Science Talk

Mr.SmartyPants · Guest

Cannabis-Based Medicines to Market

By Paul Armentano, AlterNet. Posted July 5, 2008.

While the the American Medical Association claims pot has no medical
value, Big Pharma is busy getting patents for marijuana products.

The US government's longstanding denial of medical marijuana research
and use is an irrational and morally bankrupt public policy. On this
point, few Americans disagree. As for the question of "why" federal
officials maintain this inflexible and inhumane policy, well that's
another story

One of the more popular theories seeking to explain the Feds' seemingly
inexplicable ban on medical pot goes like this: Neither the US
government nor the pharmaceutical industry will allow for the use of
medical marijuana because they can't patent it or profit from it.

First, let me state the obvious. Big Pharma is busily applying for --
and has already received -- multiple patents for the medical properties
of pot. These include patents for synthetic pot derivatives (such as the
oral THC pill Marinol), cannabinoid agonists (synthetic agents that bind
to the brain's endocannabinoid receptors) like HU-210 and cannabis
antagonists such as Rimonabant. This trend was most recently summarized
in the NIH paper (pdf), "The endocannabinoid system as an emerging
target of pharmacotherapy," which concluded, "The growing interest in
the underlying science has been matched by a growth in the number of
cannabinoid drugs in pharmaceutical development from two in 1995 to 27
in 2004." In other words, at the same time the American Medical
Association is proclaiming that pot has no medical value, Big Pharma is
in a frenzy to bring dozens of new, cannabis-based medicines to market.

visit AlterNet for more.
--
If guns are out-lawed. Only the Out-laws & politicians will have guns.