STRAIGHT DOPE ON POT-BASED MEDICINE

Cannabis-Based Pharmaceuticals Could Hit Europe By Next Year

For eons, cannabis has been ingested for the treatment of common and
chronic ailments, but now, the march of technology is propelling wacky
tobaccy into a brave new century of pharmaceutical development. Scientists
around the world are studying not only whole, smoked marijuana, but also
pure extracts that would make Louis Armstrong blush. The fruits of their
labors could hit European pharmacies as soon as next year. The leading-edge
cannabis pharmaceutical company is the publicly owned British firm, GW
Pharmaceuticals. Their Cannabis Based Medical Extracts (CBME) have proven
extraordinarily safe and effective in relieving medical conditions such as
neuropathic pain and muscle spasms with effects occurring after 15-45
minutes, depending on the patient's condition.

The active ingredients in cannabis are Cannabinoids and the most potent
ones are Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabinadiol (CBD). GWP has
separated various Cannabinoids to determine which work best for specific
ailments. Clinical trials have shown, for instance, that appetite was most
improved with pure THC, but CBD also had an effect. They found the THC/CBD
mix to work especially well for sleep improvement.

"We're seeing time and time again that CBD's have something to contribute,"
Dr. Ethan Russo told attendees at the recent NORML Conference in San
Francisco. "I've been harping on this for years, but I think we finally
have definitive proof of this concept."

While activists welcome the sublingual spray's medical efficacy, the
delivery system has become fairly controversial.

The device designed for the British market is a simple spray bottle with no
controls because, as Russo noted, "people over there do as they're told."

In order to gain approval by the FDA and DEA, however, GWP has developed
the "Advanced Delivery System" (ADS) for the American market.

With it, the liquid or solid drug is contained in a cartridge that pops
into a failsafe, access-coded device with Big Brotherish features such as a
quantity monitor that reports to doctors on how high the patient is getting.

"In the US, this is how it will be," Russo resignedly stated.

Dr. Lester Grinspoon, retired Professor Emeritus of Harvard Medical School,
has decidedly less enthusiasm for the ADS spray device. He criticizes its
controls of titration, that is, how the patient incrementally increases the
dosage necessary for symptomatic relief.

"The device prevents delivery if the patient tries to take more than the
physician or pharmacist has set and it also can be set so that you can't
get any response during certain hours. That is not titration," he told the
NORML members. "The purpose of using this cumbersome and expensive device
apparently reflects a concern that patients can not accurately titrate the
therapeutic amount, or a fear that they might take more than they need and
experience some degree of high, always assuming that the two can easily be
separated."

GW Pharmaceuticals has submitted findings for three years of research on
the sublingual cannabis extract and may gain approval from the British
Government by the end of this year.

On May 21, GW Pharmaceuticals announced their exclusive agreement with
German drug giant Bayer AG to market the cannabis-based extracts, which
will be sold under the brand name Sativexr.

Elsewhere, the Israeli company Pharmos has created a neuroprotective
product called Dexanabinol for the treatment of head trauma and stroke, and
recently gained approval from the US government for a Phase III trial in
the US, the first of its kind in this country.

Data from a recent German study on smoked marijuana's effects on Tourette's
Syndrome shows that ingestion of pure THC resulted in a significant
improvement of tic severity. In Spain, there are studies on how compounds
in marijuana alleviate certain types of brain tumors.

At least 10 California state-funded trials are ongoing at UC San Francisco
and San Diego investigating whole smoked marijuana's effects on HIV-related
neuropathy, Multiple Sclerosis and analgesia. These institutions are
working jointly with the New York State Psychiatric Institute comparing
oral THC on patients with HIV/Aids.

Until the day when marijuana pharmaceuticals become available here, doctors
overwhelmingly recommend the use of a vaporizer over pipes, joints, bongs
and water pipes. The benefits include a novel means of delivery as well as
the near-total elimination of carbon monoxide and tars.

The German-made Volcano is considered "the Cadillac of vaporizers." It's
designed to heat material to temperatures of 130 to 230 Celsius where
medically active vapors are produced, but below the threshold of
combustion. This conically-shaped electric heat source zaps the sticky,
cannabinoid-rich resin into vapor and blows it into a turkey baking bag
that is secured by a press release nozzle. A patient can walk around
sucking on this balloon o' vapor all day and the vapor stays potent even if
left in the bag overnight.

A recent study in Massachusetts showed that the Volcano vapor was
remarkably clean and consisted 95 percent of THC with traces of Cannabinol
(CBN). The remaining 5 percent consisted of small amounts of three other
components. In contrast, over 111 different components appeared in the gas
of the combusted smoke, including a half-dozen known Polycyclic Aromatic
Hydrocarbons (PAH).