I know exactly whose purse I'm going to be checking for this new product!
Cannabis-based spray on sale for MS painLast Updated Mon, 20 Jun 2005 19:03:15 EDT
CBC News
A mouth spray that delivers medicinal marijuana is now available at drugs stores in Canada.
INDEPTH: Marijuana
People with nerve pain from MS have another cannabis option besides smoking.
Health Canada approved sales of the pain relief medication for people with multiple sclerosis in April, the first drug regulator to do so. It's taken until now for the spray to make it into pharmacies.
FROM APRIL 19, 2005: Canada OKs cannabis drug for MS pain
A woman with MS in Vancouver said she's glad she can finally go to a drug store to get the spray, called Sativex. The metered spray is administered under the tongue or inside the cheek. It's derived from extracts of the marijuana plant and is said to taste like peppermint.
Suzanne Osborne of Vancouver started smoking marijuana for nerve pain about six years ago. She's had MS since her mid-40s, and she's now 60.
She's looking forward to getting her medication in spray form, saying her condition already compromises her lungs, and smoking marijuana has been hard on her body.
"I just found that I was getting a little bit of shortness of breath from it, and I didn't like the idea that I was compromising that system at all," said Osborne.
The drug offers another option to treat neuropathic pain in MS – nerve pain that can be triggered by touch, temperature or movement.
Osborne said she will buy the spray, even if she has to pay for it out of her own pocket. Many new drugs take time before they're approved on drug benefit plans.
Dr. Allan Gordon, a neurologist at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, is a proponent of the drug, saying it eliminates the stigma associated with smoking pot, and gives patients a reliable dose. "This converts a weed into a medicine."
The price for Sativex sits at about $120 for 50 doses, said Gordon. He estimates patients who use it will be spending $12 per day.
4 comments:
Medical marajuana can also be taken in pill/tablet form. So many different intake options.
I'd like to meet someone who has tried it, has the pill/spary format taken all the fun out of the dooby?
yes, i think we all need to try this. i'm curious to understand exactly how it works. does anyone has a doctor that plays fast and loose with prescriptions?
you're always looking for a doctor who plays fast and loose with the prescriptions. please! if you found a shady doctor, you wouldn't ask for some dinky spray marijuana first, you'd ask for demerol!
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