Generic cannabis pills planned for wide use.

[kpete]

Meet Your New Pot Dealer: Big Pharma

David Downs Special to Salem-News.com
Generic cannabis pills planned for wide use.



Herbal medical marijuana is a conflict with drug manufacturers.
Photo by Hendrix.

(OAKLAND, Ca.) - Despite the US government's staunch opposition to medical cannabis farms in Oakland and elsewhere, the feds have begun licensing a whole lot of large legal pot grows throughout the country. But this weed is not for cannabis dispensaries and their patients; it's for Big Pharma.

The Drug Enforcement Administration told Legalization Nation in an e-mail last week that 55 unnamed companies now hold licenses to grow cannabis in the United States, a fact that contradicts the widespread belief that there is only one legal pot farm in America, operated under the DEA for research purposes.

It appears as if the upswing in federally approved pot farming is about feeding the need of pharmaceutical companies who want to produce a generic version of THC pill Marinol and at least one other cannabis-based pill for a wide variety of new uses.

In other words, if big corporations grow dope with the government and put it in a pill, it's medicine. But if you grow it at home or at a city-permitted pot farm and then put it in a vaporizer, it's a felony.

MORE:
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june032011/cannabis-pharma.php

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. God damn it.

What on earth will it take to make marijuana LEGAL?

I. Am. Pissed.

:mad:

[tridim]

2. The feds are currently breaking federal law for the benefit of big business.

How does that work? Seems like it should set a precedent if they aren't prosecuted for manufacturing a schedule I substance. Lawyers should be salivating at the prospect.

This is pure insanity. Bottom line, we are not a free people, but corporations are. They can do whatever the hell they want with federal money and federal blessing.

I bet I can make cannabis pills cheaper than big pharma. Where do I sign up?

[KittyWampus]

25. You can make pills that have measurably equal potency pill for pill?

I highly doubt that.

I prefer legalizing pot. I also think theres a good reason for having these pills.

[tridim]

28. Sure, if I had legal access to the federal testing facilities that big pharma has

As a sub-corporate citizen I can't even legally request the tests, let alone send the product to the lab for testing.

What is big-pharma going to measure? THC? TBD? Or the hundreds of other active compounds? Will all these factors be listed on the bottle? I doubt it.

Cannabis is a self-titrated drug, as it has been for thousands of years. It's no big deal since it is also non-toxic.

This is being done for one reason, money. The herb itself is safest and most effective in its natural form.

[LetTimmySmoke]

10. This is the whole point

The reason the government is keeping it illegal is so they can give their big pharma friends a monopoly.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. Exactly!

Now it becomes all too clear.

Now I'm even more pissed off.

Don't we matter at all?


Oh yeah.

Cannon fodder, and campaign donations.

Great.

:eyes:

[Angry Dragon]

3. We need to raid these pot farms and burn those crops

they will destroy the very fabric of this country and destroy the American family

[msongs]

4. our current "feds" endorsing drug corporations while jailing medical pot users. nt

[roody]

5. I love pot but do not like the effect of ingested pot.

Vaporize or inhale for me.

[xchrom]

6. Recommend

[Rageneau]

7. This is why Obama double-crossed so many people.

Obama had his head on straight during the election, but once he took office and got the Ned Beatty - Howard Beale sit-down talk telling him what was really what and who was really boss, he abandoned his intellect, his conscience and many of his constituents in order to slavishly do the bidding of the Big Pharma Boys. Obama's betrayal on this issue has completely soured me on the man. Sure, he's better than a Repuke, but that doesn't mean he's GOOD.

[RainDog]

8. the hypocrisy is DISGUSTING

honestly - there is NO RATIONAL REASON to allow pharmaceutical cos to grow fields of cannabis while raiding dispensaries in CA unless the govt is nothing more than the mewling servant of corporate interests.

what repulsive little toadies to put Americans in prison for something these motherfuckers at these 55 pharmaceutical plants will probably get tax breaks to do.

so the DEA is nothing more than a front for monopolies?

California should tell the feds to go fuck themselves and go for it. Let the DEA defend their tactics in light of their scheduling of marinol (and drabinol, the other synthetic under review for rescheduling.) I bet it would be hard to find a jury in the U.S. that would side with the DEA and big pharma on this one.

Everyone knows someone who has suffered through cancer.

And the biggest joke of all in this is that the leading researcher into cannabis in the UK admitted, back in Sept., that synthetic marinol is INFERIOR to full plant cannabis as medicine - yet THE INFERIOR PRODUCT is the one the DEA finds it worthy to reschedule.

ENOUGH of this BULLSHIT.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. You have said it perfectly.

I wish I could recommend your post...

This would make an excellent rant all on its own.

Goddamn Right.

[RainDog]

20. my head exploded last night

and all these rants came shooting out... :/

[shanti]

9. wtf

WE DON'T WANT MORE PILLS!!!! this is beyond appalling! :grr:

[ohheckyeah]

11. Bunch of evil

bastards. They don't give a shit about anything but the almighty, fucking dollar. I hope there is a special place in hell for those who would allow unnecessary suffering and imprison people for a damn herb.

[sakabatou]

14. I heard those things aren't as good as the real plant

[LetTimmySmoke]

15. Of course they aren't, and they'll probably be a lot more expensive too.

Especially in the Santa Cruz area, where pot is dirt cheap.

[Fly by night]

16. From a Powerpoint presentation of mine re: TN Safe Access to Medical Cannabis Act

Marinol:THC only; Cannabis:66 bioactive chemicals

Marinol is more psychoactive than Cannabis (because none of the nonpsychoative, buffering cannabinoids that are present in whole-plant cannabis are in Marinol)

Inhaled Cannabis is more beneficial than Marinol
(immediacy, dosage, titration, no liver deactivation)

Marinol more expensive than Natural Cannabis
Monthly: $100/cannabis vs. $700/Marinol
Yearly: $1,200/cannabis vs. $8,400/Marinol

Patients: Cannabis helped more than Marinol
(Studies were conducted in a number of states, back when the feds provided Ole Miss schwag to eight states for their own mmj programs prior to 1992. In those studies, whole-plant cannabis was compared with Marinol for its beneficial effects (primarily anti-emetic). The percentages presented were the number of patients who reported that whole-plant cannabis was superior to Marinol.)
TN - 23% more; NY - 29% more; NM - 30% more



There are some excellent references on-line that compare Marinol with whole-plant cannabis. Check 'em out.

[KittyWampus]

26. While you fight for legalizing pot, you might acknowledge some patients might prefer Marinol

Just because more people preferred leaf doesn't mean ALL people preferred it.

[Fly by night]

27. Re-read my post. I didn't say that everyone preferred whole-plant cannabis (WPC) to Marinol.

I did say that more patients preferred WPC to Marinol, likely for some or all the reasons that inhaled WPC is considered preferable to orally consumed Marinol (titration, dosage, rapidity of effect, no liver deactivation, 66 natural cannabinoids vs. artificial THC, etc).

The results I presented are based on direct patient experience and self-reports in the three states listed, not my opinion. Since Marinol contains only (artificial) THC without any of the other nonpsychoactive cannabinoids that are known to buffer the psychotropic effects of THC, it is not surprising that patients often report more dysphoria on Marinol than on WPC.

The problem I do have with cannabis ingested in ways other than inhalation are similar to the experiences of people using Marinol. When I eat pot-infused brownies, for example, it takes 45 minutes+ to feel anything, and then I feel either too much or not enough of the effect I'm going for. I've also learned recently that THC is chemically transformed by smoking or vaporizing it into another formulation of the chemical which has fewer unpleasant side-effects. (I'm not a bench scientist so I can't give you chapter-and-verse on that. But the speaker I heard at the NORMl national convention is a bench scientist and his presentation was most informative.)

I hope that response addresses your concern.

PS: Although I fully support allowing cannabis to be legalized, taxed and regulated for recreational use among responsible adults; I have not been involved in lobbying actively for that here in Tennessee. However, I have been involved in writing the TN Safe Access to Medical Cannabis bill and in lobbying our legislature to re-establish Tennessee's medical cannabis program, which operated without problems from 1986-92, when Bush I cut off all supplies to federal marijuana to the eight state programs operational at the time because so many AIDS patients were applying for enrollment. Just wanted to clarify that also.

[KittyWampus]

29. OH! Ingesting is harder to control the amount, is that it? Cause it takes so long

to have an effect, it's harder to gauge when it's reached optimal level in your system?

I'm happy to bump this thread and learn more about the subject.

[Fly by night]

30. Check out these two great links re: differences b/ween WPC & Marinol

Marinol vs. Natural Cannabis (NORML)

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6635

and

Marijuana vs. Marinol: A Side by Side Comparison (Medicalmarijuana.procon.com)

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.additional-resource.php?resourceID=000224

[RainDog]

40. kick for information

again - you do a great job of helping to bypass the disinformation that benefits certain corporate interests but not the general population.

[RainDog]

41. that may be true

but the problem with marinol is that it is one part of the plant and, therefore, as fbn noted, lacks the buffers that exist in the whole plant - marinol may be preferable to some b/c it is in pill form and that makes them feel better, socially, but if I knew someone who was looking at chemo, I would suggest they try both to see which works better for them.

the plant has cannabidiol - which acts upon CB2 receptors - these are located in the gut and immune system. this part of the plant helps with problems with irritable bowels and is the part of the plant that has shown the most promise with tumor suppression.

also - if someone has to wait for anti-nausea effects - vaporizing provides IMMEDIATE relief - for chemo-induced nausea and for nausea from things like migraines - it also has immediate effect for pain from migraines and chemo, too.

cannabis really challenges the status quo - for side effects of medications and illnesses - the cheapest and most easily available route, at this time, is the better medicine.

[theaocp]

39. They can't patent a plant.

Thus, they have to patent *something* to make money on. Fucking legalize this shit so I can open my Bud 'n Breakfast, already. Save me, Jeebus!

[socialist_n_TN]

17. I certainly hope this doesn't surprise anyone

especially here on DU. Marijuana was made illegal for business reasons and the only reason it stayed illegal was because businesses have a hard time figuring out how to make money out of it. It grows wild for God's sake. You really don't even have to cultivate it.

We might as well rename this country the Citizens United States of America. Everything is for the monied interests and nothing is for the people.

[Le Taz Hot]

18. I wish I could say I was surprised

but we knew this was going on all along. It's illegal and immoral if WE grow it but it's perfectly safe if Big Pharma grows it. There is NO defense for this. None! Is Cenk or Rachel or anyone covering this?

On edit: Btw, weird looking flowers. Blue???? Purple, yes, but blue? :shrug:

[Generic Other]

19. I'll have the stuff on the left thanks

Fuck big pharma.

[RainDog]

22. that would be a beautiful ornamental

the shape and texture of the leaves and the color of the flowers would fit right into a mixed annual/perennial border.

[Le Taz Hot]

21. Kick

because hypocrisy should be on full display in neon lights.

[Distant Observer]

23. At the same time they are killing growers in Latin America and Caribbean to protect Pharma and Tobac

[tridim]

24. I've been steaming about this article all night, and my morning conclusion.

It's time for a citizen revolution. No question about it. It's go time.

I haven't smoked since moving from a legal state, and my body's imbalanced endocannabinoid system is suffering because of it. It's not withdrawal (got over that in a few days), it's the lack of medicine. Everything about it is cruel, it's proof that we're not free.

[Fly by night]

31. Does anyone know which cannabis strain that is in the picture?

I've grown LOTS of different strains (though none within the statute of limitations, if you're curiuos, Agent Mike). But I'm not familiar with any strain that is so true-blue.

Blueberry perhaps?

[tridim]

34. It's more temperature dependent than anything.

Cold "nights" will do that.

There are dozens of "blueberry" strains, not all of them go purple. In the biz they're called "purps", but it's mostly just marketing.

[Fly by night]

36. I'm familiar with cold-induced purpling. Seems to happen mainly with indica strains I've grown.

I've just never seen anything this bright blue, particularly when the fan leaves appear to be in full growth cycle, bright green mode.

With the Goddess, nothing would surprise me. Just about every manifestation of Her is beautiful and smells like heaven.

[DirkGently]

32. Yep. The real problem with pot is that it doesn't make the right people rich. Yet.

[slay]

33. Fuck that - I'll buy or grow my own REAL marijuana

fuck big pharma! one day it WILL be legal. we can not let the corporations win - if they do - we lose EVERYTHING.

[Uncle Joe]

35. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[Rex]

37. So instead of ending the War on Drugs, they are going to become

an active rival for the Cartels!? In that case, my money is on Wall Street! Biggest dam Cartel on the planet.

[theaocp]

38. I always loved the idea of using an oral medication

to help with controlling nausea. :wtf: These. fuckers. are. scamming. you. Wake. the. fuck. up.