In an interview on Medicinal Marijuana

Your fourth book? 

My fourth book is Cannabis and Cannabinoids. I consider this to be the most comprehensive collection of studies and sources on the subject, a sort of bible for the debate that has been going for the last 20 years. That said, this book was written in 2002 and as this field is developing so fast – every month there are new results and discoveries – it is impossible to have a fully up-to-date book. 

Is medicinal cannabis legal anywhere? 

There is no country where medicinal cannabis is completely legal and readily available. There are quite a few countries in the world where you can get a supply of the medicine legally, in Holland for example, where medicinal cannabis can be obtained in chemists as it is produced under the auspices of the government. In other countries it is possible to find medicines that are derived from cannabis. In the USA, for example, Marinol can be obtained to cure the nausea and vomiting resulting from chemotherapy. This has been available since the late 80s. In the USA there is a paradoxical situation where on the one hand federal legislation, at least until the arrival of Obama, prosecuted users of medicinal cannabis in all its forms, but in more than ten states legislation has been passed that authorises the cultivation of cannabis for personal medicinal use. 

Some friends of mine have visited California recently and they told me that with a doctor’s prescription there are about a dozen pharmacies which will sell you cannabis for medicinal use that is cultivated according to official standards. 

Is medicinal cannabis different from the cannabis plant? 

The main distinction between the synthetic medicine and the naturally derived medicine is the fact that the synthetic medicines are based on a single active ingredient (THC) and show a higher incidence of side effects when administered alone. The naturally derived medicine contains multiple active ingredients, in particular CPT, with the power to reduce the side effects, and prolong the medicine’s effectiveness. 

Smoking the cannabis for medicinal purposes is not recommended, as the lighting of the cannabis releases harmful and cancerogenous substances that are damaging to the respiratory apparatus. I do not recommend that my patients ingest the medicine by smoking it; I tend to suggest that they use an inhalation device.