inkbluesky

black and white sandstone formation

Big Pharma Is in a Frenzy to Bring Cannabis-Based Medicines to Market

One of the more popular theories seeking to explain the Feds’ seemingly inexplicable ban on medical pot goes like this: Neither the US government nor the pharmaceutical industry will allow for the use of medical marijuana because they can’t patent it or profit from it.

It’s an appealing theory, yet I’ve found it to be neither accurate nor persuasive. Here’s why.

First, let me state the obvious. Big Pharma is busily applying for — and has already received — multiple patents for the medical properties of pot. These include patents for synthetic pot derivatives (such as the oral THC pill Marinol), cannabinoid agonists (synthetic agents that bind to the brain’s endocannabinoid receptors) like HU-210 and cannabis antagonists such as Rimonabant.

When I first read the headline I was skeptical. Even after reading the snip above I still wasn’t sure. Then I clicked over to this patent abstract,

Abstract
Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to
NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids
useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation
associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and
autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular
application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological
damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the
treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease,
Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia.

Marijuana has a huge cultural stigma attached to it despite the whining by some that Hollywood has glamorized its use and made it unofficially OK. Yet if you have someone from big pharma like Pfizer or Eli Lilly extract active ingredients and sell those at a profit its science meets a minor miracle, marijuana’s stigma magically disappears.

*some = an article written by a right-winger named brent bozell at yahoo news this morning. brent could have saved his breath and us some shrill paranoia by simply writing one sentence – children shouldn’t use drugs or alcohol.

liberal kansas drive-inn. there is such a place. according to wikipedia,

S. S. Rogers built the first house in what would become Liberal in 1872. Rogers would give water to travelers, who in turn told him something to the effect, ‘that is very liberal of you.’

Writing a Weblog in Iran could get you killed

However, the draft bill also includes “establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy”, which is a new addition to crimes punishable by death.

Iran’s parliament is set to discuss this bill. Apostasy is defined by Iran’s parliament to mean leaving Islam. Iran executed 317 people last year.The Committee To Protect Bloggers notes the Iranian government shares Bush’s tendency to use obtuse language to describe what its doing, It will “toughen punishment for harming mental security in society.”