Ireland is set to legalise the use of cannabis for treating specific medical conditions,
A
report commissioned by the Government said the drug could be given to
some patients with certain illnesses including multiple sclerosis and
severe epilepsy, and to offset the effects of chemotherapy.
The
Irish health minister, Simon Harris, said he would support the use of
medical cannabis 'where patients have not responded to other treatments
and there is some evidence that cannabis may be effective'.
Products
that contain cannabis-based ingredient cannabidiol, or CBD - a major a
phytocannabinoid - are to be classed as medicines by the UK medicines
regulator from this year.
The
Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had
looked at CBD because a number of manufacturing companies had been
making 'overt medicinal claims' about products.
People using the product in the UK get their supplies online in an unregulated and potentially unsafe market.
The
move by the MHRA means manufacturers will now need to demonstrate their
CBD products meet safety, quality and effectiveness standards.
In the US, more than two dozen states allow medical use of marijuana.
Federal
drug regulators have not approved marijuana itself, but they have
allowed man-made, chemically related medicines to treat loss of appetite
in people with AIDS, and nausea and vomiting caused by cancer
therapy.
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