Harvest Time For Legally Grown Cannabis

Great Britain -- The first licensed crop of cannabis plants to be grown in Britain is now being harvested at a secret location, it was revealed yesterday.

The initial crop of 5,000 plants will be used for research into medicinal uses of the drug, which campaigners believe can relieve the symptoms of conditions including multiple sclerosis and glaucoma.

The 8ft tall plants, which have been growing in a climate-controlled glasshouse at a secure research facility in the south of England, are being cut off just above the stem and hung up to dry before transfer to the laboratory.

Eventually as many as 20,000 plants will be cultivated by GW Pharmaceuticals, the company granted a Home Office licence to grow the plant for research purposes.

Dr Geoffrey Guy, the chairman of GW Pharmaceuticals, said: "The plants we are harvesting now will be used for prototype further extraction studies and prototype formulations as well as in our initial clinical trials.

"By the end of 1999 we intend to be working with pharmaceutical grade extracts from cloned plants rather than growing from seed. We will then be growing and harvesting on a regular basis."

The cannabis seeds were sown in August after the company was granted two licences, allowing them both to cultivate the drug and to possess and supply it for medical research.

The licences were only granted after extensive consultation with the Home Office and the Department of Health.

The move followed a groundswell of opinion backing the use of derivatives of cannabis, known as cannabinoids, for medicinal use. The British Medical Association is among those who have backed trials of cannabinoids in treating the symptoms of illness.

After the plants have been dried, they will be processed to produce a thick treacle-like liquid, which will then be thinned so that it can be used in inhalers.

Dr Guy said: "Clinical trials will commence in spring 1999 and eventually involve up to 2,000 patients in 18 to 24 months time. We will be using whole plant extracts for delivery by inhalation since this is far more precise and controllable than the oral route. The first area of study in patients will concern the relief of nerve damage pain including sufferers of multiple sclerosis."

Hundreds of MS sufferers are known to use cannabis illegally to relieve their symptoms. They tend to buy a product which is rich in THC, the compound which induces the high associated with the drug.

GW Pharmaceuticals grew particularly potent plants rich in THC and cannabidiol (CBD), which could provide a treatment for strokes and epilepsy.

The plants have been under constant electronic surveillance. A GW Pharmaceuticals spokesman said older staff had been employed deliberately. "It was thought that they would have a more mature attitude and be less mesmerised by the whole thing," he said. "They would be less likely to give in to peer pressure if their friends found out where they were working."

As the project progresses, Dr Guy will be able to supply specific researchers with the product for the purposes of research. The licence will be extended to cover those professionals nominated by Dr Guy and approved by the Home Office to perform specific sections of the programme. These will include analytical chemists, clinical investigators, hospital pharmacists and formulation pharmacists.

As a Schedule 2 drug, the use of cannabis and its constituents could be restricted, in the same way as morphine, but not banned. Schedule 1 drugs, which include ecstasy, are those with high potential abuse and no therapeutic value.

GW Pharmaceuticals was founded solely to operate its Home Office cannabis medical research licences.

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