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Switzerland: ALS patients in clinical study with THC not allowed to continue to use drug after study |
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Until summer 2007 a clinical study on the use of THC in patients with amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis is being conducted at a hospital of St. Gallen. Study leader
Dr. Markus Weber noted that patients suffering from this degenerative disease
of the nerve system profit from the treatment, but he is not allowed to continue
the treatment his patients after completion of the study.
Weber fears that the patients' muscle spasms, which have been
reduced due to the treatment, will come back after the end of
the THC application. Many of his patients already asked him to
continue the treatment even if doctor and patient break the law
in doing so. The high costs of a therapy with synthetic THC are
affordable only by a few patients. Markus Weber is not the only
doctor who questions the prohibition of cannabis for medical
use. Dr. Thomas Cerny, professor for oncology at the hospital in
St. Gallen, regards the issue simply as a political absurdity.
More at: http://www.tagblatt.ch/index.php?artikelxml=1334614
(Source: St. Galler Tagblatt of 2 May 2007) |
