LBBDCivilSociety in dAgEnhaM

Friday, September 3, 2010

Large Study Finds No Link between Marijuana and Lung Cancer: Scientific American

Large Study Finds No Link between Marijuana and Lung Cancer

CBC News

Friday 03 Sep 2010

Long-held fears that the use of marijuana will lead to harder drugs
are overblown, according to new research from the University of New
Hampshire.

The research, in the September issue of the Journal of Health and
Social Behavior, found that other factors, such as whether or not a
person has a job, or is facing severe stress, are far more predictive
of future hard drug use than whether they smoked pot as a teenager.

"Employment in young adulthood can protect people by closing the
marijuana gateway, so over-criminalizing youth marijuana use might
create more serious problems if it interferes with later employment
opportunities," said co-author Karen Van Gundy.

The strongest factor influencing the use of illicit drugs is an
individual's race or ethnicity, according to the study. Non-Hispanic
whites are most likely to use harder drugs such as heroin or cocaine,
followed by Hispanics and then by African Americans.

Young adults who didn't complete high school or go to college were
most likely to have used marijuana as teens and other illicit drugs in
early adulthood. Those who were unemployed after high school were also
more likely to use other drugs.

"In light of these findings, we urge U.S. drug control policymakers
to consider stress and life-course approaches in their pursuit of
solutions to the drug problems," write the study's authors, Van Gundy
and Cesar Rebellon, both associate professors of sociology at UNH.

The researchers also found that any gateway effect that does exist
with marijuana disappears once young adults reach 21.

"While marijuana use may serve as a gateway to other illicit drug use
in adolescence, our results indicate that the effect may be
short-lived," note the authors.

"Interestingly, age emerges as a protective status above and beyond
the other life statuses and conditions considered here."

The researchers followed 1,286 young adults who attended Miami-Dade
public schools in the 1990s. Twenty-six per cent were African
American, 44 per cent Hispanic and 30 per cent non-Hispanic white.

Read more:
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/09/02/con-marijuana-gateway.html#ixzz0ySFvsN6b

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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

GWPharma - GW announces UK launch of world’s first prescription cannabis medicine

GWPharma - GW announces UK launch of world’s first prescription cannabis medicine

GW announces UK launch of world’s first prescription cannabis medicine

GW announces UK launch of world’s first prescription cannabis medicine
21 June 2010

Porton Down, UK, 21 June 2010: GW Pharmaceuticals plc (GWP:AIM) today announces the UK launch of Sativex®, its Oromucosal Spray for the treatment of spasticity due to Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Sativex® is the world’s first prescription cannabis medicine and the UK is the first country in the world to grant a full regulatory authorization for the product.

Sativex® contains two cannabinoids or active ingredients - THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol). It is the first cannabinoid medicine derived from whole plant extracts from the cannabis sativa plant.

Sativex®, available as a prescription only medicine, was developed by GW in specific response to calls from people with MS for a prescription cannabis-based medicine. Today's launch means that MS patients suffering the spasms and cramping associated with spasticity have access to a new treatment option which has been shown to improve their symptoms where current treatments have failed.

Sativex® is manufactured by GW under Home Office licence at an undisclosed location in the UK. The medicine is being marketed in the UK by GW’s UK licensee, Bayer Schering Pharma.

Dr Geoffrey Guy, GW’s Chairman, said: “The approval and launch of Sativex® in the UK is the world’s first full approval of a cannabis-derived prescription medicine and the product of eleven year’s research by GW into the cannabinoid system. GW was founded with the primary goal of developing a medicine to address the unmet needs of people with MS and today’s launch of Sativex® represents a welcome advance in MS symptom treatment. This is also an historic moment for GW and marks the beginning of the company’s transition from late stage development company to a commercial pharmaceutical business. Today’s news validates our cannabinoid technology platform and enables us to progress the development of our pipeline across a range of therapeutic areas with increased confidence.”

Under the terms of the agreement with Bayer, GW will receive a £10m milestone payment in respect of the UK approval of Sativex®.

Outside the UK, Sativex is expected to be approved in Spain shortly. Further submissions will be made in additional European countries during the second half of 2010 under the mutual recognition procedure. Almirall S.A. will market Sativex in Europe (ex-UK).

The full text of a statement issued today by Bayer Schering Pharma can be downloaded here

Tuesday, July 20, 2010