Pubdate: Wed, 29 May 2002
Source: Philadelphia Weekly (PA)
Copyright: 2002 Philadelphia Weekly
Contact:  http://www.phillyweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1091
Author: Sara Kelly
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?323 (GW Pharmaceuticals)

A NEW LEAF

Getting Patients High Is The Least Of What Pot-derived Drugs Can Do

Though it would be nice to think that chronic pain sufferers could at least 
enjoy a legal pot buzz once in a while, medicinal marijuana, with the 
exception of a few lucky folks grandfathered into a state-sponsored plan 
from the '70s, isn't really about getting wrecked. But that--no doubt due 
to our nation's queer puritanical hang-ups--doesn't seem to matter much to 
anti-pot activists. To them, the thought of doling out weed in any form 
just ain't gonna cut it. This, in a society where, like, half the 
population's on prescribed mood lifters. The mind reels.

But that's not to say cannabis-based drugs--chock full of friendly 
substances derived from the marijuana plant--don't have a bright future in 
medicine. In fact, quite the opposite is true. And right here in the good 
old regressive U.S.

Aside from those who tap the government's stash--300 joints a month, 
professionally rolled in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, says Paul 
Armentano, director of research for the National Organization for the 
Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, a Washington-based pot lobby (don't be 
jealous, he adds; the stuff's not quality)--a great number of people 
suffering from the nausea brought on by chemotherapy treatment for cancer 
or the debilitating effects of AIDS take Marinol, which was brought to 
market in 1985 and today remains the only cannabis-based drug approved by 
the Food and Drug Administration.

A synthetic version of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), pot's most famous 
ingredient, Marinol was recently reclassified from a Schedule II drug (the 
second-most controlled category) to a less intimidating Schedule III. It's 
exceedingly rare, says a spokeswoman for Unimed, the Illinois company that 
manufactures Marinol, for a drug to be reclassified downward in this 
fashion. And it bodes well for the future acceptance of cannabis-based 
pharmaceuticals.

Marinol is so safe and established, in fact, that whatever controversy 
still surrounds it remains pretty limited to the problem of delivery. Since 
it comes in pill form, Marinol might not take effect for two to four hours. 
That's a long time to wait if you're trying not to vomit. And when it hits 
the liver, the drug is converted into a stronger compound than what you'd 
get from bogarting a fatty. So users, says NORML's Armentano, get more 
messed up than casual tokers. (A tragedy, that.)

For this reason, Unimed plans to team up with another company to make an 
inhaler that would introduce the drug in a fashion much closer to smoking it.

Attempting to improve upon Marinol, New York City-based Atlantic Technology 
Ventures is in the early testing phase of CT-3, a synthetic THC derivative 
whose technical specs are quick to assure a drug-fearing society that it 
prevents inflammation and eases pain to sufferers of neurological diseases, 
cancer, glaucoma gastrointestinal and other disorders without that annoying 
high. (Told you medicinal marijuana isn't as fun as it seems.)

The cannabis-based dexanabinol is another promising drug engineered 
specifically for traumatic brain injury. Gale Smith, a spokeswoman for the 
New Jersey-based Pharmos, describes her company's product as a synthetic 
cannabanoid that's the exact mirror image of THC. (Twisting cannabis in yet 
another new direction, the French company Sanofi-Synthelabo is now working 
to reverse one of the substance's most well-known side effects--the 
munchies--for the treatment of obesity.) Smith says fiddling with the 
compound's structure robs the drug of its psychotropic effects, giving 
users "all the medicinal effects without the high."

"People ask us why we've taken that out," she laughs, "because we could've 
made a lot more money otherwise." (Don't expect to see that on Pharmos' 
application to the FDA.)

Dexanabinol is designed to prevent brain damage and inflammation after 
trauma. To explain the drug's effect, Smith describes a car accident in 
which the driver suffers a head injury. Though rescue workers find him 
lucid at the scene, the driver slips into a coma before reaching the 
hospital. This is because the neurons that died from the initial impact 
send biochemical signals that kill off previously unaffected brain cells.

The hope is that a dexanabinol injection at the accident scene can prevent 
the added damage that occurs after what Smith describes as "this cascade of 
toxic compounds" invade the brain. The drug's anti-inflammatory properties 
should also prevent the brain from swelling dangerously after injury.

Dexanabinol, which had its origins at Hebrew University in Israel, is in 
the final phase of its clinical trials, which could have its application 
for approval before the FDA by year's end. Down the line, Smith says Pharma 
hopes to win approval in treating the side effects of stroke, multiple 
sclerosis, diabetes, cancer and "anything in the central or peripheral 
nervous system," as well as cardiovascular problems. The drug's one major 
downside, she adds, is that "the administration could get tricky," as it's 
now available only for injection. But the company's investigating an oral 
alternative.

Taking medicinal marijuana to a whole new breadth is the British GW 
Pharmaceuticals' "portfolio" of cannabis-based drugs used to treat 
sufferers of everything from AIDS to spinal cord injury, phantom limb pain 
and arthritis, to brain diseases such as depression, schizophrenia and even 
Tourette's Syndrome. These drugs, like most of the medicinal marijuana 
alternatives to come about since Marinol was approved almost two decades 
ago, utilize more than just THC. They remain in the testing phase, each 
drug being put through its paces separately for use in treating each 
symptom or disease.

GW's drugs offer varied ratios of THC and another pot-derived compound, 
Cannabidiol (CBD), to treat common symptoms of neurological diseases. The 
portfolio boasts pain relief, anti-convulsant, anti-psychotic, 
anti-inflammatory, appetite-stimulant and similar properties.

Derived from actual pot plants (guess you can do that sort of "research" in 
England) and administered as an under-the-tongue spray, GW's products, say 
its spec sheets, draw from "hundreds of years of cannabis use" that offer 
"compelling evidence of safety."

The specs go on to explain that the ratio between a normal and a lethal 
dose of cannabis is 40,000 to 1--which is especially impressive considering 
morphine's ratio is 50 to 1, and aspirin's a shocking 23 to 1. And like 
most companies that manufacture cannabis-based drugs, GW wants you to know 
that you can reap the drugs' medical benefits without actually getting high.

So much for baking on your sick bed.
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MAP posted-by: Ariel