PHARMA'S FRANKENWEED

Drug Company Greed On Track To Turn Herbal Healer Into Weight Loss
Aid

I attended the annual Christmas party for the Toronto Compassion
Centre this past Sunday.

Some people still express skepticism about the medical value of
marijuana. But scientists have started to conduct extensive research
into pot's diverse medical applications. The government of Canada has
not warmly embraced its court-ordered role as pot trafficker. It's
hoping that the private sector will step in.

But leaving the development of this important medicine to the
pharmaceutical industry, or in the hands of government regulators,
does not bode well for the future.

In all likelihood, marijuana will be reduced to a single-compound
white powder, and the synthetic compound will never be tested against
the whole, natural plant to determine if the powder is as effective.

In the past few years, there has been increasing public awareness that
the art and science of healing has been corrupted by the aggressive
cost-recovery practices of large multinational corporations. As global
pharmaceutical sales approach the trillion-dollar level, many stories
have emerged of doctors being bullied into publishing results
supportive of drug approval and being bribed and induced to prescribe
new drugs.

When medicine is driven by business objectives, the healing
perspective becomes completely skewed.

It has been reported that in Canada the cost of inappropriate
prescriptions exceeds $2 billion a year and that the incidence of
adverse drug reactions is continually increasing.

The drug approval process in Canada may be rigorous and demanding, but
if Big Pharma needs to bring a drug to market quickly to offset
enormous research expenditures, it will often opt to take ethical
shortcuts to enter the market. It is now common knowledge that Big
Pharma tried to suppress test results showing that certain
anti-depressants, including Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil, were less
effective than a placebo in many cases.

Big Pharma now sees cannabinoid medicine as the new blockbuster. These
companies continue to resist development of herbal products, and their
work with cannabis invariably focuses instead on synthetic derivatives
and analogs.

Clinical research is now flourishing, but the products being developed
bear little relationship to cannabis sativa. Researchers are
confirming that cannabinoid products, with inspiring names like HU320,
LV319 and CP945, can provide diverse symptom relief for pain, nausea,
spasticity and other infirmities. Last year Spanish and Israeli
scientists made a breakthrough discovery when a cannabinoid derivative
showed tumour-reducing properties. Of course, we have also found that
cannabis is an excellent appetite stimulant, and having the munchies
can be a lifesaver for patients wasting away from the devastation of
chemotherapy or antiretroviral therapy.

With all the promising medical applications for cannabis, it is
ludicrous that the most extensive clinical research currently being
conducted is for the development of anti-obesity cannabinoid drugs.
Sanofi-Aventis is poised to bring the synthetic cannabinoid
antagonist, Rimonabant, to market to combat obesity.

There is little doubt that obesity is a major health concern in
overdeveloped nations. But we do not need a pill to fight overeating.
It would be of far greater societal value to develop cannabis for pain
relief or anti-emetic relief and leave the battle of the bulge to
exercise and proper diet.

Of course, the same sedentary existence that may contribute to being
overweight can be exploited by Big Pharma to guarantee big sales of a
quick-fix, pop-in-the-mouth solution to the problem. It is good
business to medicalize social and behavioural problems.

If Big Pharma is unlikely to develop herbal cannabis products, we
could turn to the government.

By wrongly classifying marijuana as an illicit drug, the government
has effectively provided itself with a monopoly over the production of
cannabis. Health Canada operates one of the largest grow ops in the
world in Flin Flon. Perhaps it should take the initiative to bring
this valuable plant into the conventional pharmacopeia. This is
unlikely to happen, and even if it did we would likely see the same
profit-driven recklessness that corrupts private sector drug
development.

Just look at the gambling feeding frenzy that has taken place in
Canada since the Criminal Code was amended to give the provinces the
power to conduct and manage large-scale gambling operations. Dozens of
casinos and thousands of video lottery terminals define the Canadian
landscape and bring over $13 billion into provincial coffers.

And just like the pharmaceutical industry, the government-run gaming
industry has its own escalating list of adverse reactions, as it faces
mounting lawsuits from problem gamblers who believe they've been
exploited by the industry. Marijuana may not be addictive, but I'm
sure the government would find some way to inflate the costs and
deflate the effect of this inexpensive plant intoxicant.

Despite my concerns, I still recognize that the future of marijuana as
medicine lies with private sector research and development. I also
recognize that this is a slow and costly process that may lead to the
marketing of unnecessary or ineffective drugs.

Money will be made, but the real potential of marijuana may not be
fully developed. As it stands today, thousands of patients have
improved their quality of health and life by buying pot from
compassion clubs that are not regulated by government and are not
driven by the dream of making a profit of mythical
proportions.

Doctors can be life-savers, and Big Pharma has produced life-saving
pills, but sometimes people cannot, and should not, have to wait for
government and business to give their seal of approval to the means
chosen to alleviate pain and suffering.