SATIVEX: DETAILS ON HOW TO OBTAIN THIS CANNIBIS DRUG

Home Office Sativex® Details


Following the GW Pharmacuticals Press Release of 15th November 2005, several THC4MS clients have contacted the Home Office to enquire how they can obtain this viable alternative to what we do.

"Your GP will need to apply to this office to prescribe Sativex® to you. Your GP will need to provide the following:

a) your personal details - full name, address, age, gender
b) a brief indication of the clinical need
c) the dosage total amount required (the manufacturer, GW Pharmaceuticals can help with this information - telephone 01980 557026 or email enquiries@gwpharm.com).

Your GP can forward this information to me at:

Mike Evans
Home Office, Drugs Branch,
6th Floor, Peel Building,
2 Marsham Street,
London.
SW1P 4DF

U-turn on Sativex
February 2006


The Home Office has performed a dramatic U-turn, by signalling that disabled people with conditions other than multiple sclerosis (MS) could apply for permission to import the cannabis-based medicine Sativex.

The Home Office had previously told DN that only people with MS would be able to apply, through their doctors, to import the drug from Canada - a decision that would have turned UK drugs policy on its head.

But the Home Office has now signalled that people with conditions such as arthritis or cancer pain can also apply to obtain the drug through a licensed importer.

This importer will probably be the drug's producer, GW Pharmaceuticals (GWP).

GWP would still need permission from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to import Sativex for people with those conditions. If the MHRA had no objection, the Home Office would need to grant its own license to the importer.

But it says it would only refuse a license if it had concerns about the doctor, the importer or the patient.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Our only interest is in preventing controlled drugs leaking on to the illicit market."

Last month, the Home Office told DN it would not even consider applications to import the drug from people with conditions other than MS.

GWP said it had received "hundreds and hundreds" of enquiries from doctors and people with MS.

As we went to press, home secretary Charles Clarke announced that cannabis would remain a class C drug, deciding not to overturn the decision made by David Blunkett two years ago.
Also, a new Royal College of Physicians report, Potential health benefits and risks of cannabis and cannabis-based medicines, has suggested that cannabis-based medicines could offer future treatments for pain, cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis.

Disabled people seeking information about Sativex should ask their GP to contact GWP, tel: 01980 557000, www.gwpharm.co.uk



Do you use cannabis for health reasons? Are you taking Sativex? Does your doctor understand the new rules? What stance should the government take on cannabis? Have your say by filling in the form below.

How can a "caring govt" expect seriously ill people to get out of their beds and wade through this procedure to get the medication they so desperately need? The whole thing is ludicrous! If someone in the government, or their families, needed it the situation would change immediately of that you can be sure!
Don Stuart, Aberdeen


I have MS and have waited over 5 years to try Sativex. My doctor, although seemingly sympathetic, says the Primary Care Trust (PCT) is the problem. Is the problem the cost for the PCT? Or am I being cynical? I am fed up of waiting for relief from severe neuropathic leg pain which keeps me - and my husband - awake most nights for hours. I am so disillusioned and desperate.
Adrienne, Kettering

I submitted my comments which are recorded on the site and I am still waiting for my GP to get back to me about it. The practice has approached the PCT - Haringey, who is to give a common response for all MS patients who want the drug. I am suspicious that this is not going to happen and I resent being lumped together with people whose symptoms are probably hugely different from mine. MS is a condition which affects peoples to different degrees and I know from experience, having been diagnosed for 18 years, that what I considered pain four years ago, has escalated to a degree I would not have thought bearable then. Why is the popular press so quiet about the fact that Sativex is not being made available, after heralding it as a wonder drug for MS in November? If you have been refused you should contact the MS Society, which is keeping a record of which PCTs are declining it. All MS charities should work together to record the position and mount a concerted publicity drive to force health care providers to follow the guidance being given by the HO. If you fulfil the criteria, you should get it. Full stop. What makes it worse is that it is a cheap drug to alleviate symptoms that are by far the worse aspect of MS. I can live with the rest of the nasty MS symtom: lack of mobility, vertigo, fatigue, bladder and bowel problems and cognitive impairment, but the pain makes all this seem unsurmountable. Make a fuss people, dont take this without a battle!
Sue, London

I was diagnosed 8 years ago. My neurologist nentioned the cannabis treatment about 2 years ago, and said my symptoms fitted the bill. Later he was sad to say it was not going to appear. I wonder what excuses might appear for not being able to have it, when I see him in January? Probably not NICE this time, but my PCT.
Chris, Lancashire

I was diagnosed with MS in 2002. Three years on I have alot of spasms and neuro pathic pain which painkillers cannot touch. The cannabis is like a wonder drug. It helps me so much and ought to be available to everyone...besides MS patients. Doctors should listen to us more. We know what helps and what doesnt help. I cannot wait to be able to get cannabis on prescription.
Alex, Manchester

I have a severe spinal problem and my partner suffers from ME. We have both used cannabis as pain relief for over 10 years. If goverment MPs suffered only 10% of the pain that we sometimes find ourselves in, they would soon legalise it! Denying patients their only known pain relief is wrong, and making us feel like criminals is even worse.
R&L, Somerset

I have MS and severe chronic pain, which has not responded to any drug so far. I smoke cannabis at night in order to be able to sleep. Without it I cant sleep and the next day is even more difficult to navigate. However, despite what is said, the consultant I saw at the National Neurological hospital seemed unclear about how Sativex is to be made available and wasn't at all helpful - despite my pain specialist there telling me that when it became available I would be a good candidate. I feel so distressed. I know it might not help me but it feels like it is going to be a postcode lottery again. If I am refused it by my health authority, I will fight it through the press and parliament.
Sue, London

I am very keen to try Sativex as I am fed up with feeling like a criminal using cannabis to elleviate my MS symptoms. The sooner it is licensed here in the UK the better!
Jane, Scotland

On the day of all the Sativex announcements on radio and TV, I emailed my doctor and asked her to start the process to get approval to import Sativex for me as a named recipient.

After three days I had a reply saying that the Primary Care Trust would not approve a prescription. I contacted the pharma company who produce Sativex to ask how I could obtain the drug.

They replied that I could purchase it on a private prescription. This was again rejected by the PCT as it is not a licensed drug. I sent the following response to my doctor's surgery:

"You are right - I do find your reply disappointing. The PCT are not alone in being out of touch, not only with people with MS, but also with many UK doctors who are now supporting the use of Sativex.

In fact, one of a number of emails that I have received from people with MS, came from a person whose doctor advised cannabis itself as being a way of alleviating the affects of MS.


Several people had a doctor who supported Sativex, and a user of Sativex in Canada, who has found that both pain and spasms are resolved, was amazed that it has not been welcomed by the UK authorities.


There are other PCT's that refuse to accept prescriptions, yet their actions are driving people to rely upon cannabis to find relief, and there are many people willing to sell very impure cannabis to desperate people.


I suspect that there are no people with MS in the PCT prescribing Team.

If I am correct, it means that in terms of MS, the Team does not know its **** from its elbow and these are the people charged with providing me with care!

When I lie awake at night, unable to sleep due to spasms, my thoughts of the PCT prescribing Team would not make pleasant reading."
Melvyn, WInchester

I have MS and am really pleased to hear that I may soon be able to get cannabis on prescription. i know from personal experience that it helps with neuropathic pain, spasticity, sleep and bladder problems. I do think, however, that it should be available for other conditions too. I have friends with spinal pain, cerebral palsy, lupus and ME who all find that cannabis works. If we buy it from a dodgy geezer in the pub, not only is it expensive - we also can't tell how good (or not) it is.
Sue, Essex

I have MS and sometimes the pain is really quite nasty. Painkillers do not touch it, vast quantities of alcohol only help a little, yet marajuana calms it down to a gentle nagging. Ssociety is meant to provide for all, yet it would seem that that is only the case until you develop a disability. Denying patients their only known relief is wrong. Has our government lost the 'cradle to grave' approach it once had? Does money now come above a citizens' comfort?
Denny Johnson, Shropshire




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