cannabisnews.com: The High Times Petition Battle Continues! 





The High Times Petition Battle Continues! 
Posted by FoM on April 22, 1999 at 06:51:17 PT
Source: High Times Magazine
Unimed Pharmaceuticals markets a pill under the brand name Marinol(R), and they have given the active ingredient a new name -- dronabinol. However, dronabinol is THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Sound confusing? Well, it's supposed to be. It allows the government and Unimed to pretend that Marinol is the same as marijuana or different from marijuana depending what suits them in a particular argument.
Placing all the word games aside: THC, the "active ingredient" of marijuana, is already legal, but only if it is manufactured for Unimed Pharmaceuticals and referred to as dronabinol!!! The DEA now wants to reschedule this synthetic THC product to make it more widely available as a substitute for marijuana.HIGH TIMES believes that Marinol is an inadequate substitute for Marijuana, and we strongly disagree with the government's assumption that these two substances somehow have a different potential for abuse.And this is why the Petition Challenge that HIGH TIMES filed with the DEA is so important: this could be the document that forces the DEA to reclassify marijuana. HIGH TIMES and Jon Gettman began this challenge with the filing of a petition to reschedule Marijuana, THC, dronabinol, and nabilone, another proprietary name for THC. We have expanded this challenge by requesting public hearings on the DEA's proposed rescheduling of dronabinol because the same legal issues apply.Most Americans don't understand that the real reason cannabis is unavailable for medical use (nor hemp for industrial use) is because the DEA has classified marijuana as a Schedule I drug--which means that there is NO medical use for it. For years people have been trying to encourage the DEA to reschedule it, but of course they refuse because they claim that THC presents a threat to public health. Now they want to make the THC pill as widely available as Tylenol w/codeine, while leaving prohibition in place for THC and the cannabis plant.Recently the DEA asked HIGH TIMES to drop the matter, as if we are causing problems for people who want THC for medical use by opposing the DEA's action to reschedule dronabinol. Marinol is currently available for medical use, and will remain available regardless of the outcome of the hearings we have requested.But we want to know why THC is legal and acceptable medicine when it's in a synthetic pill form like Marinol(R) but a dangerous drug when it is available in its natural form!Don't you?
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