Multiple Sclerosis Research Initiative Fund

FACT: Cannabis eases pain and muscle spasms for people with Multiple Sclerosis, and has been shown in trials to slow down the progression of MS and even aid in the repair of damaged Myelin.

Scottish Doctors Prescribe Cannabis On The NHS Feb 2008

Scottish doctors have started prescribing cannabis on the NHS before it is officially licensed in a bid to relieve the pain of multiple sclerosis sufferers. Medics, apparently frustrated by years of trials of medicinal cannabis, have decided to wait no longer and are legally obtaining the drug Sativex direct from the manufacturer. GW Pharmaceuticals announced in 2005 that it had been informed by the Home Office that the Drugs Minister, Paul Goggins, had confirmed that Sativex(R) oromucosal spray may be imported from Canada to satisfy its prescription to individual patients in the UK as an unlicensed medicine. This means that the prescribing of Sativex can only be permitted under Home Office licence. The Home Office has developed a licensing regime to fit these circumstances. Doctors are allowed to prescribe unlicensed drugs in the UK if they think it is in the best interest of their patient, but they are liable for any unforeseen consequences. Sativex contains two purified forms of cannabis and is considered highly effective at controlling the pain and spasms associated with MS. It contains an extra ingredient which prevents the patient getting a 'high'.

Patients have long campaigned for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Scotland's best-known campaigner was MS sufferer Biz Ivol, from Orkney, who died in 2004 after falling ill with a chest infection and refusing any further medication. Ivol was admonished at Kirkwall Sheriff Court in 1997 after she admitted growing 27 cannabis plants to relieve her pain. She produced cannabis chocolate bars, "cannachoc", for fellow sufferers. Last night Linda Hendry, spokeswoman for the Legalise Cannabis Campaign Scotland and a former acquaintance of Ivol, said Sativex could have saved Ivol's life.

Motion put forward in the Scottish Parliament, 18th June 2003:

That the Parliament sends its support and solidarity to Orkney woman Biz Ivol, who has highlighted the situation of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who need to seek medical supplies of cannabis to help alleviate their suffering; is seriously concerned about the health of all MS sufferers when the range of effective medical help that they have at their disposal does not include medical cannabis supplies; calls for greater financial resources to be allocated to help search for treatments that alleviate the symptoms of MS; believes that these treatments include the medical use of cannabis and further calls on Her Majesty’s Government to issue an immediate review of the law regarding the use of cannabis for medical purposes so that MS suffers like Biz Ivol are not treated like criminals.
(S2M-157 Colin Fox)
Supported by: Chris Ballance

Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael is calling for the law to be changed. He said: "It's ridiculous people looking for relief from pain from an incurable disease such as multiple sclerosis are left in a position where they are made criminals."

With medical marijuana, feds to quit being a pain By The Oregonian Editorial Board October 19, 2009, 5:52PM Eleven years after Oregonians voted to allow the cultivation and use of marijuana by prescription, the Justice Department finally has conceded the obvious: Drug agents have more important things to do than fight medicinal pot. However you feel about medical marijuana laws -- and our view is that they are widely exploited by pot growers and users, especially in California -- Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement Monday was a significant moment in the long campaign for a national law allowing medical marijuana use. The decision amounts to switching on a grow light for states to cultivate medical marijuana laws without interference from the federal government. Where all this ultimately leads is unclear, but it seems likely that one or more states -- perhaps including Oregon -- may vote in the next year or two on even broader legalization of marijuana. Besides Oregon, there are 13 states that have already legalized medical marijuana. But the new Justice Department guidelines are aimed primarily at California, which allows dispensaries that sell marijuana and advertise their services. Since June 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government could enforce federal marijuana laws even in states permitted medical marijuana, federal agents have conducted more than 200 raids in California alone. While we're not entirely comfortable with marijuana hazy new legal status, the Obama administration is right to conclude that raiding dispensaries and hassling dying cancer patients over their marijuana use isn't the best use of limited law enforcement resources. But we hope that Attorney General Holder meant what he said when he pledged that the Justice Department will continue to prosecute drug traffickers who "hide behind" laws on medical marijuana. Unlike California, Oregon doesn't allow dispensaries or any over-the-counter sales of marijuana. The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, which was approved in 1998, two years after California's law, permits the cultivation, possession and use of small amounts of marijuana by prescription by patients with certain medical conditions. As of Oct. 1, according to the Department of Human Services, which administers the law, 23,873 Oregonians held medical marijuana cards issued by the state. The permits allow them to possess six mature cannabis plants, 18 seedlings and 24 ounces of usable marijuana. About 7,000 of the permit holders reported suffering from muscle-spasm disorders such as multiple sclerosis. More than 1,000 have cancer. About 4,000 suffer from nausea. After all these years, the scientific debate over the medicinal qualities of marijuana is beside the point. There are tens of thousands of people in nearly a third of the U.S. states now using marijuana because they believe it relieves the symptoms of their illnesses. If there's a drug war to be fought and won, it's not with these people suffering from cancer or multiple sclerosis. It's with the violent Mexican drug cartels which are using the enormous profits from their marijuana and methamphetamine sales in the United States "

From Nathaniel in California:

In California we passed Proposition 215 which allows physicians to recommend the use of marijuana for medical purposes. They may not, however, prescribe it, so it's not as easy as going to the pharmacy just yet unfortunately. There are many medical marijuana co-ops all over the state. A patient goes to one, shows his/her medical marijuana ID card, and makes a purchase of medication. Governor Gray Davis signed SB 420 into law before leaving office. This gives patients better rights to their medicine, including a new state run medical marijuana ID card system that is voluntary. Currently, the clubs take ID cards from the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative, which is currently the official verifier of patients' recommendations from their doctor.

Politics outsmarts Science at the FDA

For a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) increasingly mired in controversies over the politicization of scientific and regulatory decisions, the agency's April 20, 2006 statement regarding medical use of marijuana may represent an all-time low point. Politics, it appears, has now completely trumped science at this once proudly independent agency. The FDA has announced that "no sound scientific studies" support the medical use of marijuana, contradicting an increasingly large body of scientific literature.

To those of us who do research in this area, this is a personal affront. Even the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's (DEA) own Administrative Law Judge, the Honorable Francis Young, stated in 1988, "Marijuana is the safest therapeutically active substance known to man..." He went on to say, "The evidence clearly shows that marijuana is capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. . .it would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance." Perhaps more remarkable were the conclusions of President Nixon's Shafer Commission, who were appointed to investigate marijuana's available scientific and medical evidence. To the shock and dismay of President Nixon, the Commission found enough evidence to recommend that marijuana be decriminalized.

Click here to read the rest of this article

From July 2001:

Canada is to become the first country to legalise possession of cannabis to chronically ill people - if it will help them cope with their conditions. From the end of this month, patients will be given photo identity cards stating they have a right to possess or grow the drug. This compassionate measure will improve the quality of life of sick Canadians, particularly those who are terminally ill. Patients have reported that cannabis helps to relieve the symptoms of a variety of diseases, including arthritis, cancer, Aids and multiple sclerosis. The Canadian health minister, Allan Rock, described the new regulations as a compassionate measure. But Hugh Scully, a former president of the Canadian medical association, criticised the move, saying that too little was known about possible harm from the drug.

In Britain, juries have acquitted defendants who say they have smoked the drug for medical purposes, even though the law does not allow it. The United States Supreme Court, on the other hand, recently ruled against moves in California to relax the law. Canada is now giving some patients the formal right to possess cannabis and to grow a limited number of plants. They will be able to apply if their doctors certify that they have a terminal illness or one of a number of specified medical conditions - and that conventional treatments have not worked.

The Canadian Government also plans to license a company in Saskatchewan to start growing cannabis legally. However, for the time being, there will be no legal way for sufferers to obtain the drug other than to grow it themselves, or to have it grown by a nominated friend or relative. Commercial production will continue to be a criminal offence. Officially, the new rules have no implications for the law in Canada on recreational use of cannabis. But there, as in many countries, the pros and cons of de-criminalisation are being hotly debated.


		On this page: CCSVI - an amazing new discovery Blood Test Could Predict Course Of MS Major Step Forward Epstein Barr Virus and MS SF-1019 Shortfall In Funding Metals Link To MS More Children Diagnosed With MS MBP8298 MS Drugs a "Waste Of Money" Cannabis and MS
		*"If we don't change what we are doing in research, we'll be in the same place in 10 years."* Art Mellor, The Accelerated Cure Project
		Dr. Paolo Zamboni's revolutionary discovery Dr. Paolo Zamboni, Santa Anna, in Ferrara, Italy, suggests that MS is not, as widely believed, an autoimmune condition, but a vascular disease. More radical still, the experimental surgery he performed on his wife offers hope that MS can be cured and even largely prevented. “I am confident that this could be a revolution for the research and diagnosis of multiple sclerosis,” Dr. Zamboni said in an interview. Using ultrasound to examine the vessels leading in and out of the brain, Dr. Zamboni made a startling find: In more than 90 per cent of people with multiple sclerosis, including his spouse, the veins draining blood from the brain were malformed or blocked. In people without MS, they were not. More striking still was that, when Dr. Zamboni performed a simple operation to unclog veins and get blood flowing normally again, many of the symptoms of MS disappeared. The procedure is similar to angioplasty, in which a catheter is threaded into the groin and up into the arteries, where a balloon is inflated to clear the blockages. His wife, who had the surgery three years ago, has not had an attack since. The researcher's theory is simple: that the underlying cause of MS is a condition he has dubbed “chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency.” If you tackle CCSVI by repairing the drainage problems from the brain, you can successfully treat, or better still prevent, the disease. “If this is proven correct, it will be a very, very big discovery because we'll completely change the way we think about MS, and how we'll treat it,” said Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, an associate professor of neurology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Another researcher, Mark Haacke, an adjunct professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, is urging patients to send him MRI scans of their heads and necks so he can probe the Zamboni theory further. Dr. Haacke is a world-renowned expert in imaging who has developed a method of measuring iron buildup in the brain. “Patients need to speak up and say they want something like this investigated … to see if there's credence to the theory,” he said. While he is convinced of the significance of his discovery, Dr. Zamboni recognizes that medicine is slow to accept new theories and even slower to act on them. Regardless, he can take satisfaction in knowing that the woman who inspired the quest, and perhaps a dramatic breakthrough, has benefited tremendously. Dr. Zamboni's wife, Elena, has undergone a battery of scans and neurological tests and her multiple sclerosis is, for all intents and purposes, gone. “This is probably the best prize of the research,” he said. Link to the full article Watch a news report on Dr. Zamboni's discovery
		Blood test could predict course of MS. Sept 2009 Scientists have discovered a blood test that could predict the course of MS, or even indicate who is likely to develop the condition after a first MS-like attack. The results of the study suggest that differing antibody levels produced in response to the common Epstein Barr Virus (EBV), may predict the course of MS. If proven in further studies, this would be the first credible biological indicator, or biomarker, identified for MS that could predict disability progression from a simple blood test. The innovative work was carried out at the Institute of Neurology, UCL and the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, Barts and The London. It is hoped the findings will aid the development of better ways to predict who goes on to develop MS after initial MS-like symptoms and help in identifying more effective therapies for the 100,000 people living with MS in the UK. The paper's lead author, Clinical Research Fellow Dr Rachel Farrell, said: "All the participants in our study had previous history of infection with EBV, which has been shown in other studies and is not surprising given that a large majority of the adult population is infected with EBV. "What was surprising is that the levels of a molecule in the blood called anti-EBNA-1 IgG, induced by the virus, were associated with the activity of MS. "The results of this work show that those participants who had new areas of MS damage in the brain also had high levels of the anti-EBNA-1 IgG molecule in their blood. "In addition, participants with higher levels of EBNA-1 in the bloodstream were more likely to have an increase over time in the disability associated with MS." The researchers received funding of nearly GBP 35,000 from the MS Society's Innovation Research grant scheme and looked at 100 participants, 50 of whom had a single MS-like attack but no diagnosis of MS, 25 people with relapsing remitting MS and 25 with primary progressive MS. They tested participants for evidence of EBV infection in the blood and also looked for anti-EBNA-1 IgG and other EBV induced antibodies. MRI brain scans of each participant were taken over a five year period and the scientists also measured disability progression. The authors of the study, published in the journal Neurology, concluded that anti-EBNA-1 IgG is a potential biomarker in MS that might be useful in predicting disability and progression. They added that the work needed to be validated in larger studies and in combination with other as yet unidentified biomarkers.
		Epstein Barr Virus and MS Sept 2009 Over the last 40 years, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been repeatedly associated with multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases. During the 2nd European Congress of Immunology ECI 2009 held in Berlin, Francesca Aloisi, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, will present new data that further support the link. In the brain lesions of patients with multiple sclerosis her team found abnormal accumulation of EBV infected B lymphocytes. Similar findings were made in the pathological tissues of patients with other autoimmune diseases. Viruses have always attracted the interest of immunologists as possible triggers of autoimmune diseases due to their ability to interfere with the host’s immune system. One of the most ubiquitous viruses, EBV, which infects up to 95 % of the human population worldwide, has been repeatedly associated with multiple sclerosis through epidemiological and serological studies, but direct proof of its involvement was missing. The virus has the ability to hide in a particular population of immune cells, the B lymphocytes, remaining in a relatively dormant state for the entire life of the host. However, when not properly controlled by the immune system, EBV can reactivate causing tumours. At the end of 2007, Aloisi and co-workers showed that EBV is present in brain lesions of patients with multiple sclerosis and that the virus is brought into the central nervous system by B lymphocytes, which behave as Trojan horses for the virus. They also showed that the infected B cells present in the brain become the target of an immune attack, thus promoting the chronic inflammation which leads to tissue destruction. „This raises the suspicion that EBV and its Trojan horses are the main cause of brain damage in multiple sclerosis“, Aloisi says. The scientists demonstrated that abnormal accumulation of EBV infected B lymphocytes is also found in pathological tissues in other autoimmune diseases. „These findings reinforce the long-held view that EBV might be involved in several autoimmune diseases and represent a step forward in the effort to understand the mechanisms underlying the development of autoimmunity. One of the main challenges for the future will be to understand whether preventing or counteracting EBV infection will have a beneficial impact on autoimmune diseases.”
		SF-1019 A small number of patients in the Secondary Progressive and Chronic stages of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) have benefited from being treated with SF1019. The purpose of SF 1019 is to be used as a first line of defense by mainstream medical practitioners for the treatment of conditions related to Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), Diabetic Neuropathy (DN), Diabetic Ulcers (DU), Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSD or RSDS), also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), and to educate those affected by these diseases once SF-1019 has been proven to be effective and has received appropriate regulatory approvals. SF-1019 is the platform technology of Argyll Biotechnologies. It was developed from extensive research into Biological Response Modifiers (BRMs) undertaken at: Mississippi State University; St George's, University of London (formerly St George's Hospital Medical School); Ohio University; and Methodist Hospital. Listen to Alan Osmond talk about SF-1019 Argyll Bio Technologies UK
		Major Step Forward Sept 2009
		Scientists say that they have taken “a major step forward” in understanding how to reduce the severity of multiple sclerosis (MS), a university claims. Tests on mice found that the brain chemical galanin can significantly reduce the seriousness of the disease, which attacks the central nervous system. Experiments with the molecule on human brain tissue suggest that it could have the same effect on people. The researchers at the University of Bristol said that further study was needed but that potentially a drug could be developed within ten years. They found that mice with high levels of galanin were resistant to the MS-like disease, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). David Wynick, who works on the function of galanin in the relief of neuropathic pain, initiated the project and worked with David Wraith and Neil Scolding on the research. Scientists believe the key to the currently incurable condition may lie in galanin, a neuropeptide or small protein-like molecule that influences the brain’s activity. They found that mice with a large amount of galanin became “completely resistant” to the EAE, but mice that had no galanin at all developed a more severe form. They then carried out tests on human brain tissue already affected by MS and found that galanin repaired some of the damage seen in acute sufferers of the condition. Professor Wraith, who is working on a vaccine for the prevention and treatment of MS, commented: “The results were really remarkable: rarely do you see such a dramatic effect as this.” A spokeswoman for the university said that although the results were “very encouraging” there was still much work to be done before a drug could be developed and it could be at least ten years before one was on the market. She said the team were now expected to seek the “substantial” funding needed to advance their findings.
		Shortfall in Funds
		Scientists supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC) are experiencing shortfalls in funds for their research, after awards to large new projects has left the council unable to award many grants. The MRC, a distributor of government funds for research, provides money for projects given top rating, but some 36 projects will not receive funding.The MRC’s chief executive, George Radda, says it has been a difficult year for applicants, and the MRC are sorry not to have been able to fund more.
		Metals link to multiple sclerosis (February 2006)
		Multiple sclerosis could be linked to difficulty in processing iron and aluminium, a study has suggested. Scientists at Keele University, Staffordshire, compared levels of the metals in the urine of people with MS and others without the condition. Significantly higher levels than expected were found in both groups. The study compared 10 MS patients with the relapsing-remitting form of the disorder and 10 who had the more advanced secondary progressive form with 20 people who did not have MS. They looked at iron levels because the metal has been linked with the facilitation and acceleration of oxygenated damage. It was found that iron levels were significantly higher in people with MS, particularly so in those with the secondary progressive form. People with the relapsing-remitting form of MS were found to have very high levels of aluminium - up to 40 times those seen in the group who did not have MS. The levels are as high as those seen in people with a condition known as aluminium intolerance. Dr Christopher Exley, a bio-organic chemist at Keele, who ran the study, said: "We know from animal studies that myelin is the preferred target for aluminium. "As myelin breaks down, something called myelin basic protein is found in urine. "It could be that aluminium is coming out with that. We are going to do further tests to see if that is the case." The present understanding is that developing MS is due to a combination of having a genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. Dr Exley said: "We hypothesise that susceptibility genes may have something to do with how iron is metabolised in the body - something may be going wrong. "And it may be that aluminium is a previously unrecognised factor that exacerbates that problem, which then manifests itself in some as MS."
		More Children Diagnosed With Multiple Sclerosis Multiple sclerosis is showing up in a growing number of children, many younger than age 10. Experts believe as many as 25,000 children in the UK and the United States have MS but are undiagnosed. Neurologists have traditionally believed the disorder was most likely to strike people between the ages of 20 and 40. But in a recent study of 21 children with MS, researchers at the State University of New York-Stony Brook found that the disorder can occur very early in life. One child in the study was diagnosed at age six. Insufficient awareness about pediatric MS means many children don't get an early diagnosis. In addition, drugs used to treat adults with the illness have not been tested in children, but many doctors say they are using them anyway because there's nothing else.

		MBP8298
		BioMS Medical Corp, a leading developer in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, announces that the first patients have been enrolled in its pivotal Phase II/III clinical trial of MBP8298, a proprietary synthetic peptide for the treatment of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, which affects approximately 40% of MS patients worldwide. The trial is expected to enroll up to 553 patients and will be a double-blind, placebo-controlled study involving multiple trial sites. Patients will be administered either MBP8298 or placebo intravenously every six months for a period of two years. "This trial has been designed to confirm the efficacy and safety shown by MBP8298 in previous clinical trials, particularly in patients with specific genetic profiles often associated with MS. We also anticipate gathering additional data regarding the potential of this treatment in patients with other types of MS," said Dr. Leopold Arfors, Medical Director. Further information regarding the enrollment of patients can be found at the company's website at http://www.biomsmedical.com

		MS Drugs 'a Waste of Money'
		Scientists are questioning the effectiveness of multiple sclerosis drugs Beta Interferon and Glatiramer Acetate. Interferons have been used widely for the treatment of MS for almost a decade, and are available, along with glatiramer acetate, for this use free of charge from many national health services. However, the long-term effectiveness of both drugs has not been confirmed and any beneficial effects might be outweighed by their side effects and high costs. In an analysis of trials conducted so far on the use of interferon in patients with the relapsing-remitting form of MS, interferon had a “modest” protective effect during the first year of treatment. However, results could not be determined for the second year due to		trial weaknesses, including high dropout rates and little to no follow-up of patients, and differences in reporting of methods. Side effects were greater among patients taking interferon than those taking a placebo. Flu-like symptoms were common and the occurrence of leucopenia, raised liver enzymes in blood, lymphocytopenia, and thrombocytopenia was higher than controls. Scientists conclude that while interferon may have a modest effect during the first year of treatment, its effectiveness beyond one year is not known. Despite this, patients are commonly treated with interferon for long time periods. Scientists say that the drug’s effectiveness should be assessed.

		FACT: Cannabis eases pain and muscle spasms for people with Multiple Sclerosis, and has been shown in trials to slow down the progression of MS and even aid in the repair of damaged Myelin. Scottish Doctors Prescribe Cannabis On The NHS Feb 2008 Scottish doctors have started prescribing cannabis on the NHS before it is officially licensed in a bid to relieve the pain of multiple sclerosis sufferers. Medics, apparently frustrated by years of trials of medicinal cannabis, have decided to wait no longer and are legally obtaining the drug Sativex direct from the manufacturer. GW Pharmaceuticals announced in 2005 that it had been informed by the Home Office that the Drugs Minister, Paul Goggins, had confirmed that Sativex(R) oromucosal spray may be imported from Canada to satisfy its prescription to individual patients in the UK as an unlicensed medicine. This means that the prescribing of Sativex can only be permitted under Home Office licence. The Home Office has developed a licensing regime to fit these circumstances. Doctors are allowed to prescribe unlicensed drugs in the UK if they think it is in the best interest of their patient, but they are liable for any unforeseen consequences. Sativex contains two purified forms of cannabis and is considered highly effective at controlling the pain and spasms associated with MS. It contains an extra ingredient which prevents the patient getting a 'high'. Patients have long campaigned for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Scotland's best-known campaigner was MS sufferer Biz Ivol, from Orkney, who died in 2004 after falling ill with a chest infection and refusing any further medication. Ivol was admonished at Kirkwall Sheriff Court in 1997 after she admitted growing 27 cannabis plants to relieve her pain. She produced cannabis chocolate bars, "cannachoc", for fellow sufferers. Last night Linda Hendry, spokeswoman for the Legalise Cannabis Campaign Scotland and a former acquaintance of Ivol, said Sativex could have saved Ivol's life. Motion put forward in the Scottish Parliament, 18th June 2003: That the Parliament sends its support and solidarity to Orkney woman Biz Ivol, who has highlighted the situation of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who need to seek medical supplies of cannabis to help alleviate their suffering; is seriously concerned about the health of all MS sufferers when the range of effective medical help that they have at their disposal does not include medical cannabis supplies; calls for greater financial resources to be allocated to help search for treatments that alleviate the symptoms of MS; believes that these treatments include the medical use of cannabis and further calls on Her Majesty’s Government to issue an immediate review of the law regarding the use of cannabis for medical purposes so that MS suffers like Biz Ivol are not treated like criminals. (S2M-157 Colin Fox) Supported by: Chris Ballance Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael is calling for the law to be changed. He said: "It's ridiculous people looking for relief from pain from an incurable disease such as multiple sclerosis are left in a position where they are made criminals." With medical marijuana, feds to quit being a pain By The Oregonian Editorial Board October 19, 2009, 5:52PM Eleven years after Oregonians voted to allow the cultivation and use of marijuana by prescription, the Justice Department finally has conceded the obvious: Drug agents have more important things to do than fight medicinal pot. However you feel about medical marijuana laws -- and our view is that they are widely exploited by pot growers and users, especially in California -- Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement Monday was a significant moment in the long campaign for a national law allowing medical marijuana use. The decision amounts to switching on a grow light for states to cultivate medical marijuana laws without interference from the federal government. Where all this ultimately leads is unclear, but it seems likely that one or more states -- perhaps including Oregon -- may vote in the next year or two on even broader legalization of marijuana. Besides Oregon, there are 13 states that have already legalized medical marijuana. But the new Justice Department guidelines are aimed primarily at California, which allows dispensaries that sell marijuana and advertise their services. Since June 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government could enforce federal marijuana laws even in states permitted medical marijuana, federal agents have conducted more than 200 raids in California alone. While we're not entirely comfortable with marijuana hazy new legal status, the Obama administration is right to conclude that raiding dispensaries and hassling dying cancer patients over their marijuana use isn't the best use of limited law enforcement resources. But we hope that Attorney General Holder meant what he said when he pledged that the Justice Department will continue to prosecute drug traffickers who "hide behind" laws on medical marijuana. Unlike California, Oregon doesn't allow dispensaries or any over-the-counter sales of marijuana. The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, which was approved in 1998, two years after California's law, permits the cultivation, possession and use of small amounts of marijuana by prescription by patients with certain medical conditions. As of Oct. 1, according to the Department of Human Services, which administers the law, 23,873 Oregonians held medical marijuana cards issued by the state. The permits allow them to possess six mature cannabis plants, 18 seedlings and 24 ounces of usable marijuana. About 7,000 of the permit holders reported suffering from muscle-spasm disorders such as multiple sclerosis. More than 1,000 have cancer. About 4,000 suffer from nausea. After all these years, the scientific debate over the medicinal qualities of marijuana is beside the point. There are tens of thousands of people in nearly a third of the U.S. states now using marijuana because they believe it relieves the symptoms of their illnesses. If there's a drug war to be fought and won, it's not with these people suffering from cancer or multiple sclerosis. It's with the violent Mexican drug cartels which are using the enormous profits from their marijuana and methamphetamine sales in the United States " From Nathaniel in California: In California we passed Proposition 215 which allows physicians to recommend the use of marijuana for medical purposes. They may not, however, prescribe it, so it's not as easy as going to the pharmacy just yet unfortunately. There are many medical marijuana co-ops all over the state. A patient goes to one, shows his/her medical marijuana ID card, and makes a purchase of medication. Governor Gray Davis signed SB 420 into law before leaving office. This gives patients better rights to their medicine, including a new state run medical marijuana ID card system that is voluntary. Currently, the clubs take ID cards from the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative, which is currently the official verifier of patients' recommendations from their doctor. Politics outsmarts Science at the FDA For a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) increasingly mired in controversies over the politicization of scientific and regulatory decisions, the agency's April 20, 2006 statement regarding medical use of marijuana may represent an all-time low point. Politics, it appears, has now completely trumped science at this once proudly independent agency. The FDA has announced that "no sound scientific studies" support the medical use of marijuana, contradicting an increasingly large body of scientific literature. To those of us who do research in this area, this is a personal affront. Even the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's (DEA) own Administrative Law Judge, the Honorable Francis Young, stated in 1988, "Marijuana is the safest therapeutically active substance known to man..." He went on to say, "The evidence clearly shows that marijuana is capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. . .it would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance." Perhaps more remarkable were the conclusions of President Nixon's Shafer Commission, who were appointed to investigate marijuana's available scientific and medical evidence. To the shock and dismay of President Nixon, the Commission found enough evidence to recommend that marijuana be decriminalized. Click here to read the rest of this article From July 2001: Canada is to become the first country to legalise possession of cannabis to chronically ill people - if it will help them cope with their conditions. From the end of this month, patients will be given photo identity cards stating they have a right to possess or grow the drug. This compassionate measure will improve the quality of life of sick Canadians, particularly those who are terminally ill. Patients have reported that cannabis helps to relieve the symptoms of a variety of diseases, including arthritis, cancer, Aids and multiple sclerosis. The Canadian health minister, Allan Rock, described the new regulations as a compassionate measure. But Hugh Scully, a former president of the Canadian medical association, criticised the move, saying that too little was known about possible harm from the drug. In Britain, juries have acquitted defendants who say they have smoked the drug for medical purposes, even though the law does not allow it. The United States Supreme Court, on the other hand, recently ruled against moves in California to relax the law. Canada is now giving some patients the formal right to possess cannabis and to grow a limited number of plants. They will be able to apply if their doctors certify that they have a terminal illness or one of a number of specified medical conditions - and that conventional treatments have not worked. The Canadian Government also plans to license a company in Saskatchewan to start growing cannabis legally. However, for the time being, there will be no legal way for sufferers to obtain the drug other than to grow it themselves, or to have it grown by a nominated friend or relative. Commercial production will continue to be a criminal offence. Officially, the new rules have no implications for the law in Canada on recreational use of cannabis. But there, as in many countries, the pros and cons of de-criminalisation are being hotly debated.