London - The first human trials of the medicinal properties of cannabis will controversially involve inhaling substances made from the entire weed, not derivatives, it became clear yesterday.
Mr Geoffrey Guy, chairman of GW Pharmaceuticals, a company he set up with a licence from the Home Office to explore the medical uses of cannabis, told the House of Lords select committee on science and technology that he expected to move to clinical trials, probably in Multiple Sclerosis sufferers, within the next few years and hoped to licence the drug as a medicine within five years.