A push for medicinal marijuana will help Rangsit University's ongoing research into the use of cannabis extract to combat cancer.
Cannabis is currently listed as category 5 under the Thai Narcotics Act which means it is subject to strict controls, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working to classify it as category 2, making it legal to use its oil extracts.
The university welcomes the move but it will not wait until the FDA’s proposal is passed into law under the Public Health Ministry.
“Patients who benefit from marijuana can’t wait,” Thanapat Songsak, dean of the university’s College of Pharmacy, said yesterday, adding the university has so far followed requirements and asked for special permissions to make use of cannabis legal.
He said the study on the medicinal effects of the plant will continue in the laboratory.
Researchers, who are finding ways to treat bile duct cancer patients, have discovered that a substance named “THC” extracted from marijuana can curb the growth of tumours.
Their findings, published in an academic journal overseas in 2009, is being used as a base for further studies.
The university has also tested marijuana for the treatment of other diseases.
According to Mr Thanapat, its extract is an alternative liquid medicine that can be sprayed into the mouth to ease pain caused by demyelinating disease, or damage to the protective covering of nerve fibres.
