Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune, in many cases debilitating disease that attacks the insulation surrounding the message-carrying nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. In the early stages of MS, nerve impulses are transmitted with only minor interruptions, but as the disease progresses, these impluses can become completely obstructed. One of the common symptons is spasticity - feeling stiffness or tightness of the muscles and experiencing involuntary muscle spasms, which can become as severe as what the National MS Society refers to as “uncontrollable spasms of extremities”. Approximately half of the estimated 400,000 Americans who suffer from MS experience chronic pain. There is no cure for MS, and while a limited number of FDA-approved drugs are available to help alleviate these symptons, their effectiveness - particularly with spasticity - is limited and varies from person-to-person. These drugs also carry very serious adverse effects, including, but not limited to, seizures, heart problems, liver problems, depression and suicide.

While a few studies have been conducted to examine the effects of cannabis on a person suffering from MS, only recently have more in-depth, large scale studies been approved. However, there is mounting evidence that cannabis could play a major role in alleviating pain, particularly with spasticity.

Improving spasticity over the long-term

One of the largest studies to date, conducted by Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, UK, in 2003, included 630 advanced-stage MS patients who took either cannabinoid compounds or a placebo for 15 weeks. After 15 weeks, patients who received active compounds said they both felt less pain and less muscle spasticity – the spasms characteristic of this neurodegenerative disease. Despite patients feeling an improvement, standard tests to measure the severity of spasticity suggested the drugs were no more effective than the placebo. The UK Multiple Sclerosis Society, however, called for cannabis-based drugs of proven benefit to be made available through the UK’s National Health Service. But the study didn’t stop there. Researchers gave patients the option of continuing the original treatment for the following 12 months, and over 500 from the study agreed. Then, in 2004, when the patients were reevaluated, the results were undeniable. “Physiotherapists saw a marked improvement for subjects on active drugs. They had reduced muscle spasticity and an improved overall score for their level of disability,” the NewScientist reported. The findings were presented at the British Association for the Advancement of Science Festival, in Exeter, UK.

Professor John Zajicek, one of the researchers from this study, has recently reported that his new “CUPID” (Cannabinoid Use in Progressive Inflammatory brain Disease) study has signed on their desired 493 patients to determine the effectiveness of THC in slowing the progression of MS. Unfortunately, the results aren’t expected until 2012.