Canada became the first nation Tuesday to approve a pharmaceutical prescription spray derived from the cannabis plant, a move that could shift the medical marijuana debate in the U.S.
The drug, called Sativex, is being produced by GW Pharmaceuticals of Britain and is expected to be available in Canadian pharmacies within weeks, principally for the treatment of pain from multiple sclerosis.
"I think the Canadian approval will change an awful lot of things," said Geoffrey Guy, GW Pharmaceuticals executive chairman. In particular, it should help "create momentum" for approval in other countries, including the U.S., he said.
The company isn't expected to apply in the United States until late this year. An examination of the drug's merits could take three to five years.
But the Canadian approval of Sativex, announced by GW Pharmaceuticals at the opening of the London stock exchange, is causing ripples in the U.S.
Bush administration officials declined to comment but have privately said approval of a prescription form of cannabis in the U.S. might draw a bright line between its use by patients and by recreational users.
Some medical marijuana activists, meanwhile, see approval of Sativex as proof that cannabis is a worthy medicine.
"Sativex is for all practical purposes liquid marijuana, so the question of whether marijuana is medicine has been settled," said Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project. "The only question is what form people use, and that's best left to doctors and patients."
Meanwhile, a few activists have promised to travel north of the border to get Sativex instead of waiting for the drug's approval in the U.S.
"It's not the fault of MS patients that the U.S. is so far behind in medical marijuana research and development," said Steph Sherer of Americans for Safe Access, a Berkeley-based medicinal marijuana advocacy group.
California and nine other states allow medical marijuana, but the federal government maintains strict prohibitions. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to soon decide a case involving two California women who smoke marijuana to alleviate their illnesses.
Guy and his colleagues began research into prescription forms of marijuana in 1997 at the behest of the British government, reacting to the emotional and heavily publicized arrests of multiple sclerosis patients medicating themselves with illegal cannabis.
