Abstract

Preparations from Cannabis sativa, the hemp plant, were omitted from the B.P. in 1932, and from the B.P.C. in 1949. Today, they are scarcely used in medical practice, though manufacture of a tincture of cannabis is still licenced (and one or two practitioners are known to prescribe it from time to time for psychiatric or psychosomatic disorders¹). Cannabis and preparations derived from it are controlled by the Dangerous Drugs Act, yet they are more widely and increasingly used in this country and in America than any other illicit drug. But this is not the only reason for discussing their effects in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin: the future use of some synthetic analogues and derivatives seems probable as analgesics, antidepressants and antihypertensives.²