cannabisnews.com: New Drug Could Affect Debate on Medical Pot 





New Drug Could Affect Debate on Medical Pot 
Posted by CN Staff on March 12, 2004 at 14:41:57 PT
By Drew Johnson-Skinner
Source: Hill News
Medical-marijuana advocates are celebrating the expected approval of a marijuana-based pain reliever in Britain but remain cautious about any impact the move will have on marijuana-policy reform in the United States. With a Republican-controlled Congress and White House, the chances that the drug, called Sativex, will earn quick U.S. approval are slim, said Steve Fox, a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-medical-marijuana group.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who introduced H.R. 2233, the States’ Rights to Medical Marijuana Act, said he does not expect British approval of the drug to help passage of his bill. “This issue is more political than scientific,” Frank said.H.R. 2233 would give states the power to determine their own medical-marijuana rules. Sativex, created by the British company GW Pharmaceuticals, has been heralded by many in the medical-marijuana community as a vast improvement over Marinol, a THC-based drug currently legally available in the United States. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the naturally occurring active ingredient in the cannabis plant.Sativex is intended to relieve pain in patients suffering from chronic illness — the reason many patients have resorted to smoking marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law. Instead of only THC, Sativex includes almost all of the medically beneficial compounds present in smoked marijuana. Delivered in a sublingual spray, Sativex also takes effect quicker than Marinol, a pill that must be digested. Dr. Andrew Mattison, co-director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California at San Diego, said his group has an application pending with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start U.S. clinical trials on a drug similar to Sativex. FDA-approved clinical tests are a common first step before FDA authorization of a drug for sale to the public, Mattison said.Some activists hope that U.S. approval of Sativex would force policy changes regarding other forms of marijuana. Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said that if the FDA were to approve Sativex but not smoked marijuana, “that would be like saying you can buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but we’ll put you in jail if we catch you with coffee beans.” The FDA would not comment on Sativex or other marijuana-based drugs.Mirken said most members of Congress have not yet given much thought to the medical-marijuana issue, not wanting to involve themselves in the controversy surrounding it. He said that the U.S. government has ignored scientific research on medical marijuana for years and that he hopes British action will force U.S. officials to take a second look.“It’s an absurd notion that the federal government is turning a blind eye to this,” said Tom Riley, spokesman for the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy. “If you can show [a marijuana-based drug] is effective by the standards of modern science, then it can be licensed and it can be controlled.”Refusing to comment specifically on Sativex, Riley said that if a drug eased patients’ suffering and passed scientific muster, he would expect it to receive the administration’s approval. “It’s entirely possible that the cannabis plant contains elements that are useful for medical purposes,” Riley said. “But our regulatory process prevents dangerous drugs from entering the marketplace.”Riley also said some marijuana advocacy groups are using patients’ suffering as a means toward gaining full legalization of smoked marijuana in the United States. “They seized on medical marijuana as a backdoor way of achieving their goals,” he said. But U.S. approval of a drug like Sativex could also have unintended consequences for medical marijuana advocates.Members of Congress who are leaning toward easing restrictions on whole, smoked marijuana may retract their support if a non-smoked alternative were available, according to Allen St. Pierre, spokesman for the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws. Endorsing a spray, like Sativex, is politically safer than supporting smoked marijuana, St. Pierre said. Newshawk: Ethan Russo MD Source: Hill, The (US DC)Author: Drew Johnson-SkinnerPublished: February 24, 2004Copyright: 2004 The HillContact: aleisele thehill.comWebsite: http://www.hillnews.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:MPPhttp://www.mpp.org/NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/GW Pharmhttp://www.gwpharm.com/Pot Proponent Just Says Nohttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18332.shtmlDr. Dope's Connection http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18331.shtmlThe Cannabis Conundrum http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18285.shtml 
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