Drug War Issues
Did you know that Marinol and medical marijuana are different? Read what different experts have to say, at "Marinol v. Medical Marijuana," on MedicalMarijuanaProCon.org, part of the ProCon.org family.
This is the final installment of a six-part series of ProCon.org highlights published in Drug War Chronicle. You can follow ProCon.org through their email list or RSS feed or on Twitter. Read last week's Chronicle ProCon.org highlight piece here.
ProCon.org is a web site promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan primarily pro-con format.
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Comments
No contest
Reducing cannabis to just THC (Marinol), minimizes efficacy and greatly increases side effects.
Many people, including scientists, believe that Marinol/dronabinol lacks the beneficial properties of marijuana/cannabis, which contains more than 60 cannabinoids, including cannabidiol (CBD), thought to be the major anticonvulsant that helps multiple sclerosis patients, and cannabichromene (CBC), an anti-inflammatory which may contribute to the pain-killing effect of cannabis.
It takes over one hour for Marinol to reach full effect, compared to minutes for smoked or vaporized cannabis. Patients accustomed to inhaling just enough cannabis smoke to manage symptoms have complained of too-intense intoxication from Marinol's predetermined dosages. It’s also difficult to keep a pill down when one is nauseated. Many have also said that Marinol even produces a far more acute psychedelic effect than cannabis.
Cannabis vs Marinol http://tiny.cc/alxy0
Marinol (Dronabinol) = 1344 USD per month
Marijuana = practically free if you grow your own outdoors.
Cannabis is safe and the Queen of all herbs, with euphoria-inducing and life-preserving qualities . . . and need “euphoria” be a bad thing?
Death by overdose
Malcolm, some people might think the fact that synthetic dronabinol has a certified body count attached to it while natural cannabis has never been the direct cause of a person's death in all of recorded human history is a significant consideration as well.
If THC synthesis were cheap,
If THC synthesis were cheap, any benefit medical marijuana provides can be produced without a Cannabis plant since most of the other beneficial chemicals are available in either other plant species or through synthetic production. Many of the beneficial compounds that exist in Cannabis are very cheaply available (on a per dose basis). One only needs to be able to formulate the appropriate concoction independently with little supporting research. It is too bad most people arnt capable of figuring such matters.
For instance, eating 1 drop of Pine oil yields a huge amount more of alpha-pinene and other compounds than a standard dose of Cannabis. There is no advisory to do something like this however. My opinion is that if Pine oil offered great health benefits, than lots of medicine sellers would be out of business since conifers are very common, a dose of oil is super low, and it would be super difficult for rich people to hold hegemony over it.
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