A break through in medical marijuana

[MillCreek]

http://www.gizmag.com/high-free-medicinal-marijuana/23207/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=41d29906a2-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email

So plant biology experts in Israel have created a strain of medical marijuana with little, if any, psychoactive compounds such as THC.  This means that if you use marijuana for medicinal benefits, you don't get high. 

I will be very interested to see how this impacts the regulatory aspects and market for medical marijuana.  I wonder how long it will be before certain segments of the patient population start saying that such strains do not work for them. 

[Balog]

Isn't the THC etc an integral part of it's use? Sort of like removing the opiods from poppy, seems as though it'd render it useless.

[MillCreek]

Well, there seem to be a whole lot of people who argue that THC in and of itself is useless for their unique medical needs.  I point out that Marinol, an oral form of THC which does not get you high, has been available for many years, and people have argued that they need all the components in the actual plant material, and the only way to get that is to smoke it.  Apparently, the psychoactive effects are immaterial. 

[Balog]

A good friend was made violently ill by Marinol. From what I hear such negative reactions are not uncommon.

No doubt some med-mari patients are just scamming to get high, but it seems foolish to just assume all of them are.

And remind me again why marijuana is more tightly controlled than the various opiates?

[zxcvbob]

And remind me again why marijuana is more tightly controlled than the various opiates?

Because marihuana is not dangerous -- that's what makes it so dangerous!

[French G.]

Having watched prescription sleep benzodiazepines and anti-depressants up close I have no problem recommending someone try MJ to see if it helps them. And I have never done drugs, strongly dislike the one time I had prescription opiates. The stuff modern medicine prescribes routinely is terrifying in its side effects and withdrawal symptoms. I mean if you are trying to wean off a pill and are taking one half of the lowest dose pill every other day and you still can't quit without tremors, sweats, and hallucinating there are bats flying around in the house? Bad stuff. No way a little weed could be worse.

[grampster]

Pot is illegal because the government makes too much money from it as well as it creates government jobs in the prison and LE systems.

[Nick1911]

I see this going nowhere.

From a medical standpoint, you want to be perscribing a standarizided product, something manufactured with CGMP in mind, asseyed with a known amount of active ingredient per unit with a guarenteed tolerance range.  And... we already have this.  Marinol (dronabinol).  But, there are downsides to marinol.  Marinol only contains (I believe synthetic) delta-9-THC.  It does not contain the other multitude of cannabol group substances that may have an effect on how the patient reacts to the medication. (cannabidiol, cannabichromene, etc)

Of course, this conversation should be moot, because the actual plant material should be legal; medically and recreationally.

[MicroBalrog]

Wouldn't you sort of need THC for the painkilling aspects?

[dm1333]

From the comments following that article.

This is wrong the israelis are turning the clock back, its taken like forever maan to grow blunt so potent that you turn to jelly now they will accidently leak this mutation out and it will interfere with good weed until it takes over and man will have to buy hard drugs then, which im sure they cant wait to sell us. I love weed cos its not a drug its a herb! And it like just grows man no chemicals no secret labs or bellies full of condoms filled with deadly powders. I use it to control my adhd, weed lowers my revs. But with all things too much of anything is bad for you.

 MasterG - July 8, 2012 @ 12:05 am PDT

 

[roo_ster]

A good friend was made violently ill by Marinol. From what I hear such negative reactions are not uncommon.

No doubt some med-mari patients are just scamming to get high, but it seems foolish to just assume all of them are.

And remind me again why marijuana is more tightly controlled than the various opiates?

I see you've met my BIL.

Because marihuana is not dangerous -- that's what makes it so dangerous!

A novel by Joseph Heller.

[White Horseradish]

And remind me again why marijuana is more tightly controlled than the various opiates?

Because it's the drug of choice for jazz musicians. It makes them go after the white women. (I read this in some early antidrug article)

[MillCreek]

^^^ Wasn't that also a key part of the hilarious film, Reefer Madness?  Man, it has been decades since I saw that; I should look to see if it is on Netflix.

[zxcvbob]

^^^ Wasn't that also a key part of the hilarious film, Reefer Madness?  Man, it has been decades since I saw that; I should look to see if it is on Netflix.

I think it's available for free download at archive.org

[RevDisk]

^^^ Wasn't that also a key part of the hilarious film, Reefer Madness?  Man, it has been decades since I saw that; I should look to see if it is on Netflix.

No, it was said by a government official.  Harry Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1930 to 1962. It later turned into the DEA. Good to see that the DEA continues to be as classy as they used to be back in the old days.

"Colored students at the Univ. of Minn. partying with female students (white) smoking and getting their sympathy with stories of racial persecution. Result, pregnancy."

"I wish I could show you what a small marihuana cigarette can do to one of our degenerate Spanish-speaking residents. That’s why our problem is so great; the greatest percentage of our population is composed of Spanish-speaking persons, most of who are low mentally, because of social and racial conditions."

"Most marijuana smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, jazz musicians, and entertainers. Their satanic music is driven by marijuana, and marijuana smoking by white women makes them want to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and others. It is a drug that causes insanity, criminality, and death — the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

No doubt some med-mari patients are just scamming to get high, but it seems foolish to just assume all of them are.

nah  maybe 75 % of em