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IL MS Patient Applies for Canadian Prescription Medical Marijuana Mouth Spray
Press Conference To Announce Compassionate New Drug Program Application


CHICAGO – Julie Falco, an MS sufferer who benefits from the medicinal use of marijuana, and her doctor, Dr Anthony Reder, are applying for access to a Canadian–approved medication, Sativex ®, a natural marijuana extract that was developed by GW Pharmaceuticals from specially-bred marijuana plants. Sativex® is similar to the tinctures that were sold in the US before 1937 and the process is comparable to products made by patients and their caregivers in states with medical marijuana laws. (For company information on Sativex®, see www.gwpharm.com.)



"Patients in states that don't have laws allowing the medical use of marijuana need access to a safe and legal form of natural cannabis. Access to Sativex® will provide the pain relief I need without the threat of incarceration that hangs over all us all, " said Julie Falco, whose doctor has applied for Sativex® on her behalf. Illinois passed legislation to create a medical marijuana program under the Cannabis Control Act of 1971, but the current Act only allows the State to act, instead of requiring it to do so. IDEAL Reform (http://www.idealreform.org/) is working to amend the Illinois' Cannabis Control Act to mandate that the state implement the program, something that has not happened in the 32 years since the inception of the law.



"The introduction of Sativex® to Canadian markets vindicates what patients, doctors, and medical associations have been saying for centuries: marijuana is a safe and effective medication, "said Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access, the largest medical marijuana advocacy group in the country. "The bottom line is marijuana MUST be rescheduled so that we can have a real conversation about the best uses of marijuana as medicine, including the introduction of Sativex® to the US market." (To see ASA information on Sativex®, see www.Sativexinfo.com)



Americans for Safe Access will be assisting a number of MS patients and their doctors through this application process, while they continue in their quest to change the schedule of marijuana from its current status, in the same category as heroin, to another category that recognizes the medicinal value of marijuana. Federal law allows for promising drugs that have been approved in another country, but not yet in the United States, to be used under the direction of a physician, pending special permission. The Investigational New Drug program (IND) is the means through which the sponsor (either a physician or pharmaceutical company) technically obtains this authorization from the FDA. The federal government has had a Compassionate Use IND program that has provided medical cannabis to patients for nearly 30 years. Only a handful of patients were ever approved to use NIDA’s University of Mississippi-grown marijuana. Seven of these patients are still surviving and receiving their monthly allocations of medical cannabis.

GW Pharmaceuticals has announced it will apply for FDA approval this year, and have already employed the Drug Czar's former Deputy Director of Demand Reduction, Andrea Barthwell, to pitch their product through the approval process. Even if the FDA approval process moves quickly, however, Sativex® will not be available in this country for a minimum of three years.


WHAT: Press conference to announce compassionate new drug program application for marijuana medication

WHERE: Kluczynski Federal Building, 230 S Dearborn St, Chicago, front plaza

WHEN: Wednesday, June 29, 11 am

WHY: Announce application for Compassionate New Drug program by MS patient and her doctor for legal medical marijuana spray so as to reduce risk of arrest, for the Illinois legislature to implement Illinois' medical marijuana program, and for the FDA to reschedule marijuana as medicine so that Sativex® can be made available to all Americans who need it.

WHO: Julie Falco, MS patient; Dr. Bruce Doblin, MD, MPH, Medical Ethicist; Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access; Matthew Atwood, IDEAL Reform