The Canadian AIDS Society has received funding for a "Cannabis as Therapy: Access and Regulation Issues for People Living with HIV/AIDS" project from the Public Health Agency of Canada, through the Legal, Ethical and Human Rights Fund of the Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS. The project will examine and document the access and regulation issues that people living with HIV/AIDS face when they choose to use cannabis as part of their therapy, from a legal, ethical and human rights perspective. For as many as one in three or four people living with HIV/AIDS, cannabis helps them with appetite so that they can maintain their weight. It also helps with nausea and vomiting, a result of both the disease and the medication; pain, stress and mood.

A National Steering Committee, which brings together all of the key stakeholders, has been created to direct the project and provide input and recommendations. A legal consultant has also been hired. The Project Consultant, Lynne Belle-Isle, will be conducting focus groups in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto and Montreal to speak with people living with HIV/AIDS and document their stories and realities with using cannabis as therapy to alleviate their symptoms. She will also be interviewing key informants such as lawyers, physicians, pharmacists, compassion clubs, growers, regulators, and law enforcers, to get their perspectives. A document will be produced with these findings.

A key outcome of the project will be to develop materials to provide information to organizations and to people living with HIV/AIDS on how to access the current medical marijuana program, how to speak to a physician about medical marijuana, law enforcement and legal considerations, cannabis as therapy for people living with HIV/AIDS, how to access cannabis, and more. So as not to be a document collecting dust on a shelf, another key outcome will be the development of an action plan to address the issues identified. The action plan will keep the momentum going to improve the situation for all Canadians who wish to include cannabis as part of their therapy to alleviate their symptoms.

For more information about the Canadian AIDS Society's project on cannabis as therapy, please contact Lynne Belle-Isle at 613-230-3580 ext. 126 or

GW receives Qualifying Notice for approval in Canada for Sativex®

Excerpt from Press Release 21/12/2004 - http://www.gwpharm.com/

GW Pharmaceuticals announces that Health Canada, the Canadian regulatory authority, has issued a Qualifying Notice for the approval of Sativex®, a cannabis-based medicinal extract product. Sativex will initially be indicated in Canada for the relief of neuropathic pain in Multiple Sclerosis ("MS").

GW filed its Sativex application with Health Canada under the Notice of Compliance with conditions (NOC/c) policy. The Qualifying Notice confirms that Sativex qualifies to be considered for approval and sets out the conditions and post-approval undertakings upon which the marketing authorization for Sativex can be granted. The conditions for Sativex's approval are in accordance with standard guidance provided by the regulator for NOC/c approvals and include a commitment to ongoing clinical research. For more information see: www.gwpharm.com