NEW DRUG TAKES YOU ON A BUM TRIP

Butt out those joints - a U.S. researcher is close to rolling out an
alternative for medical marijuana exemptees that may put an end to their
need for weed.

Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly has developed a rectal suppository that delivers a
therapeutic dose of THC - the active ingredient of marijuana - without the
harmful effects of smoking and with one other twist, he says.

"You don't get that stoned feeling," said ElSohly, a University of
Mississippi research professor who does U.S. government sponsored research
of marijuana and other drugs.

"It cuts down on that edge that you normally get with THC."

Suppositories are the next more direct route to deliver THC into the
bloodstream after smoking, he said.

Rob, a medical marijuana exemptee living in Edmonton, said he's skeptical
scientists can cut out the euphoric aspect of THC without cutting its
effectiveness.

"They seem to want to alter it when it's proven to be effective just the
way it is," he said.

The drug ElSohly patented in 1996 - dronabinol hemisuccunate (DHS) - is a
precursor to THC.

It is quickly absorbed into fatty tissues of the lower intestine. As DHS is
gradually released into the bloodstream, it's chemically transformed into THC.