A three-year trial involving 5,000 people in Britain will test the effectiveness of cannabis as a pain-relief drug. The survey starts this month and will involve people suffering from chronic pain caused by conditions such as arthritis.
If the treatment is successful, it could see cannabis prescribed on the NHS, WalesOnline reports. The drug would be taken through an inhaler in a vaporised form and would take around five minutes every day.
At the end of the trial, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) will then decide whether cannabis - inhaled in that manner - can become an approved treatment, the Daily Mail reports.
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Chronic pain is defined as any pain lasting for longer than three months and is believed to afflict a third of the UK's adult population. Should cannabis be available through the NHS, it is also hoped that would stop self-medication, when chronic pain sufferers turn to drug dealers and internet suppliers to ease their discomfort.
It is thought that cannabis could be safer than opoids - a regular treatment for chronic pain. Medicinal cannabis has already been legalised for four years in the UK, but only a handful of patients currently have an NHS prescription whilst, in Australia, Canada, Germany and Israel, "whole plant" treatment is already approved.
Private company LVL Health will run the trial, which is open to patients with non-cancerous chronic pain conditions who are aged between 18 and 85. The study will initially be undertaken by 100 people to check for safety before being rolled out to the other 4,900.
Tony Samios, of LVL Health, told The Times: "We're hoping we will provide the data that Nice and the NHS require to get it prescribed because absolutely millions could benefit. You have to take it all in one go which takes up to five minutes – it's not like you can puff on it all day long. You’re not actually smoking it and obviously don’t have all the carcinogens."
