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All the Marijuana news that DOESN'T fit on its' own page!
Bayer backs GW's cannabis drug
By Stephen Foley 22 May 2003
GW Pharmaceuticals, the little drug group developing painkillers made from cannabis, has won the backing of one of Europe's biggest pharmaceutical companies for its under-the-tongue spray.
Bayer, the German company famed for discovering aspirin, has signed up to sell GW's drug in the UK in a deal that could be worth up to £25m. GW will also be keeping more than 40 per cent of the profits from future sales.
GW will get most of the £25m from Bayer when its painkiller - to be called Sativex - is approved by the medical authorities in the UK.
GW is so confident of approval that it will borrow against those future milestones as it readies its manufacturing for the launch, which could come next year. The company cultivates cannabis in a giant greenhouse at a secret location in the UK, and has a back-up contract with another secret grower.
Geoffrey Guy, GW's founder and chairman, said Sativex would be a prescription-only spray for treating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and severe neuropathic pain.
He said: "The deal with Bayer is a third-party endorsement of what we have been up to. Someone of the standing of Bayer has done due diligence over the last four or five months and has validated our systems and that we are a pharmaceutical company capable of supplying them."
GW shares, which were 2.5p higher at 234.5p yesterday, have run up in recent weeks amid speculation that a marketing deal with a European drugs giant was imminent. Early talks with GlaxoSmithKline, the UK's number one pharmaceutical group, failed when GSK decided it did not want to be associated with a drug derived from cannabis.
Medicinal cannabis trial approved
By Megan Saunders and Monica Videnieks 21May03
THE nation's first trial of cannabis for medical relief will begin in NSW by the end of the year, a move that Premier Bob Carr said yesterday would stop decent people feeling like criminals.
Mr Carr seized on the pleas from a 62-year-old bowel cancer sufferer and an 80-year-old prostate cancer sufferer, who used the drug to relieve pain and nausea, to push the scheme in parliament.
"No decent government can stand by while fellow Australians suffer like that, while ordinary people feel like criminals for simply medicating themselves," he said during question time.
Under the four-year plan, the Government will establish a new Office of Medicinal Cannabis within the Health Department.
Patients would have to register annually and would need a doctor's certificate advising that conventional treatment would not relieve their suffering.
People with minor convictions for personal drug use would be eligible to apply. But those with more serious drug convictions, or who are on parole, pregnant or under 18, would be banned.
People suffering from cancer and AIDS, nausea from chemotherapy, severe and chronic pain, spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis would be eligible.
But the questions of who will pay for the drug, and its form of distribution, are yet to be finalised. A draft bill will be presented to parliament within weeks.
Options include tablets and a special cannabis inhaler being trialled in Britain.
In authorising medicinal cannabis use, NSW will be joining countries such as the US, Canada and The Netherlands.
The plan, which follows a working party on the issue in 2000, was approved by cabinet on Monday and is understood to have received the broad approval of caucus yesterday.
It also drew in-principle support from Liberal leader John Brodgen and National Party leader Andrew Stoner, with strict conditions. The NSW Greens wanted the trial to be expanded to include children dying of degenerative disease, and for non-hallucinogenic varieties to be used.
The announcement had the support of HIV sufferer Justin Brash, who began using cannabis in 1988 after his infection was diagnosed, in the hope of ending his nausea and restoring his appetite.
"I was down to 58kg and I was vomiting about six times a day," he said yesterday. "Then a friend suggested I try some marijuana. Soon after I had a smoke, the nausea was gone and I ate two bowls of noodles within about 20 minutes.
"I'm now up to a healthy 75kg and I believe that's because I'm smoking cannabis, but I'm not happy about having to use the black market to make me feel less ill."
Mr Brash, 47, said he was relieved the NSW Government had recognised the plight of sufferers of serious and terminal illnesses by offering them medicinal cannabis for pain and nausea relief.
This report appears on news.com.au.
Giants DT Charged With Possession
New York Giants defensive tackle Keith Hamilton was charged with possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled dangerous substance in a motor vehicle and consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle after his car was stopped Thursday for having tinted windows in Trenton, N.J.
Hamilton was released on his own recognizance, and the charges will be referred to the Morris County prosecutor, authorities said Friday.
# Green Bay Packers defensive end Joe Johnson was charged with marijuana possession Thursday after a deputy saw his car stopped on the highway in Tifton, Ga.
Johnson posted bond of $1,625 and was released from jail Thursday, sheriff's Capt. Bobby Brannen said.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — One of the stars of MTV’s "Jackass" was arrested in Sweden after saying he swallowed a condom filled with marijuana, police said Friday.
Stephen Glover — known as Steve-O on the defunct series — was arrested Thursday after police raided his hotel room in Stockholm. Glover and other "Jackass" regulars had performed their "Don’t Try This at Home" show in the Swedish capital Wednesday night.
Prosecutor Gunnar Fjaestad said the raid happened after Glover said he swallowed the condom as a stunt.
Jason Berk, Glover’s attorney in the United States, said Friday the arrest was a "major misunderstanding and a failure to differentiate between the person and his art. There’s nothing evidencing that he had any involvement with drugs other than entertaining e-mails sent to his fans and outlandish statements made to the press."
On his Web site, Glover, 28, wrote that he swallowed the condom and was "stoned as can be and overjoyed with the success" of the stunt. The entry was dated May 22.
Fjaestad said an X-ray of Glover’s body showed a "foreign object" in his stomach. Police also reported finding an Ecstasy pill and more marijuana in his hotel room.
©New Haven Register 2003