Two similar headlines on pot

[El_Machinae]

Synthetic pot drug to return for chemo patients

Seventeen years after it was withdrawn from U.S. markets, a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana is going back on sale as a prescription treatment for the vomiting and nausea that often accompanies chemotherapy, its manufacturer said Tuesday.

FDA rejects use of medical marijuana

The FDA said in a statement that it and other agencies with the Health and Human Services Department had “concluded that no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use.”

The more I'm exposed to this type of strangeness, the more I'm thinking there is actual corrupt political pressure being applied.

I know this is nothing new, but both these reports come from the same source

 

[.Shane.]

The more I'm exposed to this type of strangeness, the more I'm thinking there is actual corrupt political pressure being applied.

In the case of the FDA it wouldn't suprise me as Bush has largely turned good, objective, scientifically-based offices into political, partisan organizations.

 

[Masquerouge]

So basically the FDA is trying to bring the money for cannabis products into the big labs that developped the synthetic version instead of your average drug dealer.
I'm not sure which one is worse.

 

[Urederra]

oh... I just left the Da Vinci Code thread one minute ago with a guy saying that people who believes every conspiration theory they read are stupid and now I found this thread. Oh... the ironing. I spent too much time in this site and I don't have time to do the ironing.

Two things i have to say:

First, Cesamet is not THC, is a THC analogue, Cesamet, (Nabilone in the UK) is not present on pot. The difference is like in cocaine and lidocaine. Lidocaine is a sinthetic drug not present in coca leaves, but it is based on the structure of cocaine. It does not have the psycoactive activity of cocaine but it does have the local anesthetic properties of cocaine. Cesamet is the same, it is a THC analogue that the medicinal chemists designed and sinthesized based on THC, but with improved properties and less side effects. We do that all the time with many different types of plants. Heck, even acetylsalicilic acid is an analog of a drug found in the bark of Salix babilonica (Weeping tree) and other species of salix, but it has better absortion properties than the drug found in the bark. And we like to get paid for that.

Second: Pot, along with THC, has many, many other chemical substances, some of them have potential therapeutical use, others are very harmful, so the correct path is to isolate the beneficial ones, modify them if it is possible to improve their properties, and administrate them to the patient in need. There are countless of examples of that in medicinal chemistry history.

 

[El_Machinae]

That was valuable Urederra.

By analogy, we keep doing studies with beta-carotene, and keep learning we should just eat the damn carrots.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

In the case of the FDA it wouldn't suprise me as Bush has largely turned good, objective, scientifically-based offices into political, partisan organizations.

Well, not like Bush is the first. Pot has been illegal for decades here in the US.

 

[.Shane.]

Well, not like Bush is the first. Pot has been illegal for decades here in the US.

No, no, what I meant was that I don't trust the current FDA to give a fair shot to the idea of medicinal marijuana.

I realize its been long, long illegal.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

No, no, what I meant was that I don't trust the current FDA to give a fair shot to the idea of medicinal marijuana.

I realize its been long, long illegal.

That's my typical defense of President Bush.

"Earlier presidents have also done stupid things, and he isn't our only bad president."

 

[Urederra]

That was valuable Urederra.

By analogy, we keep doing studies with beta-carotene, and keep learning we should just eat the damn carrots.

I am more interested in apoptosis right now. And I though you also were, just because you link the Methuselah prize in your sig.

And I like carrots.

 

[El_Machinae]

Apoptosis is just one of the elements that I keep track of right now. But it's certainly not my main area of interest.

I also worry when the FDA gives Aspartame a clean bill of health. I just don't really trust that organisation.

 

[eyrei]

Well, not like Bush is the first. Pot has been illegal for decades here in the US.

And whoever is in power when it is legalized will alienate a large segment of the population who grew up with such a negative stigma against it that they would not accept it having a purpose if it was found to cure cancer. It is going to be awhile...