IIIM (Indian Institute of Integrated Medicine), Jammu will conduct India’s landmark “Cannabis” drug study, possibly the first of its kind, to explore the potential clinical benefits of this important medicinal plant, which has been surrounded by controversy, owing to its global abuse as a habit-forming substance of addiction. The government has granted license to IIIM Jammu for cultivation of Cannabis for medical research and drug development.
Disclosing this on Friday at the one-day conference on “Cannabis R&D in India” at new Delhi , Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said, Cannabidiol (CBD) has its therapeutic indications in the management of excruciating pain in conditions like diabetic neuropathy, cancers, besides its potential indications in children with epilepsy and sickle cell anemia. He said, it is in the fitness of things that CSIR-IIIM Jammu has been given the responsibility of undertaking this study because this institute specializes in herbal and medicinal plants, and has a legacy of undertaking pioneering research in the field, ever since the times of its founding father, Sir Ram Nath Chopra.
Dr Jitendra Singh also expressed satisfaction to note that the clinical trials of the drug will be done in collaboration with Tata Memorial Cancer Centre, Mumbai, which functions under the aegis of the Department of Atomic Energy, currently under his ministerial charge.
There is a very thin line between use, abuse and misuse of a drug, said Dr Jitendra Singh, and cautioned that while therapeutic uses of the drug will come to the rescue of the needy patients, its abuse or misuse will be prevented and regulated through appropriate legislations and law enforcing agencies.
Dr Ram Vishwakarma, Director CSIR-IIIM, Jammu, in his address, said that Cannabis has a historical and cultural linkage in India and is found in abundance in parts of Jammu and Kashmir , Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
He informed that after the conclusion of the trial of the drug, the next step would be to explore the feasibility for permission to use it in clinical practice.
Director of Tata Memorial Cancer Centre Mumbai, Dr Rajendra Badwe also spoke on the occasion and briefed about various management options being explored in the treatment of cancer patients.