MULTIPLE sclerosis sufferers in York have backed a House of Lords report which calls for faster progress to be made towards cannabis-based medicine being used to ease their conditions.

The report, by the Lords Science and Technology Committee, says it is taking too long for research into the effectiveness of cannabis-based medicines to move towards useable medicines.

Research into cannabis as an MS medicine is under way in the UK, publicly funded by the Medical Research Council.

A Lords statement said "commercial research by GW Pharmaceuticals seems to be further ahead, both in establishing the efficacy of cannabis for multiple sclerosis, and in developing a sub-lingual spray which seems to avoid the dangers present in smoking herbal cannabis and the difficulties of controlling the dose during oral administration". In 1998 the Lords Committee recommended the law should be changed to allow GPs to prescribe a suitable preparation of cannabis to relieve chronic pain and the symptoms of MS but the Government refused.

York MS sufferer Mandy Pennock, who has had the condition for 16 years, said: "Anything that can help people with MS to lead a normal life can be nothing but good and should be available as soon as possible."

Rowena Hanson-Abbott, from York, is in constant pain from her condition. Her mother, Hilary Tappin, said: "They have been talking about legalising the use of cannabis for such a long time. It would benefit MS sufferers and we think they should get a move on."

Updated: 10:47 Saturday, March 24, 2001