Vapourisers are becoming available for inhaling cannabis vapour without combustion and their availability will be a great help in removing the harm associated with smoking. Patients would be well advised to use medicinal cannabis orally, although some respondents reported more variable effects and side effects when taking cannabis this way. The risk of arrest and prosecution was a major concern to most medicinal cannabis users who replied to the survey. Concerns about variability in supply, quality and high street prices were also mentioned by many of the respondents. A written record of medicinal cannabis use that pre-dates any criminal charge has much more weight in a court than a history of medicinal use given after arrest.
Many patients are confused and unsure about the issue of medicinal cannabis.
It would be helpful for their GPs to become better informed on some of the more recent research into medicinal cannabis. Since the discovery of the amandamine receptor in humans, a wealth of research has been published. They have been shown to potentiate the endorphin system and hence help modulate pain. Amandamine receptors have even been located in the skin. Cannabinoids show a potential to guiding us towards pharmaceutical agents acting through new pathways.