http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-11dec2000-45.htm

Mon, 11 Dec 2000 13:21 ADST

Plans to make cannabis-based drugs available to treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis have taken a major step forward with the development of water-soluble compounds.

A team of researchers at Scotland's Aberdeen University is aiming to develop a cannabis compound which could be injected or used in aerosols or sprays.

The breakthrough means patients would not have to smoke or eat the drug, methods which doctors say are either damaging to health or unreliable.

However, the compound does not tackle the other major problem of cannabis-based medicine - separating its capacity for pain relief from the "high" it produces in users.