cannabisnews.com: GW To License Block on Medicine Abuse GW To License Block on Medicine Abuse Posted by FoM on January 20, 2002 at 21:59:15 PT By Stephen Foley Source: Independent U.K. GW Pharmaceuticals, the drugs group trialling painkillers made from cannabis, is close to a deal to license a novel technology it has developed to prevent abuse of prescription medicines.The company is in talks over rights to the product, which GW is using to ensure that patients do not use its cannabis sprays to get high. The under-the-tongue spray is fitted with a security device, where patients must insert a personal code to activate the drug. The device also monitors the dose taken and the frequency of uses.Geoffrey Guy, the executive chairman, said the company had needed to develop some security technology to prevent its prototype medicines from being abused by patients or used by others not taking part in the trials."It is just like a credit card company monitoring your spending patterns to check for anything out of the ordinary," he said.Mr Guy said he recognised the wider potential of the system for a range of controlled drugs and was looking at ways of exploiting the technology on behalf of shareholders. He confirmed he was in talks with other companies and said he hoped to have news of a deal in the next few months.A licensing agreement could bring in useful cash as GW launches large-scale clinical trials to establish how effective its cannabis spray really is.Early phase trials, details of which were released last week, suggest that the drug measurably reduces pain, muscle spasms and bladder problems in people suffering from multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury. By next year, some 500 patients, including many with terminal cancer, are expected to have tried GW's spray.Mr Guy believes that, if the trials are successful, a prescription medicine will be on the market early in 2004, and the Government has promised to change the law to allow medical use. Source: Independent (UK)Author: Stephen FoleyPublished: January 21, 2002Copyright: 2002 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.Contact: letters independent.co.ukWebsite: http://www.independent.co.uk/Related Articles & Web Sites:UK Medicinal Cannabis Projecthttp://www.medicinal-cannabis.org/Cannabis & Pain Managementhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/drr.htmGW To Test Dope's Pain Relief Effect http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11782.shtmlBritish Company To Test Cannabis for Cancer Painhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11774.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #38 posted by Jose Melendez on January 22, 2002 at 06:11:56 PT: work together OK Steve, now what should we do about it? Of course, I want to make videos, but maybe that is just because I have the equipment, and part of me probably hopes I will sell lots of tapes. I do not have enough $$ to hire lawyers, so I will go forward with making the ad campaign until I can hire them, or attract some pro bono work. I say we work as a team, as Dr. Russo has pointed out that the herb in its natural state is better for us, I cannot blame him or GW Pharm for making a go at this... I plan on incorporating comparisons between generic access required in the US and the refusal to allow medmj in our anti-antidrug commercial series, as well as show comparisons between legal and illegal substances, safety and efficacy, etc. Some short history of prohibition (great idea then, works just as well today) and stuff that gets people on OUR side would help. You must admit that there are going to be some people that will buy prepackaged pot if it is legal, I say we push for both. After all, you can buy garlic from the supermarket, but if your neighbor sells it to you, no one says it should be illegal (no one credible, anyway) Let's work together, as they say divided we fall... Peace, Air Jose [ Post Comment ] Comment #37 posted by herbdoc215 on January 22, 2002 at 02:00:30 PT: Cigarette holders don't cost $35,000.00 and JAIL.. Media Awareness Project UK: Cannabis Drugs 'By 2004' URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n101/a06.html Newshawk: The Legalise Cannabis Alliance ">http://www.lca-uk.org> Pubdate: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 Source: Edinburgh Evening News (UK) Copyright: 2002 The Scotsman Publications Ltd Contact: skirkpatrick scotsman.com Website: http://www.edinburghnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1626CANNABIS DRUGS 'BY 2004' British drug group GW Pharmaceuticals is confident that the first cannabis-based drugs will be available on prescription by 2004. GW, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in June, is the only company to legally develop and produce cannabis-derived drugs. It said that research was progressing well, with "phase II" clinical trials showing patients were receiving benefit and most drugs now entering "phase III" testing, the "last and most critical stage of development". Executive chairman Dr Geoffrey Guy added: " We remain confident of being able to present data to the UK regulatory authorities in 2003, and - subject to approval - bring the first cannabis-based prescription medicine to market in early 2004." Salisbury-based GW is carrying out research into using the illegal drug as a painkiller for a variety of illnesses, including multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, cancer and arthritis. The update came as GW posted an increase in losses for the year to September 30 - from UKP 2.3 million to UKP 7.2m - after a hike in R&D and admin costs. GW is licensed by the Government and last October, Home Secretary David Blunkett said he would recommend that the Medicines Control Agency authorise medicinal use of cannabis should the trials prove successful. I BET HE DID!!!!!!!!!! I Wonder how much stock his family, mistress's, or friends owns in company?Jose, 7.2 million pounds lost and still not one product until 2004 (how far in debt by then?). GW's assets going into this deal was an idea and a permit, NOTHING else! No other start-up business is allowed to lose endless sums of money on something that is replicated in nature perfectly, UNLESS it's a gov't funded project. Which I assert it is, funding just came in form of a permit, quid pro quo for carrying water for politico's, plus makes a great delaying tactic. There whole business has been bet on fact that cannabis will be illegal in 2004, how else could you sell a $35,000.00 machine that does what a $200.00 vaporizer does? Only difference is that $35,000.00 dollar machine can be patented and locked and developed indefinately whereas we could be distributing whole cannabis and vaporizers by end of this week if they would get off our back. Let me do business and see how many of their buck rogers machines they sell. I fully intend to see this subject in court before all is said and done here as I believe that many laws and treaties are being broken, and I think the guilty parties feet should and will be held to the fire, be they public or private! Steven Tuck [ Post Comment ] Comment #36 posted by freedom fighter on January 21, 2002 at 23:33:45 PT The five rules GW Pharm. will not ever get this product approve from FDA..One of the five rules from FDA..Marketability of the product.. Sick but true..How are the legal cannabis in whatever form are goin to compete with illegal cannabis?Did anyone know if one are forced into rehab. for pot "problem", they shove valium in one's throat? Talk about high..FoM, if you can get the transcript from recent Bill Mather's show, it would be great. Publish it in the cannabisnews..ff [ Post Comment ] Comment #35 posted by goneposthole on January 21, 2002 at 21:06:04 PT Schedule H Pure science would ban the automobile. The justification would be to preserve resources. Probably not a bad idea.If you can walk and talk, be thankful that you are able. Be thankful for the air that you breathe.Schedule H is for High on Hemp HEMP FOR TRAITORS [ Post Comment ] Comment #34 posted by FoM on January 21, 2002 at 17:47:27 PT Just me again This is why I love doing Cannabis News. The passion is so powerful. It is inspiring to me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #33 posted by Jose Melendez on January 21, 2002 at 17:43:19 PT: sure about those stocks? Steve, tobacco is legal, and cigarette stocks are doing OK. Maybe there is room for both? I hope so, anyway. People don't all roll their own cigarettes. Of course, I think marijuana should be scedule five, so what do I know? Peace [ Post Comment ] Comment #32 posted by herbdoc215 on January 21, 2002 at 17:02:53 PT: GW's research is breaking new ground but......... Dr. Russo, While I admire your courage and knowledge to the utmost degree I must ask you some questions if you don't mind? My first concern is about the nature of GW's monopoly upon the whole cannabis production permits suggests "Lord" Guy had an 'inside' track or help in obtaining red-tape chainsaw. How many and what number of shares in GW is owned by members of Parliment or Queen's family/advisors? How many other companies have applied in UK/EU for permits to do research on extracts of whole cannabis THEY grew? Doesn't GW's very existance depend upon cannabis prohibition? Let me explain here for a second.... GW's 'areosol' device is pedicated upon a multi-thousand dollar nebulizer type machine upon which these controls are and can be placed. Furthermore the very benefit screamed the loudest by some of us is that cannabis is ONLY medicine that can be produced at home for terminal or indigent families in no insurance situations.... Now enough rant back to subject. How much do you think GW's stock would be worth the day after cannabis was legalized? No number less than zero you know? Now lets say that some UK gov't dudes were getting ready to give Geoff permit, what say you they bought a few shares for sh*t's and giggles? Now imagine there suprise when they woke up and found out the market valued that permit at ONE QUARTER BILLION DOLLARS US, now it becomes a money issue and you get Colin Davies in jail against every principle of English law! Man can never know the full cause and effect relationships in the universe so it's impossible to do harm/bad in order to do good. This is just another attempt to clean us up for the morality police and their bible-thumping master without paying any attention to the science. How can Marinol be the only drug in US history to be DOWN SCHEDULED to 3 from 2, and there exist any need for a PCA type device (which like morphine pumps already exists?) which is even placable in the body, I don't see any major differences in their technology. The real telling issue here is the fact they aknowledge they are funded on an IDEA and a PERMIT TO GROW, 250,000,000 US for a permit screams the potential value of this product and ALL professionals know it. The ONLY reason for these delays are the facts that Drug companies haven't found out a way to totally control/patent it yet which for most will put them right were they are now, suffering. The only people willing to help others for altruistic reasons has been shown to be the Cannabis Centers who have done job at peril to there own lives. Compare that with all the Pro Bono work you have saw MD's do YOURSELF(not someone telling you of it but SAW it) or Drug companies giving meds away to needy and sick people? I hope someday enough people get to see the truth about this situation, because when they do MD's are in for a major wakeup call on peoples opinion of how they handled this situation, and that the drug companies are the biggest criminals in the world followed closely by politicians that are mirror images of Plato's drones of democracy! Steven Tuck [ Post Comment ] Comment #31 posted by Lehder on January 21, 2002 at 16:13:28 PT feeling good was good enough Again I agree with EJ. Getting high can be the cure, the high can be the medicine. Beyond the individual, it's what cannabis culture prescribes for a world of hatred and war. Our government prescribes - imposes - jail for individuals and bombs for the world. Norman Cousins, former editor of The Saturday Review, cured himself of cancer by laughing. He watched Chaplin movies, told and listened to crazy jokes and laughed all day. And he beat cancer by making himself feel good. Marijuana can do that too.And feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues,You know feeling good was good enough for me,Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee. --Janis [ Post Comment ] Comment #30 posted by Ron Bennett on January 21, 2002 at 15:47:34 PT 1800s Medicinal Cannabis Tinctures In New Form... I'm not aware of the exact specifics regarding this new cannabinoid-based inhaler device, but sure reminds me much of the tinctures of THC popular in the 1800s for various medical uses much similar to those this new fancy-dancy inhaler is intended for.Difference is that anyone with some cannabis, high-proof alcohol (or other solvant that to leech out the cannabinoids [cannabinoids are only *slightly* soluble in water so one can't realistically use that]), and some time can make a strong cannabinoid tincture themselves for much less - if I can do it, anyone can :-)And I'd bet one could use an atomizer (such as those used for perfumes) to dispense it - the only tricky part is the "base" - I always believed that alcohol was a dangerous base, but I've seen some articles regarding use of alcohol in other inhaler based drugs...if true, then anyone who can make a decent tincture can use it in an homemade inhaler like device. Talk about convenience!Lastly, expect within a week, or perhaps even before the inhaler hits the mass market, that it will be available from dealers in bulk much like Oxycontin.Ron Bennett [ Post Comment ] Comment #29 posted by Sam Adams on January 21, 2002 at 15:44:32 PT novel technology defeated! I like Greenfox's approach to defeating any security technology controlling his meds.Maybe we can come with a personal security code for his scissors every time he cuts one of those plants down..... [ Post Comment ] Comment #28 posted by TroutMask on January 21, 2002 at 13:55:35 PT Marijuana Abuse marijuana abuse: throwing out a roach before asking your friends if they'd like some.-TM [ Post Comment ] Comment #27 posted by E_Johnson on January 21, 2002 at 13:35:58 PT It's deeply subjective and there is the problem Observer, what exactly constitutes marijuana "abuse" is a deeply subjective question where every objective answer has been rejected because it wasn't what the political powers that be wanted to hear.Certainly pain is a subjective phenomenon.Now we have scientists purporting to have an instrumental objective way to make a determination over someone else's subjective experience.I don't ever want to be forced to use one of thes products. I'd rather go to jail than submit to this kind of external control. I'd really rather just be an honest person and make the system be honest and send me to jail than participate in an exercise in perverted social control like this.I've had enough power epxressed over my life and I refuse this power being expressed here.And it's a nasty degrading thing to do to sick people too, to put them in a sitation where they are treated like small children with no capacity for judging their own needs.There are hundreds of intellectually satisfying excuses and raitonalizations here but I'm really not accepting any right now, thank you very much. [ Post Comment ] Comment #26 posted by FoM on January 21, 2002 at 13:12:41 PT Dr. Russo & Everyone Dr. Russo, I feel so very sorry for you. You are a Doctor who cares about how the laws against Cannabis are wrong. You are a good Doctor. If I lived near you I would want you to be my Doctor. I have no faith in medicine. I have no faith in Doctors except you. My father died when I was 21 because they did an endoscopy (sp) and forced it and it punctured his esophagus and he died two weeks later of Aspiration Pneumonia. His lungs filled with blood when it happened and air found it's way into the soft tissue of his head until they did an emergency tracheotomy. His head was the size of a basketball. His eyes, nose, and lips were stretched beyond recognition. My mother was misdiagnosed and they kept giving her IV lasix and they found out she had Pneumonia and because of the lasix her kidneys failed. She had Alzheimers and couldn't tell us what was wrong. My husband is being "treated" by the VA. I don't even want to say how I feel about how they avoid tests that should be done that aren't that expensive and call for cat scans and expensive stuff. They don't want to do more then they have too. It's better to keep things going slow and then the person will die and won't cost the government so much. I'm sure many people have bad stories about organized medicine too. I appreciate you very much. [ Post Comment ] Comment #25 posted by observer on January 21, 2002 at 13:11:46 PT re: ''abuse'' . . . technology it has developed to prevent abuse of prescription medicines. The company is in talks over rights to the product, which GW is using to ensure that patients do not use its cannabis sprays to get high.Drug abuse unifies . . . Depending on time, place, and social standing, many deviancies can become normal behavior. Drug abuse, however, is universally regarded as deviancy. It is the great equalizer. All social groups agree that it is never acceptable; the very term "abuse" says so. Richard L Miller, The Case for Legalizing Drugs, Richard Miller , 1992, pp.112-114 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0275934594/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #24 posted by Ethan Russo MD on January 21, 2002 at 12:51:09 PT: Once More into the Breach E_J, GW undertands the use of cannabis in treating PTSD and other "psychiatric" issues. It also recognizes the value of cannabis effects on mood in treating pain, and a whole host of other conditions.I believe that what was intended to convey was that the device provides security to prevent use by another party and permits monitoring of dosage to ensure that any sudden escalation is evident, perhaps because the patient had a particularly painful day. If someone wishes to buy CBME devices to get high, it is apt to be an expensive proposition.I am all for cognitive freedom. I believe that your argument may actually be with the regulatory authorities. The technology in these devices could aid monitoring of insulin doses just as well as that of CBME. [ Post Comment ] Comment #23 posted by E_Johnson on January 21, 2002 at 12:48:40 PT Sam Adams, it was way more polite than that! In totalitarian Communist Russia, the government thugs came in and told the scientists they'd better sign the false paper (condemning Sakharov) or be killed, tortured or sent to a Siberian gulag.Well, you have your eras confused. The torturing and killing and Gulag era was the thirties.Sakharov was denounced in the seventies, and the government was very polite by then. The price of honor was not one's life but favors and privileges like trips abroad to scientific conferences.Sakharov was sold for a trip to London or Paris, basically. [ Post Comment ] Comment #22 posted by E_Johnson on January 21, 2002 at 12:40:30 PT My problem is obvious here The so-called "psychoactive effect" of marijuana is the primary reason why my doctor recommends it for me. I have dissociation and emotional numbing and intrusion problems from chronic PTSD and eliminating the so-called "high" makes the medicine into a non-medicine.Without marijuana, the primary feelings that get through to my brain are the bad ones. With marijuana, good feelings can actually compete successfully with bad ones. It's like in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy lands in Munchkin Land and everything is in color instead of black and white.This makes me wonder -- what is the purpose of this pseudoscientific hysteria over these dreaded psychoactive effects?Maybe the prupose is to suppress people with chronic PTSD because the source of this illness is oppresson, PTSD is an illness caused by the experience of a drastic power inequality, either being assaulted by Nature (hurricanes and earthquakes and cancer) or people (parents, muggers, rapists, authority, government).There isn't much politics to being assaulted by Nature but there sure is in the other areas.This all ties in with Vietnam too. One of the nasty things we did to Vietnam vets was to criminalize their primary medicine. Because it made them feel good. And after asking them to fight an ugly war for us, that was too much to bear, that they should feel good.Some day perhaps this GW device will be kept on display in a Museum of Modern TechnoPuritanism under the section heading "The marijuana control fetish of the turn of the 21st century." [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by FoM on January 21, 2002 at 11:24:52 PT greenfox Woo Woo! [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by FoM on January 21, 2002 at 11:23:29 PT Oh Sam That's not a problem with me at all. Talking about products is fine. I just can't use a banner that a product is for sale but we can talk all we want and hope we do! They can't stop us from talking at least not yet! [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by lookinside on January 21, 2002 at 11:17:14 PT: seems pretty... greenfox: very nice! The bag Idea is a good one...In my area, some growers would place tripled up garbage bags high in trees with a small and well hidden "drip line" going up to them...mother nature did the rest... [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by Sam Adams on January 21, 2002 at 11:06:44 PT Doh! sorry.... didn't mean to Spam, I have nothing to do with the company, I just love their product..... [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by FoM on January 21, 2002 at 10:46:34 PT Just a comment I wanted to comment on the vaporizer. I can't put anything on the page that is for sale. I am 100 percent non profit. You must be or posting articles would be against the law and you can be sued. I wish we had a vaporizer today. Here is the article by Joel Miller and you can check out the comments that were made when it was published. I wish Joel would get back to writing about marijuana but he hasn't since 9-11.One Toke Over The Line, Sweet Jesus? - Joel Miller http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6466.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by Lehder on January 21, 2002 at 10:20:07 PT more tiny tiny minds of the drug war The company is in talks over rights to the product, which GW is using to ensure that patients do not use its cannabis sprays to get high. The under-the-tongue spray is fitted with a security device, where patients must insert a personal code to activate the drug.The intent of dose monitoring could not be plainer: It's to be used for enforcement of the Puritan medical doctrine that treatment should relieve pain but not provide pleasure, not even a tiny bit to someone who's miserable. There's nothing here about monitoring dosage for purely medical reasons for benefit of future patients.The device was developed to make money and there's nothing wrong with that. But it panders to the DEA and the twisted dogma that the experience of any type of a high, even if it provides only benefit, is morally wrong and must be severly punished. I totally agree with EJ's eloquent exposure of this policy. And it's a policy all the more bankrupt when, as EJ again says, it is enforced within a culture that is accepting of the "total physical and moral derangement" induced by overdoses of alcohol, a drug with only problematic medical benefit at best.The device itself only measures the patient's dose of medication. That's science. It does not "ensure that patients do not use its cannabis sprays to get high." That assurance is purely of political motivation and will be imposed by outside, nonmedical authorities who will, at least, withdraw the medicine from a patient who is suspected of obtaining a psychological lift and, likely, beleaguer the already sick person with sharp admonishments about punitive treatments such as jail. This little device holds nothing but low-grade engineering; it's not the theory of fission, it's not the bomb, it's hardly even science, and there are no great moral questions to be associated with it beyond a recognition of the officious tiny minds that will clutter good medicine with a an arbitrary doctrine. If it has to be tolerated in order to get medicine to patients, then so be it. It will keep a drug warrior, likely a whole crowd of them, off the streets. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by releafer on January 21, 2002 at 10:10:30 PT: One toke over the line sweet Jesus http://my.marijuana.com/article.php?sid=2590&mode=&order=0Rub your religious nose in this........... [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by greenfox on January 21, 2002 at 09:39:02 PT The smack WHO WANTS TO SEE MY LATEST WORK? Please feel free to take a look:http://www.overgrow.com/edge/showthread.php?s=fc0d55b41f0343190fc611a39f1e681b&threadid=91546&perpage=15&pagenumber=1 My latest grow [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by Sam Adams on January 21, 2002 at 09:37:02 PT FOM.... Sorry to hear about your husband! I would highly recommend the Eterra vaporizer...they just cut the price to $120. Here's a link:http://www.lightwell.net/I've never smoked tobacco and I've always been sensitive to smoking, this device is AMAZING. It works very well, easy on the throat and lungs, it cuts over 90% of tars and other nasty stuff from smoking. I have found all the claims they make on the website to be true. I urge all regular smokers I know to get this thing. If you're in the West Coast, some of the buyers clubs sell them.If you do get one, be sure to use a sieve to prepare the herb....you can buy a little cheap-o one at Kitchen etc.Maybe you could give the manufacturer a little banner space or something and get a comp. unit? [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by Sam Adams on January 21, 2002 at 09:24:50 PT interesting EJ I think your analogy illustrates something that fascinates me - the different, non-violent methods of oppression that our government uses to great success. In totalitarian Communist Russia, the government thugs came in and told the scientists they'd better sign the false paper (condemning Sakharov) or be killed, tortured or sent to a Siberian gulag.In the U.S., the government actually REQUESTED the IOM report, and let the scientists freely publish their (mostly) objective conclusions in 1999. And yet, in our "free" country, the government was able to completely disregard the scientific "truth", arresting and jailing the sick and those that try to help them, with minimal protest.There was a fascinating column in the Wall Street Journal a couple years ago, during the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The author's point was that, all during the Cold War, people were afraid of government oppression that came in the form of total, brutal, control - Big Brother knew where you were, what you were doing, and would come get you and break you. But, the author said, what has really transpired is a world more like Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World", a place where people are dumbed-down and obsessed with the trivial and banal.I couldn't agree more. Apathy and conformity have replaced the "iron fists" of a totalitarian control. This theory seems to provide the closet fit for what's happened in the last 25 years. The government has arrested and imprisoned a significant part of the population, simply for choosing one chemical or substance over another. There has barely been a peep of protest from media or most of the population. Indeed, most aren't even aware of the prison population explosion, or skyrocketing numbers of marijuana arrests. Within families, now Dad must work 30 or 40% more hours, Mom has to work a 50 or 60 hour career, to be able to afford less than the previous generation. Again, barely a peep of protest - or even public awareness of dialogue of these issues.Americans hold their chains of oppression right in their own hands when they pick up the remote control and sit down for a night of TV. Or when they let their kids pick it and be brainwashed into consumerism by MTV and modern advertising.Evidence of this is everywhere....look at the S&L crisis. The government basically just outright STOLE $500 billion from taxpayers and gave to their sleazy friends. Not one of the 5 Senators involved even lost their next election! I rest my case. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by FoM on January 21, 2002 at 09:13:23 PT An Example An inhaler would be beneficial today for my husband. He is sick and vomiting and it would be much easier to use an inhaler then smoke. I see times when an inhaler would be beneficial. Economically it won't be cheap and the plant is the cheapest way. Who can afford prescription medicine? I sure know I can't! I watched Politically Incorrect and a guy from a group called the Sex Pistols wanted to jump down this self righteous womans throat when she said that medical care isn't a right! He said that was the most horrible thing he ever heard said or close to it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Sam Adams on January 21, 2002 at 09:01:49 PT It's all good in the end While this may seem like a horrifying, Orwellian intrusion into personal freedom, I think the very ridiculousness of it bodes well for the MMJ cause. Cannabis prohibition is rapidly unraveling in England, moving down a course that will not be reversed. Prices will fall as commercial herb becomes readily available in cafes over the next few years, and more people will begin growing their own as law enforcement backs off.Which will eventually lead to sick people being offered some $500/month cannabis extract, plus an initial payment of $500 for some fancy inhaler device. Meanwhile, the herb will be available from friends or the local cafe for less money, and a variety of options for intake will be available for cheap (vaporizers, tincture setups, etc).In other words, things are moving backwards: cannabis has been available "over the counter" for 5000 years, now they want to introduce it as some super-expensive, tightly-controlled prescription drug? Just wait till American Big Pharm gets a hold of the process - we pay MUCH more for prescription drugs here than in Canada or Europe. The prices will be prohibitively high for any of this stuff. Health insurance companies are going to see right through the ruse, and they ultimately dictate what becomes standard medicine. Mark my words, in the next 20 years the American Health Care world is going to change dramatically, there is no way to continue on the current path. The cost of health care is increasing much faster than our society's ability to pay, it will eventually become a cost-driven business.I guess I have tremendous faith in the power of the cannabis plant to break through barriers of sanctimony and hypocrisy. Government officials and Big Pharm companies and doctor's groups can run around preaching all they want about control, science, abuse, etc, etc, etc, the bottom line is, it's a plant that grows anywhere, the battle was lost 30 or 40 years ago, everyone's using it, they're not going to stop anytime soon. The current silliness over medical use is just a transition period of 10 years or so while the Drug War on cannabis dies out across Europe and Canada. Just look at Vancouver, where medical patients currently navigate a maze of government restrictions. Meanwhile, there are about 80 hydro supply shops within Vancouver city limits! [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by E_Johnson on January 21, 2002 at 08:53:57 PT And compare with the Caltech story A bunch of famous scientists politely letting the Clinton administration representative leave the room during an AIDS forum while they admit that marijuana helps people survive AIDS.How different is that from 98% of the Soviet Academy of Scientists agreeing to make a public denunciation of one of their most esteemed and respected members?At least during the latter shameful event, nobody was sentenced to death because of their shameful vote. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on January 21, 2002 at 08:43:52 PT An example of scientific courage I think it should be held up as the shame of scientists everywhere, not just in the Soviet Union, that when the Soviet Communist Party demanded that the Soviet Academy of Sciences denounce dissident Andre Sakharov as a scientific fraud and a mentally ill traitor to his country, deluded by the influence of his Jewish wife --- the Soviet Academy of Sciences took a vote and 98% of the members voted YES.And they published a horrific written denunciation of Sakharov under their names.Many of these names are very respected names in the history of science, Soviet and otherwise.All science can produce are facts. Don't ever count on the science community for moral leadership or displays of moral courage. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on January 21, 2002 at 08:32:39 PT There is no freedom in science In science there are only right and wrong ideas. There is no freedom, there is no democracy, there are no rights.And there is no morality.And there is no humanity.These things you cannot expect from science, because that's not what science is.And unfortunately, you can expect few of these things from scientists, because while they are being trained as scientists, they lose respect for these fuzzy imprecise humanistic ideas, as they gain respect for the idea of clear scientifically right and wrong ideas.I think George Soros had it right when he said there is an enormous inherent conflict between a scientific society and an open society. he understands, because he saw that the science establishment fared better than any other group under Soviet Communism.So don't expect any freedom, or any care or concern for your freedom, from science. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on January 21, 2002 at 08:00:12 PT Just a comment I can't find any news to post so far. I'll keep looking but this is an important article. I know it is hard for us to understand. It concerns me only because it makes it seem that we will never get cannabis legalized for people who don't want to use it as medicine in that particular manner. I have no problem with this system but the concern is will we have freedom to smoke it if we want? [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Ethan Russo MD on January 21, 2002 at 07:03:55 PT: Another Voice I'd like to stay out of this debate, but I can't. For the record, I am a scientific advisor to GW Pharmaceuticals, and could be interpreted as having a conflict of interest. On the other hand, my personal ethics require that I be truthful.CE has a good point when he emphasizes that one of the main reasons for this technology is that it may well be a requirement for entry of the preparations into the USA if the DEA so demands. Is there a real risk to it? No. You know that and I know that. Appearances are paramount. Ask yourself which is worse, however: that the medicine is eventually available to thousands who need it in the USA, or, that it never is approved at all. If someone's aim is really to get high, I believe that there are other available methods.Experience with cannabis-based medical extracts (CBME) proves that everyone must individualize and titrate their doses to see what amount works, and what might be too much, producing side effects. Most CBME users attain symptomatic relief without the high, and this is important: They prefer it that way.This system provides an unparallelled opportunity for research monitoring of the patient's progress or difficulty. For example, if Mr. Smith has an increasing dose need for CBME on Saturdays, it may be related to mowing the lawn too long and increasing his pain level.Could the government use this information for nefarious intent? Perhaps, but I think it unlikely so long as Americans continue to insist on privacy in the doctor-patient relationship. People are not automatically in trouble if they require OcyContin for pain, but they will be if they get multiple prescriptions from different providers.E_J, you know that I admire you greatly. I do think that your concerns are overstated here, at least I hope that they are.This situation is a classic crisis in the Chinese sense: it represents a danger, but also an opportunity. To me the glass is more than half full. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by CorvallisEric on January 21, 2002 at 06:14:22 PT FenceSittingEric In GW's favor: 1 - I see nothing wrong with dose monitoring for research purposes, where you simply want to know how much people take. The security angle is needed to minimize one possible source of data corruption. This is reasonable scientific control that government bureaucrats can understand. There is nothing inherently good or bad about this. It only becomes a moral issue when someone uses this technology to control patients' "feeling good" by needlessly limiting the dose. 2 - GW wants to expand from the UK Silly Circus to USA Looneyland. It may need all the tricks it can come up with to silence opposition from DEA, FDA, NIDA, etc. (or at least make them seem totally ludicrous to even the Wall Street Journal). Maybe my attitude is misplaced, so, against GW: 1 - Maybe Canada's latest noises about further delays in cannabis distribution are because they think they can stall (and convince the courts to agree) until GW has a commercial product. Then they can eliminate all other sources, public and private, and pretend to please the UN while really kissing USA ass. 2 - It's 2 years away. Some of the earlier articles (like in 2000) also said it was 2 years away. ---------- In the end, this is really a personal-freedom issue. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by The GCW on January 21, 2002 at 04:45:28 PT E_Johnson Good insight & good illustration. What exactly is this high - It's basically just a feeling of well being. Feeling good. Psalms 61:2-4?;...when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. A logical reason for the Lord to have given it psychoactive qualities, is that it makes one feel closer to God. It is an aid to communication with the Lord. The reason that people like to be "high" because it feels good to be closer to God. Most are not be aware however, that God is trying to communicate with them however, and just enjoy the high. That is why it is a sacrament to the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church. Western churches are all an outgrowth of the Roman Empire however, and wine was the accepted intoxicant there, so they made wine a sacrament for communion. They considered uses of natural substances to be witchcraft, and public policy still suffers as a consequence. http://www.olywa.net/when/bible08.html.This may help in understanding why God is considered: the Most High. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on January 20, 2002 at 23:55:49 PT Suggested topic for an essay Modern humanity -- oxymoron, or unfulfilled promise?Case in point -- what's so bad about cancer patients feeling good that we must develop sophisticated technology to prevent that from happening? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on January 20, 2002 at 22:57:35 PT Modern ideology gone mad - GW is the Devil The company is in talks over rights to the product, which GW is using to ensure that patients do not use its cannabis sprays to get high. The under-the-tongue spray is fitted with a security device, where patients must insert a personal code to activate the drug. The device also monitors the dose taken and the frequency of uses.First off we have cannabinoid specialists promoting a fearful pseudoscientific misunderstanding about the so-called "high" of marijuana, basically to ensure their own financial futures as the non-high option. That's not admirable at all. Second, what more pseudoscientific notion exists in so-called sciernce today than the mythical marijuana high? What exactly is this high and why is it such bad thing? For all one can tell, this so-called high is nothing at all like alcohol, a complete deragemnent of physical and moral judgment. It's basically just a feeling of well being.Feeling good. We have to have a high tech monitoring system to make sure that our medicine doesn't make us feel good.Now with medicines that can cause a fatal overdose from feeling good, maybe this modern technological misco-intrusion into the patient's decision making is excusable.But it's also a Puritan's understanding of treating illness. Let's do the good and proper Christian thing and remove the suffering without leading to any unGodly pleasures, because the ultimate purpose of being well is not to feel good, but just to no longer be ill.The thing that is wrong here is this association between badness and feeling good. A good medicine should only have unpleasant side effects, that's a Puritan's understanding of treating illness.So did Geoffrey Guy's ancestors once hunt witches? Makes me wonder. "It is just like a credit card company monitoring your spending patterns to check for anything out of the ordinary," he said.No actually it's not at all like that, Geoffrey Guy. A credit card company monitors my credit card purchases to make sure that I am not being vicitimized by a thief who has stolen my credit card. Their aim is to protect me, not exert their authority over my life.The credit card company does not monitor my morality or my spending habits. Their chief concern is that I pay my debts on time.The credit card company actually prefers it if I end up feeling good by using their product. Fancy that, Geoffrey Guy, fancy that. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment