Some numbness on your leg is not too much of a problem but numbness in the fingertips can significantly affect your hand.”Such attacks often generate little sympathy in Belfast’s tougher ghettos, where many see them as a form of rough but effective justice against those regarded as habitual burglars and joyriders.However, it is not clear whether the present wave of hand injuries was begun by loyalists or republicans. He was driven to a lay-by at Westrock Grove where he was beaten with a blunt instrument and shot in both hands. He was admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds and a broken jaw.Brian Fisher, a consultant in emergency medicine at Belfast’s Royal Victoria hospital, who has treated several victims, said of the Padre Pio: “[It] doubles the chances of hitting something important, and increases the risk of impairment.”Any injury to the hand could damage tendons or [the] nerve supply. According to the Irish government, the IRA in particular has resorted to the practice since late last year, in the wake of the pre-Christmas breakdown of the peace process.Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, said the IRA was responsible for shooting a man in both hands in addition to breaking his jaw. He said it had also carried out an attack in east Belfast on a teenager who received gunshot wounds in both hands.Those who suffer a Padre Pio are ordered to place their hand, palm up, on the ground while a bullet is fired through it. Shots are usually fired through both hands.In one recent example, a youth in his late teens was found with wounds to both hands at Seaforde Street in the Short Strand district of east Belfast on 8 January.In west Belfast on 17 December, a 20-year-old man was walking along Norglen Gardens at around 8pm when he was bundled into a car by five or six men.

Dutch military helicopters yesterday found the wreckage of an Afghan passenger jet that crashed in a snowstorm near the capital, Kabul, two days ago, killing all 104 people who were on board. The initiative, due to be approved by the Spanish Health Ministry after more than a year of strenuous lobbying, is expected to prompt Spain’s other autonomous regions to adopt similar measures.. “We don’t want to give the impression we support smoking joints, or that cannabis is good for you.”The pilot project, which begins next month – initially for a year – stems from a proposal by Barcelona’s College of Pharmacists, following a similar experiment in the Netherlands in 2003, although that has just 8,000 patients.The plan was agreed by Catalonia’s left-wing regional government, a coalition of socialists, Greens and independent republicans. It’s a humane response to understandable demand for an improved quality of life,” said Guillermo Sierra, president of Barcelona’s medical council.”We must ensure the therapeutic use of cannabis is not treated frivolously among the young,” he added.

Spanish health policy is devolved to the regions, but must receive Madrid’s blessing.Catalan doctors back the scheme, so long as cannabis use is carefully controlled. “Prescriptions must be made under medical supervision, and only in extreme cases … She approved “the controlled use of tablets in specific cases and under medical supervision”, but insisted on the need to fight drug addiction. About 150,000 patients are expected to benefit.Spain’s Health Minister, Elena Salgado, said she accepted that cannabis “has some therapeutic value”. The pioneering scheme surpasses measures taken by the Dutch, leaders in the field, and puts British efforts in the shade. A British drug company has been denied permission to produce medicinal cannabis for trials – because of lack of political will, critics say.
Doctors in Catalonia will be able to prescribe cannabis in capsules or as an infusion to help four specific conditions: anorexia among Aids patients; nausea caused by chemotherapy in cancer patients; constant pain – including migraine – that has been unresponsive to other treatments; and muscular problems among those with multiple sclerosis. In a bold venture that puts Spain at the forefront of the medical use of cannabis in Europe, 60 pharmacies and four hospitals in Catalonia are to prescribe marijuana for therapeutic use where other treatments have failed.