Canada Approves Liquid Marijuana

[cenacle]

The Lesson of Sativex
by Rob Kampia, AlterNet

Posted on April 19, 2005 at Alternet.org
http://www.alternet.org/story/21818/


On April 19, the Canadian government delivered what should be the final blow to the U.S. government's irrational prohibition against the medical use of marijuana. It approved prescription sale of a natural marijuana extract -- for all practical purposes, liquid marijuana -- to treat pain and other symptoms caused by multiple sclerosis.

Sativex, produced by GW Pharmaceuticals in Britain, brings the medical marijuana debate full circle. Though the technology has advanced in 70 years, this product is a direct descendent of the marijuana extracts and tinctures that were a standard part of the medical armamentarium until the late 1930s -- universally recognized as being safe and effective for certain conditions. These products were taken away from patients and doctors as a result of the prohibition on marijuana that began in 1937, despite the public opposition of the American Medical Association.

In short, the Canadian government has just certified that virtually everything our own government has been telling us about marijuana is wrong. In defiance of a large and growing pile of scientific studies, our government still claims that marijuana has no medical value. White House Drug Czar John Walters even compared medical marijuana to "medicinal crack."

Such statements were always scientifically ridiculous, as has been noted by a wide range of authorities, including the American Public Health Association, the American Nurses Association, and the state medical societies of New York, California and Rhode Island, to name just a few. Now, GW Pharmaceuticals' research has definitively put such nonsense to rest.

Make no mistake: Sativex is liquid marijuana. It is nothing like Marinol, the synthetic THC pill sold in the U.S. and sometimes falsely touted as an adequate substitute for marijuana.

Sativex is a whole-plant extract, containing the rich variety of naturally occurring compounds called cannabinoids that are unique to marijuana. It also contains trace elements of other compounds contained in the plant, which scientists believe contribute to its therapeutic value.

On its web site, GW Pharmaceuticals explains, "We believe very strongly that many of the advantages of using the whole plant come from the inclusion of other components of cannabis [marijuana]," not just THC. "In the cannabis plant, it appears that some of the components added together give better effect. Some components seem to work to counteract some of the side effects of others, and the whole plant is generally well tolerated by humans."

Sativex is to marijuana as a cup of coffee is to coffee beans. If Sativex is safe and effective, marijuana is safe and effective. And Sativex is safe and effective. Studies have shown significant effect against pain and other symptoms caused by multiple sclerosis and other debilitating conditions. Over 600 patient-years of research have established a remarkable record of safety.

Sativex should certainly be approved in the U.S., but the process may take years -- if it is allowed to happen at all. Sadly, our government's reflexive hostility to the medical use of marijuana shows no sign of abating.

But an even larger issue looms: Now that we know beyond doubt that marijuana is a safe, effective medicine, how long will our government continue to arrest patients who use it?

And even if Sativex is approved here someday, it won't be the answer for every patient now benefiting from medical marijuana. For one thing, it has been clearly shown that different strains of marijuana -- with different blends of cannabinoids -- work better for some conditions and less well for others. Sativex just comes in one formula, and it won't be right for everyone.

And Sativex will be expensive. Will we force patients to buy a pricey pharmaceutical version of a plant they could grow themselves for pennies? At a time when our healthcare system is drowning in rising costs, that's insane. We could end up with a policy every bit as silly as telling coffee drinkers that they can buy a cappuccino, but they'll be arrested on sight if caught in possession of coffee beans.

The lesson of Sativex is simple: Our government was wrong. Marijuana is medicine, and patients and doctors should be able to use it in whatever form works best for their particular situation.

[judih]

is sativex a prescription drug?
how bout use for ADHD?

We're at the beginning of sanity.

[senorsalvia]

Anyone know of any states here in the U.S. that specifically allow med MJ for peeps with Hep-C?  Rumor has it that California includes Hep-C as a condition that will basically guarantee you getting a med MJ card...  Hell, senor might as well make his lil ailment be a bit beneficial eh -- senorsal

[crow]

Judih, Sativex will be given out in Canada by prescription only.
   Its a step forward in some ways, mostly for the drug companies.
   It may help a few people and their ailments but most people are still of the feeling that smoked mj will address more ailments than Sativex. I dont know what they base this opinion on though.

[senorsalvia]

From the scant reading I have done concerning Sativex, it is supposedly, virtually liquid MJ...  If that is in fact true, then senor wonders how and why people would think that the medicinal effect would differ from plain ole MJ, as all the plant constituents would still be present....  senorsal

[dendro]

[crow]

Senor-dude, you are right, Sativex is in liquid form, I believe it
will come in a small spray dispenser, when you want a hit you just
spray it in your mouth. But your next comment might be an assumption,
it is one I am wondering about, are ALL the components of the plant in the Sativex or have they filtered some chemicals out that you would get in the smoked version.  In which case this might be the part that some have a problem with.
   It's a topic worth looking into to see just what the differences might be, to better understand if it will in fact be the same as smoking. If there is no difference between the two chemically you gotta think the spray version would be healthier, I mean, how can inhaling smoke (no matter how good the effects might be) be a good thing for anyones lungs.

[judih]

absolutely true. Inhaling smoke is a detriment.
Also, the stability of sativex would mean that the concentration of THC and other components would be constant. Half a spray now, half a spray later. 3/4 of a spray for stressful situations, etc. Very useful way to alleviate symptoms.

This is a remedy that makes a lot of sense to me.

Prescription, only. hmmmm

[Mok]

One of the "innovations" related to sativex is a controlled dispenser, the physician keys in the dosage allowable and the sprayer will emit just that and no more, and will shut down entirely if more than is keyed is attempted.  I'm offended that they think that such a scheme would be required for cannabis related substances and not, let's say, oxycontin.

Lousy bastards!

[senorsalvia]

So, the dispenser shuts down if more is attempted. :evil: ..  Yeah well that just pisses me off..   The nerve of those people...   Guess in retrospect we all should demand that every medication have timed dosages set by the doc then................  It smacks of a medical implication that somehow Sativex would lend itself to missuse more than any other prescribed substance
senorsal

[loki]

has anyone here seen this funny old italian cyberpunk movie 'nirvana'? has christopher lambert in it... bloody marvellous movie imho, anyway in it the protagonist (c. lambert) gets a deal of 'liquid marijuana' from his cabbie friend, and he blows it up his nose in some kind of rather scary looking apparatus...

I am most interested in this 'sativex' business because... well, for starters, i have mild asthma, and after recently quitting smoking cannabis after almost 10 years of at least monthly smoking i have again after many years had a bout of the asthma and all i can put the lack of it previously to was smoking weed regularly (bronchidialation). Now, hell if you can purify things to the point you can just spray the stuff and suck hard... well, i guess this is irrelevant, but i have to say that i've always preferred to smoke hash or brain-melting skunk which at times of using it have found that i would spend many hours just smoking a singular cone, sometimes two or three tokes and i've forgotten about weed and am asleep or too busy doing something more interesting than smoking more weed.

oh incidentally, i don't know how far this information has percolated, but cannabis is known to have a mild serotonin antagonistic effect and from the study of the drug 'tianeptine' it has been established that elevated serotonin levels are associated with asthma. I have been positively diagnosed with an attention deficit, and when I finally talked my doctor into switching me from ritalin to dexamphetamine i was horrified to find that dex gave me nasty respiratory issues, in fact i quit using dex about the same time as i started to get asthma, and the most immediate clue to this occurring was that it made my breath short immediately after commencing use (anyone with kids with AD/HD i have heard before of children complaining of shortness of breath with D-Amphetamine)... and subsequent research related to this drug 'tianeptine' uncovered some positive correlations with serotonin elevation and asthma, and as it happens (guess what) dexamphetamine is known to elevate serotonin levels. (a side note, ritalin seems to, upon wearing off, have a serotonin depletion effect which is nasty and at least in me, precipitated hysterical psychotic behavior, and is known - probably not well enough - to cause irritability in children)

ok, i know some ppl know this is my pet subject, but there is a whole range of drugs which have been used in the last 100 years for treating asthma, and in my country (and in the US afaik) one of the drugs which was used moderately commonly up until the early 80s was methamphetamine, which funny enough happens to be what until they introduced modafinil (a new and SERIOUSLY NOT TESTED ENOUGH) drug called modafinil and delighted that at last someone found a less euphoria-inducing equivalent to methamphetamine which increases alertness and has a long lasting (8 hour) effect, they have completely criminalised methamphetamine, and closed the door to it as an option for legitimate use. I personally, and i have heard reports from numerous other people that good quality sativa and good clean methamphetamine have a lot in common... The problem is, i think, that a certain small proportion of the population, when they use these so called 'addictive' drugs simply feel just like what 'normal' people feel like, or at least from my perhaps limited perspective watching 'normal' people, seems like normal, and while there is a small temptation to use these drugs excessively, with a continued supply of lower dose drug (meth as it is used recreationally is typically 2-4x as high dosed as it is required for its medicinal uses) don't have issues associated with 'drug abuse', and i for one, am not in the slightest bit interested in doing anything to score 'speed' which i happen to know for a fact is frequently about 25% purity and used to be commonly substituted for a more readily available pharmaceutical (well, at least back when i first encountered amphetamines) phentermine, a common diet pill.

ok i'm going on about that now, i have rather a bee in my bonnet about it, but the fact is that high grade hash and good sativa and meth, for a person with mild or worse, asthma, is ambrosia, a medicine and freedom from the feeling of being choked, from within... equivalent all three are, to me.

I think that it probably factors into the arguments about medical marijuana ... hell i'm sick of it being called that, that's the term that mexicans use and was used (in a racial slur) to demonise cannabis... Medical Cannabis, like it or not, is very likely to be 'abusable' and while much progress and some concessions have been made, there are some people out there who don't want to see the downtrodden and physically debilitated, who often turn to drugs to allieviate their problem, made legitimate, because they have been stamping down on our right to this for many years and are still actively repressing us... maybe they are scared of something... i dunno, maybe they are just paranoid, but i know one thing for sure, having been under the jackboot for the majority of my life due to an unfeeling, imho, psychopathic, society, I sure as hell, if i were able to access proper medication to allow me to function as a normal human being, would certainly not be withholding my vehement anger at this unfair treatment...

well anyway, probably drunken ramblings, but i'm sure that i'm not the only one who feels this way... that basically the drugs that have been made illegal (specifically opiates, amphetamines and cannabis) have been kept that way because these drugs are medicinal agents for a minority of people out there who are not physiologically compatible with the psychopathic system of conformity that is enforced by society, not just it's agents, but inculcated into the majority of it's consumer (producers).

[senorsalvia]

i'm sure that i'm not the only one who feels this way... that basically the drugs that have been made illegal (specifically opiates, amphetamines and cannabis) have been kept that way because these drugs are medicinal agents for a minority of people out there who are not physiologically compatible with the psychopathic system of conformity that is enforced by society, not just it's agents, but inculcated into the majority of it's consumer (producers).

Great outlook Loki...  Let me also ring in with the personal assertion that it is not only such drugs as opiates/amphets/cannabis that are given the short end of the medical / legal stick......  I have been tested to have an extremely low level of serotonin as opposed to "normal" people, and it has been my profound joy in life to discover that most of the so called hideous psychedelics, as well as hallucinogenics boost my serotonin levels, and in fact do have me feeling and operating like the "normal" members of society.......  Granted I do certainly enjoy the 'fun factor' of such drugs, but that aside, I wholeheartedly agree that there are countless avenues of medicinal application that are being witheld by the pathological gatekeepers of our collective societal mind-------- senorsal