A major clinical trial in Britain finds that marijuana-based pills may have more of a psychological than physiological effect on patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
According to the three-year study, which involved 630 MS patients, marijuana had no effect on muscle stiffness or spasticity, but most patients reported that it reduced their symptoms and improved their mobility.

“The primary aim of the trial was to measure, as objectively as possible, the actual physical changes in limb spasticity in MS patients, and we found no evidence of this,” said Dr John Zajicek of the University of Plymouth, who led the study.

However, Zajicek said that additional research is needed because the study’s subjective results “provide some evidence that cannabinoids could be clinically useful in treatment of symptoms of MS.” He added, “The results of this study present an interesting and complex picture of the value of cannabis-derived medicines for treating MS.”
The study’s findings are published in the Nov. 8, 2003 issue of The Lancet.


Source:The Times of London reported Nov7 2003