I'm throwing in my 2 cents (again) regarding this.
Of course we know it has medicinal values. Even the government admits it does AND even approved the synthetically made version, DRONABINOL (Marinol®) made by Solvay Pharmecuticals... the same, identical chemical -- Delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol -- made in a Pyrex erector set and mixed with sesame oil instead of growing in a healthy, leafy plant.
Marinol is approved for use in cases nausea, vomiting, and weight loss due to anorexia from chemotherapy or AIDS-related treatments with a range of 2.5mg/day to 20 mg/day. (So much for the..."don't know how much" argument because the chemical can only be absorbed and used at a body physiologically-specific rate. The rest is exrceted.) However, though nausea, etc., is the primary indication for use, any drug can be prescribed for "other reasons as determined by your physician" including this one. So, why Marinol and not Mary Jane?
Money! most likely. The lowest dose taken once a day (2.5 mg/day) is about $150/month. At the higher dose, 20 mg/day (10 mg, 2x/day) it's over $1,000 a month! Think your insurance will cover that? How much does a pharm. company make, or the insurance industry make, if you can grow it in your yard?
Check out the US Dept. of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency Page on Marinol
v. Marijuana:
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/ongoing/marinol.html
It says medical marijuana is available but in the form of a pill because there are too many risks involved in smoking it (along with the 400+ other harmful chemicals that go with it in smoke). It likens prescribing Marinol instead of MJ to prescribing Oxycontin or morphine instead of smoking opium or heroin. (Though they are experimenting with transdermal patches and inhalers and expanding the uses to include pain due to MS and other CNS problems.)
The basic fact that pills don't work if you can't stop vomiting them back up (or is that a profit margin?) seems to escape the same experts who rigorously tested Vioxx and Celebrex and Phenylpropanolamine (PPA)... The same experts who admit to being pressured by pharm. company lobbyists to get some drugs approved while others wait.
Happy Shopping!
Tod
rollingbones wrote:
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 21:07:17
<snip>
> I know from experience, as do others on the list, that it does have
medicinal properties. Only about 2 years out of the last 30 that I used
it, have I been using it for medicine. It stop's my cold sweats and increases
my appitite. I like to extract the oil out of it because it's cleaner that
way. After years of smoking it for recreation, my lungs can't take much
in weed form. I think it's like any other medicine and shouldn't be abused.
<snip>
