cannabisnews.com: Pipe Dream or Wonder Drug? 










  Pipe Dream or Wonder Drug? 

Posted by FoM on November 26, 2000 at 10:11:04 PT
By Michael Perrault 
Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News 

Medical marijuana use boosts commercial possibilities, as well as legal quandaries. Quaint Victorian bed-and-breakfasts that cater to medical marijuana users. A "plant factory" that produces 400 varieties of marijuana seeds. Hidden greenhouses with high-tech security cameras and alarms where high-grade marijuana is grown and transformed into pharmaceuticals. E-commerce sites that deliver marijuana to your door.
Welcome to a growing business enterprise that is evolving in some states and around the world, where entrepreneurs believe that supplying marijuana to chronically ill patients — and others — is more than a mere pipe dream.Passage of Amendment 20 this month by Colorado voters soon will make it legal for patients with prescriptions to possess and use marijuana. Yet purchasing marijuana still will be illegal. What remains to be determined is how patients will legally get their hands on the drug.If experiences in five other states that have implemented similar medical marijuana measures are any indication, marijuana smoking "clubs" and cooperatives will allow patients to set up networks to acquire the controversial drug.But entrepreneurs also have stepped into the picture to offer everything from marijuana seeds for planting to health information on marijuana-related Web sites and special "hemp rooms" to accommodate medical marijuana users.Although Amendment 20 isn't likely to spark a flood of such marijuana-related businesses in Colorado anytime soon, less-restrictive measures in other states are prompting companies to position themselves to tap the potential growing market.The Business of Marijuana:In Santa Cruz, Calif., for example, two entrepreneurs launched the Compassion Flower Inn bed and breakfast to cater to medical marijuana users. One North Carolina entrepreneur receives $62,000 a year from the federal government to roll cannabis cigarettes and ship them Federal Express, in sealed tins of 300 joints each, to patients, doctors and pharmacists, said a spokeswoman for the National Academy of Sciences.Canadian Marc Emery now sells hundreds of varieties of marijuana seeds to patients and others via his Vancouver-based Internet business.Although such businesses skirt the boundaries of state and federal drug distribution laws, an untold number of businesses are eyeing potential financial rewards as communities ease restrictions on marijuana and hemp. Unlike marijuana, the hemp plant has just a tiny bit of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the principal active ingredient that alters the senses and is said to reduce pain and nausea.In Mendocino County, 115 miles north of San Francisco, voters approved a measure this month that would allow residents to grow up to 25 pot plants apiece. Marijuana seed providers, rolling paper companies and other firms are eager to tap the market in the county, which has 86,000 residents."One day, marijuana will end up in our pharmacies and grocery stores," predicts John Entwistle, a spokesman for Californians for Compassionate Use.'No Effect on Federal Drug Laws'While talk of easing marijuana regulations has raised the hopes of entrepreneurs in about a half-dozen states, law enforcment officials in Colorado emphasize that producing, distributing or purchasing marijuana remains illegal.U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland said he doesn't plan to prosecute sick people who use small amounts of marijuana, but his ofice said marijuana possession still is a crime."Make no mistake about it, this will have no effect on federal drug laws," Strickland said.Meanwhile, supporters of the amendment are working with state officials to design a medical marijuana user registry that is similar to one set up by Oregon officials."We're going to have to all sit down and think about how to implement the amendment — law enforcent, public health officials, the governor, legislature, patients and doctors," said Julie Roche, spokeswoman for Colorado's medical-marijuana amendment. "I see Colorado moving in the direction of Oregon's model, with a registry of medical marijuana users and a patient network, where patients help each other."Similar marijuana smoking "clubs" and cooperatives have been set up in states such as Oregon, California, Arizona and Washington, where medical-marijuana amendments have passed. Yet in states such as California, implementation has been all but simple. Four years after California's Proposition 215 was passed, law enforcement officials continue to raid and close so-called marijuana smoking clubs, and lawsuits from patients seeking to get their marijuana returned from police have sprouted like weeds."When the law was first passed, the cooperatives started out as smoking clubs, and it was a mess then because there was not control and (all kinds of) people were smoking," said Martin Chilcutt, a retired psychotherapist and a cancer survivor who lives in Denver and is organizing a cannabis cooperative for Colorado. He hopes cooperatives will make marijuana more affordable, because an ounce can cost as much as $400, depending on quality.As California's implementation of Proposition 215 has evolved, Chilcutt said, patients have set up cooperatives, worked with police and have generally been successful in controlling the flow of marijuana to people who are trying to reduce nausea and ease pain.Still, police in California and elsewhere continue to prosecute patients who they say have too many plants and joints or whom they suspect may be violating distribution laws. The Justice Department shut down the 5,000-member Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative in Oakland, Calif., and lawsuits continue to be filed by patients and club owners."Juries generally have been acquitting people with hundreds of plants," said Dale Gieringer, California coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He estimates that there are more than 20,000 medical marijuana users in California.Illegal Pot Industry Expanding:Although less restrictive marijuana laws and changing public sentiment eventually may open the door to legalization of marijuana, the illegal marijuana production and distribution industry continues to grow, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's latest figures. Marijuana is the fourth-largest cash crop in America, yielding more than 8.7 million havested plants and bringing in $26.3 billion to growers, according to the DEA. The street value: $43.8 billion. Overall, an estimated 14.8 million Americans used marijuana or other illicit drugs last year, DEA officials said.Among factors fueling the increase in risky illegal growing operations is the potential to earn big money. The flagship strain of marijuana that Emery produces in Vancouver, called "B.C. Bud," sells for as much as $8,000 a pound, primarily because THC accounts for up to 30 percent of the marijuana weight. In contrast, more common marijuana with less than 5 percent THC sells for as little as $300 a pound.Marijuana has been a lucrative, behind-the-scenes business for some risk-prone growers in Colorado, as well. One reason marijuana-growing operations are thriving is that Colorado has the highest percentage of recreational marijuana users in the country, said Dr. Joel Karlin, who has questioned the elixer-like painkilling qualities of marijuana and was active in opposing Amendment 20. According to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 8.1 percent of Coloradans reported using pot during a 30-day period in 1999, more than any other state.In places such as Dolores County, in southwestern Colorado, a single plant can bring in $1,000, according to Sheriff Jerry Martin. Marijuana planted in cornfields, on mountain ridges and along streams is enough of a problem to warrant surveillance from Colorado National Guard helicopters. That has prompted some Colorado growers to relocate growing operations to basements and attics using high-pressure sodium light bulbs and other devices.The five leading states for indoor growing based on the most recent DEA reports were California, Florida, Oregon, Alaska and Kentucky.Across borders, where law enforcement officials often take little notice of marijuana operations, there is an even more impressive business boom. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police estimate that there are 9,000 "grow operations" in the Vancouver area alone. Canadians increasingly are breeding indoor plants to reach potencies 10 times the levels of the 1960s. Marijuana growers in Canada are even selling their marijuana-feeding schedules for as much as $6,000.Marijuana 'Patch' Being Studied:Among products being considered by the American Cancer Society and studied by the Albany College of Pharmacy in New York is a marijuana "patch" to deliver cannabinoids through the skin. There is a surge of scientific interest in developing new cannabinoid drugs despite an expensive, long and risky road to market.A few companies worldwide are looking to develop pharmaceuticals that offer health remedies that parallel the benefits of marijuana use. Companies such as Pharmos Corp. in Israel are developing a cannabinoid for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases that is undergoing clinical trials.In Great Britain, GW Pharmaceuticals has developed a sophisticated marijuana cultivation program that is carried out under tight security in hidden, high-tech greenhouses with electric fences and security guards. Plant strains have been developed by Dutch plant breeders to meet strict pharmaceutical standards.Another company, Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based Unimed Pharmaceuticals, sells the compound dronabinol, an oral capsule containing THC in sesame oil. Marketed as Marinol, the company sells about $20 million worth of the product annually, Unimed reported, mostly to HIV-infected patients. A prescription costs patients about $200 a month.Farmers Want To Grow Hemp:Weld County farmer Bob Winter grows sugar beets, but he has been among the most vocal of the state's farmers to push for legalization of hemp. He and other farmers point to their colleagues in Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota and North Dakota, who now can legally grow hemp. The crop can be much more lucrative than spring wheat because it garners as much as $250 an acre.Winter has the support of the Colorado Farm Bureau, which considers hemp a viable crop that should be pursued, said bureau spokeswoman Karen Salaz. But she said federal regulations, such as 10-foot-high fences and 24-hour lighting, make it difficult for farmers to turn a profit."The bottom line has been that the expense due to the federal rules and regulations are so prohibitive that Colorado couldn't enforce them," Salaz said. "The reality, unfortunately, for the farmer is that the costs make it extremely difficult to make a profit."There are an estimated 25,000 uses for hemp, from rope to tortilla chips, according to the Hemp Food Industries Association. Colorado State University has planted a number of test hemp plots in recent years.Boulder Hemp Co. uses hemp seed from non-industrial hemp plants grown in Canada to make its Heavenly Hemp Tortilla Chips.Legal Pot Would Be Cheaper:Jon Gettman, a nationally recognized expert on marijuana cultivation who frequently testifies at marijuana criminal cases, said legalization of marijuana would result in dramatically lower, free-market prices.Through the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, he has been pushing for 24 years to remove marijuana and THC restrictions that classify the plant as an addictive drug. He hopes that a decision could be made by the Department of Health and Human Services within two years."The price would be on the order of five or 10 cents per joint," he said, similar to other leaf crop prices. Gettman said the easiest way to hold the price at levels such as those in the Netherlands would be to impose an excise tax on commercial sales.A "harmfulness tax" of 50 cents to a dollar per joint could bring in $2.2 billion to $6.4 billion per year, he estimated. And legalization would save taxpayers $8 billion to $16 billion a year, not counting the economic benefits of hemp agriculture and other spinoff industries, he said.Opponents of legalization point to the rise in marijuana-related emergency room episodes, which have increased from 15,706 in 1990 to 87,150 last year, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network."Many of these visits can be attributed to the fact that the potency of marijuana has also increased," said a spokesman for DEA, which had a $1.55 billion budget in 2000 to help fight illegal drug activity.Gettman claims that marijuana "does not have the same abuse potential as other addictive drugs."Gettman said a medical catalog advertised cannabis for as little as $2.50 per pound when it was legal in the 1920s."Today's illicit prices range from $100 to $200 per ounce for low-grade Mexican to $400 to $600 per ounce for high-grade sinsemilla," he said.Contact Michael Perrault at (303) 892-2467 or perraultm RockyMountainNews.comSource: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)Author: Michael PerraultPublished: November 26, 2000 Copyright: 2000 Denver Publishing Co.Address: 400 W. Colfax, Denver, CO 80204Contact: letters denver-rmn.com Website: http://www.denver-rmn.com/Related Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/Coloradans For Medical Rights http://www.medicalmarijuana.com/Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperativehttp://www.rxcbc.org/index.htmlUK Medicinal Cannabis Projecthttp://www.medicinal-cannabis.org/Hemp Industries Associationhttp://www.thehia.org/index.htmlCannabis Culture Magazine http://www.cannabisculture.com/The Compassion Flower Inn http://compassionflowerinn.com/Pictures From The Compassion Flower Innhttp://www.freedomtoexhale.com/cfinn.htmCannabisNews Hemp Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/hemp.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml

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Comment #4 posted by chronic2000 on March 01, 2001 at 14:16:36 PT:

bc bud?
can someone please tell me where i can find some bc bud seeds.  are these to be grown outside in bc, or inside. if its inside, what difference does it make growing inside?  someone please clear this up!
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Comment #3 posted by Dan B on November 26, 2000 at 22:55:04 PT:

Where?

Am I the only person here who would like to know where one might purchase 5% THC weed for $300 a pound? Doesn't sound quite believable to me.
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Comment #2 posted by freedom fighter on November 26, 2000 at 10:57:31 PT

Take two local newspapers 

and show what were written   the same day. http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread7768.shtmlWeird!
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Comment #1 posted by freedom fighter on November 26, 2000 at 10:45:36 PT

Tall Tales

Opponents of legalization point to the rise in marijuana-related emergency room episodes, which have increased from 15,706 in 1990 to 87,150 last year, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network."Many of these visits can be attributed to the fact that the potency of marijuana has also increased," said a spokesman for DEA, which had a $1.55 billion budget in 2000 to help fight illegal drug activity(In my 27 yr of smoking cannabis, I have never seen anyone keel over and had to be taken to emergency room. Most likely that the majority of the 87 thousands had taken more than just cannabis. Like drinking or doing meth.. etc. My next question is did any of those 87,000 came out of the hospital in a body bag? Just one please? 87k represent less than half percent of the 250 million people, does it justify how much the DEA been spending 1.5billion$? Only thing potent is DEA arming themselves yearly by billions and billions, trampling everyone's right to be a free american. It is deadly!)
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