Pubdate: Tue, 19 Apr 2016
Source: Albany Democrat-Herald (OR)
Copyright: 2016 Lee Enterprises
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/HPOp5PfB
Website: http://www.democratherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/7

MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEBATE TAKES A NEW FORM

The recent news about a looming controversy regarding medical 
marijuana and an experimental epilepsy drug raises intriguing 
questions - but, in the long run, likely will be seen as a footnote 
on the road to more widespread legalization.

At issue in the recent case is an experimental drug, Epidiolex, which 
is made from cannabis plants grown in England. The drug is a nearly 
pure extract of cannabidiol, or CBD. It has little of the substance 
in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), that produces the 
traditional pot high. A researcher in Columbus, Ohio, says that 
Epidiolex has shown great promise in treating seizures, especially 
among children. And, the researcher notes, studies have suggested 
that children can be hurt by using the whole marijuana plant.

The researcher, Anup Patel, has been working with a London-based 
company, GW Pharmaceuticals, which gave him enough of the medicine 
for a single patient. Last month, the company released positive 
results of late-stage testing. It plans to take the drug to the U.S. 
Food and Drug Administration for approval later this year.

That worries medical marijuana activists, who cite two major 
concerns: First, they worry that approval of Epidiolex will mark the 
beginning of Big Pharma's takeover of medical marijuana, a 
development that could hinder the ability of users to access the 
entire plant. Second, they worry that the drug's approval could 
undercut the political momentum for medical marijuana in states that 
have yet to approve it.

It's true that momentum has slowed somewhat from the days when 
proponents could boast that a medical marijuana ballot measure never 
had lost on a state ballot. But part of that likely has little to do 
with Big Pharma and much more to do with another growing trend: The 
states which have voted to legalize recreational pot, a development 
which takes some of the wind out of the medical marijuana issue.

The debate over Epidiolex has created two camps that seemingly are at 
odds, but here's a case in which each camp has something useful to contribute.

What drives researchers like Patel is a desire to get more hard data 
to back up (or refute) the claims made by medical marijuana users. In 
Oregon alone, thousands upon thousands of people have medical 
marijuana cards, so they must feel the drug does something useful for 
them. The more we can back up those experiences with hard science, 
the better off we'll all be. (And, if the data suggest that medical 
marijuana can be useful in treating specific ailments, it would only 
be natural for Big Pharma to take an interest, especially if 
questions regarding proper dosage can be worked out. Medical 
marijuana proponents may have feared this day, but they had to know 
that it was inevitable.)

In the other camp are those people who advocate a whole-plant 
approach to medical marijuana: They argue that users know best what 
works for them. In the 23 states such as Oregon with developed 
medical marijuana programs, users can access a variety of marijuana 
products. The issue is a little trickier in the 17 states that permit 
only use of low-THC, high-CBD products; those states ban the growing 
of marijuana plants.

Over the long run, however, we suspect that this debate eventually 
will play itself out: As states increasingly legalize the 
recreational use of pot, the debate over how users can access medical 
marijuana will become almost an afterthought. And the people who rely 
on marijuana for medicinal purposes will be able to access the drug, 
ideally in a variety of forms. (mm)
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom