Top-secret Cannabis Ready For Medicinal Harvest

Britain's first crop of government-licensed cannabis is to be harvested secretly for medical research this week by a specially vetted team of mature botanists. No younger staff were employed to grow the crop because of fears that they might be tempted to mix business with pleasure.

Trials on up to 2,000 people will begin once medicine has been distilled from the plants in the spring, in the hope of developing treatments for illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.

The crop has been guarded round the clock as hundreds of fully potent plants have reached 8ft in the past four months. No one but the Home Office and the staff of GW Pharmaceuticals know the location of the greenhouse in southern England.

Geoffrey Guy, chairman of the company, holds the only licence for growing the controlled drug for medical research, and the trials will take several years. Next week the Government is set to approve guidelines for a separate series of trials by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Dr Guy said that Britain was alone in its pragmatic and open-minded approach to research of the drug. "We enjoy a very liberal research environment," he said. "Our first objective is to get research done, not to find a thousand reasons to block it."

Botanists chose ten varieties for the first crop, aimed at getting a high yield of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). The estimated 1,000 MS sufferers who use cannabis illegally buy a product high in THC, the pyschoactive ingredient liked by recreational users for its euphoric and drowsy effects.

Scientists are also interested in CBD as it is believed to reduce the side-effects of THC and be useful in treating strokes and epilepsy. Dr Guy said: "Eventually we aim to breed a special MS variety or epilepsy variety."

After the harvest, the plants will be hung up to dry, then processed to produce a treacly liquid. This is cleaned up and can be modified into a thinner liquid for use in inhalers.

Copyright 1998 Times Newspapers Ltd

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