General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: President Obama's puzzling silence on marijuana policy [View all]RainDog
(28,784 posts)what the pharmas found after creating marinol is that patients preferred whole-plant cannabis. Doctors who deal with cancer and other patients have confirmed this.
marinol takes hours to work, rather than seconds. it is too strong for many people because whole-plant cannabis has CBD, which acts to modulate the effects of THC.
In addition, CBD, rather than THC, has effects on inflammation and spasticity, etc.
In addition, marinol is hugely expensive compared to something someone can grow for free themselves or acquire for much cheaper.
What pharmas have learned is that combining sativa and ruderalis with a 50/50 mix of the two has been far more effective, and when it is delivered as a spray, rather than a pill, it works faster. This is the legal medicine called Sativex - which is illegal in the U.S. because it's cannabis, not a synthetic.