Cannabis-Based Traditional Medicine Distributed on 1st Day

BANGKOK, Sept 2 (TNA) – Three hospitals have started prescribing drugs, containing cannabis extract on the first day today after the Public Health Ministry sent the narcotic-based drugs to 13 hospitals to cure patients with insomnia and boost their appetite. Director-General of the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, Marut Jirasetsiri said that Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) sent 1,950 sachets of this traditional medicine formula to 13 Thai traditional medicine hospitals nationwide. Each hospital received 150 sachets. Only three hospitals prescribed this cannabis-derived drug at the doctors’ discretion today. Patients who will receive the narcotic-based drug must undergo kidney and liver function tests and have neither records of drug addiction nor mental illness. They will be allowed to use the new drug formula after they do not respond to conventional or other treatments. Follow-up evaluation on the patients’ condition and the efficacy of the treatment will be done by hospital staff every one or two weeks. Regarding the plan to distribute marijuana oil, originally produced by a folk medicine practitioner, Daycha Siripatra, the director-general said the oil is being considered by the Ethics Committee of the Public Health Ministry. The decision will be made with two weeks, he added. - (TNA)