Pubdate: Sat, 31 Aug 2002
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2002, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: Shane Holladay

NEW DRUG TAKES YOU ON A BUM TRIP

Butt out those joints - a U.S. researcher is close to rolling out an 
alternative for medical marijuana exemptees that may put an end to their 
need for weed.

Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly has developed a rectal suppository that delivers a 
therapeutic dose of THC - the active ingredient of marijuana - without the 
harmful effects of smoking and with one other twist, he says.

"You don't get that stoned feeling," said ElSohly, a University of 
Mississippi research professor who does U.S. government sponsored research 
of marijuana and other drugs.

"It cuts down on that edge that you normally get with THC."

Suppositories are the next more direct route to deliver THC into the 
bloodstream after smoking, he said.

Rob, a medical marijuana exemptee living in Edmonton, said he's skeptical 
scientists can cut out the euphoric aspect of THC without cutting its 
effectiveness.

"They seem to want to alter it when it's proven to be effective just the 
way it is," he said.

The drug ElSohly patented in 1996 - dronabinol hemisuccunate (DHS) - is a 
precursor to THC.

It is quickly absorbed into fatty tissues of the lower intestine. As DHS is 
gradually released into the bloodstream, it's chemically transformed into THC.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens