How it began
Canasol was developed by pharmacologist Manley West of the University of the West Indies and ophthalmologist Albert Lockhart. According to the National Library of Jamaica, interest began with reports that rural people who used a homemade ganja eyewash, and fishermen who drank ganja tea, saw better at night. Lockhart had also learned that marijuana users had lower pressure inside the eye than non-users. The two spent ten years on the drug and gained permission to market it in 1987.
How it works
Canasol is an extract of cannabis prepared as eye drops. It lowers intraocular pressure, the raised pressure inside the eye that damages sight in glaucoma. It does this without producing the psychoactive effect associated with cannabis. Wikipedia describes it as one of the first cannabis extracts developed as a pharmaceutical.
What changed first
The drug brought its developers international attention. West received the Order of Merit from the Jamaican government in 1987, the year Canasol reached the market, and the Gold Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica in 1994. The National Library of Jamaica lists further honors, including a World Health Organization fellowship and the Centenary Medal of the Institute of Jamaica in 1981.
What lasted
West and Lockhart went on to develop other cannabis-based medicines in Jamaica. These included Asmasol for bronchial asthma, coughs and colds, Canavert for motion sickness, and a second glaucoma preparation called Cantimol. Jamaica permits the medical use of cannabis, and Canasol is counted among the early cannabis-based pharmaceuticals.
