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NICE says it is not cost effective. When the UK government won't cover or subsidize the cost of Sativex, then MS sufferers can't afford it. That translates into a lot of loss revenue for GW in the UK.
Pure and simple, we need FDA approval in the U.S. to generate revenue. GW can't continue issuing more shares. That's not a viable strategy.
Gwp.l is tanking on the NICE Sativex rejection. What to make of this?
No idea. i just post the article.
World's 3rd Richest Man Decides to Dabble in Cannabis
By Jack Daniel in Follow that story, Growing, News Wednesday, September 24, 2014 at 8:20 am
In recent weeks, around a thousand marijuana dispensaries across the states of California, Colorado, and Washington have received a marketing flyer advertising a partnership opportunity with the 3rd richest man in the world, Warren Buffet.
Well, it's not exactly a partnership, and the flyers didn't exactly come from Mr. Buffet himself, and really, they weren't even aimed primarily at the dispensaries they were sent to. But with weed growing faster than warehouse space, Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary Cubic Designs, Inc. has stepped into the industry with a proven solution that promises to double the yield on each harvest.
For over 25 years, Cubic Designs, Inc. out of New Berlin, Wisconsin has provided industrial grade warehouse improvements featuring their integrated steel stairway and mezzanine level installations that can take the otherwise wasted space in a single-floor, high-ceiling warehouse, and convert it into a safe, usable second level of production space.
Buffet gobbled them up just over a year ago, in October of 2013, but only he can know if this latest round of advertising was part of an ultimate plan back then.
The flyer itself is fairly basic, with the dominant text being: DOUBLE YOUR GROW SPACE. The stereotypical green cross, the photoshopped Charlie Brown pot plants, and the distinct lack of lighting or ventilation probably won't win them any awards for accuracy, but the premise is simple: double your space, double your harvest, double your income.
Shannon Shalchert is the Marketing Director for Cubic Designs. In an interview with Bloomberg, she was asked about what inspired the otherwise straightedge company to dive into the cannabis industry, and she said, "We sold a few mezzanines into that market and decided internally, 'Why don't we do some marketing?'"
That spirit of "filling a need in the market" is the same ideology that lifted Warren Buffet up to the ranks of success and wealth that he enjoys today. On that note, Shalchert says that Cubic Designs plans to target commercial real estate agencies next, with the primary intent of showing them how to fill unused warehouse space with cannabis cultivating tenants, and how lucrative those lease payments can be.
It is really a pretty brilliant way for the money magnate to dip his golden toes into the emerging marijuana market without too much exposure, and still with the cloak of two of his most familiar investments - real estate and manufacturing.
Shalchert, too, admits that the cannabis industry is still a bit of a shadowy operation. "The one thing with this industry that's kind of tough is that it's somewhat still secretive," she told Bloomberg.
Their hope is that by sending the flyers to known dispensaries, the information will follow the network of roots back to the actual growers who can most benefit from the options that Cubic Designs offers.
The delicious irony of a man who made billions of dollars off of munchies like Dairy Queen, See's Candies, and Coca-Cola now wading into the weed market is so sweet you can almost taste it.
Mr. Buffet, and his company Berkshire Hathaway, take plenty of shit from critics who question the investment tactics of the 84-year old mega-billionaire, but with just one Class A share of his company's stock being valued at $207,705, you'd have to be pretty baked to say he's not doing something right.
http://www . tokeofthetown . com/2014/09/worlds_3rd_richest_man_decides_to_dabble_in_cannab.php
Warren Buffett Exploring The Cannabis Industry Is A Sign Of The Times
Posted by Johnny Green at 6:47 PM on September 21, 2014
Warren Buffett is one of the smartest investors in American history. I have always thought that if Warren Buffett was sniffing out the cannabis industry, that would be one of the biggest indicators that the cannabis industry has arrived. It appears that scenario is occurring right now, which is a very exciting thing for the industry as a whole.
Per Bloomberg:
Cubic Designs Inc., a unit of Berkshire’s MiTek business that makes platforms for maximizing usable floor space in warehouses, sent about 1,000 fliers to weed dispensaries in recent weeks, offering to help growers expand the number of plants they cultivate.
“Double your growing space,” the flier reads in capital letters, above an image of an indoor facility with rows of plants. Another page says, “Grow your profits.”
Cubic Designs spotted the opportunity after a few pot growers approached the firm about its platforms, or mezzanine systems, according to Shannon Salchert, the company’s marketing coordinator. Warehouse space has gotten tight in places like Denver, where growers are looking for facilities to cultivate their product. That demand has allowed landlords to raise prices.
“We sold a few mezzanines into that market and decided internally, ‘Why don’t we do some marketing?'” Salchert said today in a phone interview.
More and more experienced investors have been entering the cannabis industry every month that has gone by since Colorado and Washington legalized recreational cannabis in 2012. But the heaviest hitter so far has to be Warren Buffett. Yes, this is just a subsidiary of Berkshire, but I don’t think it’s a stretch that to assume that Mr. Buffett had to give final approval to such a high profile marketing strategy. This is a great example of how large the cannabis industry is becoming. These are truly exciting times.
http://www . theweedblog . com/warren-buffett-exploring-the-cannabis-industry-is-a-sign-of-the-times/
gwp.l is going apeshiaaaaaat in London....465.
Somethin' is happening?
http://www.telegraph . co . uk/finance/newsbysector/pharmaceuticalsandchemicals/11039224/How-to-turn-cannabis-into-a-legal-drug.html
How to turn cannabis into a legal drug
GW Pharmaceutials has been making medicine from cannabis for more than a decade
By Denise Roland5:00AM BST 18 Aug 2014
Dazed and confused about how a British drug maker can legally sell a drug made from cannabis in several countries around the world?
Come this way for enlightenment.
Scientists believe that the cannabis plant contains hundreds of compounds, or cannabinoids, that hold medicinal properties. To date, around 60 of these have been identified.
GW works with several university research labs to understand the chemical make-up of each cannabinoid and from there to identify potential therapeutic applications. This research provides GW with a scientific basis to look into the therapeutic effects of a specified combination of cannabinoids in a particular ailment.
Plants have extremely complex chemical make-ups and cannabis is no different. No two plants contain quite the same blend of cannabinoids.
This presents GW with two challenges. First, it must breed cannabis that has the right blend of cannabinoids for the purposes of the treatment it is looking to develop. For example, the plants used to make Sativex, its mutiple sclerosis medicine, must contain high levels of both tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). However it needs a high-CBD, low-THC strain for its epilepsy drug Epidiolex.
GW does not use genetic modification so it creates new breeds the old-fashioned way - by crossing different types of plants.
Second, it must make sure every single bottle of medicine that rolls off the production line contains an identical cocktail of cannabinoids. This means that once it has developed a breed that contains the right blend of compounds, it must only use exact clones of this plant for future development. So once it has hit on the right breed, it will grow generation after generation of the same plant in a separate greenhouse to avoid accidental breeding with other strains.
GW has a very specific blend of cannabinoids in mind for each experimental drug it develops. Sometimes it can achieve this by breeding alone, when the extract of a specific plant contains the target levels of cannabinoid. But most of the time GW will want its medicine to contain just a single cannabinoid or just a small number of them. So it will breed a plant with high levels of these particular cannabinoids and then purify the resulting extract by removing the unwanted compounds.
This bit takes years.
To get regulatory approval for a particular drug, GW must gather an enormous amount of clinical data demonstrating both its safety and effectiveness in humans - and that's after it has already run tests in animals.
First, it will test the drug in a small group of patients with the target disease to make sure it does not have any harmful side effects. These trials will probably only involve tens of people.
Then it must run trials on several hundred patients to get enough proof that its medicine has a meaningful effect.
Regulators place high scientific standards on these trials. This means GW must test its drug against a placebo and neither the patient nor the doctor must know which is being used in any given case. This helps avoid bias in recording results.
The Greatest Story Never Told: Smoking Marijuana Does Not Cause Lung Cancer
By O'Shaughnessy's on July 29, 2014
Marijuana smoking —“even heavy longterm use”— does not cause cancer of the lung, upper airways, or esophagus, Donald Tashkin, MD, reported at the 2005 meeting of the International Cannabinoid Research Society.
Coming from Tashkin, this conclusion had extra significance for the assembled drug-company and university-based scientists (most of whom get funding from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse). Over the years, Tashkin’s lab at UCLA has produced irrefutable evidence of the damage that marijuana smoke wreaks on bronchial tissue.
With NIDA’s support, Tashkin and colleagues have identified the potent carcinogens in marijuana smoke, biopsied and made photomicrographs of pre-malignant cells, and studied the molecular changes occurring within them.
It is Tashkin’s research that the Drug Czar’s office cites in ads linking marijuana to lung cancer. Tashkin himself has long believed in a causal relationship, despite a study in which Stephen Sidney, MD, examined the files of some 64,000 Kaiser patients and found that marijuana users did not develop lung cancer at a higher rate or die earlier than non-users.
Of five smaller studies on the question, only two —involving a total of about 300 patients— concluded that marijuana smoking causes lung cancer.
“Our major hypothesis,” Tashkin told the ICRS, “was that heavy, longterm use of marijuana will increase the risk of lung and upper-airways cancers.”
Tashkin decided to settle the question by conducting a large, population-based, case-controlled study. “Our major hypothesis,” he told the ICRS, “was that heavy, longterm use of marijuana will increase the risk of lung and upper-airways cancers.”
The Los Angeles County Cancer Surveillance program provided Tashkin’s team with the names of 1,209 L.A. residents aged 59 or younger with cancer (611 lung, 403 oral/pharyngeal, 90 laryngeal, 108 esophageal).
Interviewers collected extensive lifetime histories of marijuana, tobacco, alcohol and other drug use, and data on diet, occupational exposures, family history of cancer, and various “socio-demographic factors.”
Exposure to marijuana was measured in “joint years” —average number of joints per day x years that number smoked. Thus if a person had smoked two joints a day for 15 years they’d have consumed for 30 j-yrs.
Controls were found based on age, gender and neighborhood. Among them, 46% had never used marijuana, 31% had used for less than one joint year, 12% had used for 1-10 j-yrs, 5% had used 10-30 j-yrs, 2% had used for 30-60 j-yrs, and 3% had used for more than 60 j-yrs.
Tashkin controlled for tobacco use and calculated the relative risk of marijuana use resulting in lung and upper airways cancers. A relative risk ratio of .72 means that for every 100 non-users who get lung cancer, only 72 people who smoke get lung cancer. All the odds ratios in Tashkin’s study turned out to be less than one!
Compared with subjects who had used less than one joint year, the estimated odds ratios for lung cancer were .78 for 1-10 j-yrs [according to the abstract book and .66 according to notes from the talk]; .74 for 10-30 j-yrs; .85 for 30-60 j-yrs; and 0.81 for more than 60 j-yrs.
The estimated odds ratios for oral/pharyngeal cancers were 0.92 for 1-10 j-yrs; 0.89 for 10-30 j-yrs; 0.81 for 30-60 j-yrs; and 1.0 for more than 60 j-yrs. “Similar, though less precise results were obtained for the other cancer sites,” Tashkin reported. “We found absolutely no suggestion of a dose response.”
The data on tobacco use, as expected, revealed “a very potent effect and a clear dose-response relationship —a 21-fold greater risk of developing lung cancer if you smoke more than two packs a day.” Similarly high odds obtained for oral/pharyngeal cancer, laryngeal cancer and esophageal cancer. “So, in summary” Tashkin concluded, “we failed to observe a positive association of marijuana use and other potential confounders.”
There was time for only one question, said the moderator, and San Francisco oncologist Donald Abrams, M.D., was already at the microphone: “You don’t see any positive correlation, but in at least one category, it almost looked like there was a negative correlation, i.e., a protective effect. Could you comment on that?” (Abrams was referring to Tashkin’s lung-cancer data for marijuana-only smokers, 1-10 j-yrs.)
“Yes,” said Tashkin. “The odds ratios are less than one almost consistently, and in one category that relationship was significant, but I think that it would be difficult to extract from these data the conclusion that marijuana is protective against lung cancer. But that is not an unreasonable hypothesis.”
Abrams’s Favorable Results
Abrams had results of his own to report at the ICRS meeting. He and his colleagues at San Francisco General Hospital had conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled study involving 50 patients with HIV-related peripheral neuropathy. Over the course of five days, patients recorded their pain levels in a diary after smoking either NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes or cigarettes from which the THC had been extracted. About 25% didn’t know or guessed wrong as to whether they were smoking the placebos, which suggests that the blinding worked.
Abrams’s results show marijuana providing pain relief comparable to Gaba-pentin, the most widely used treatment for a condition that afflicts some 30% of patients with HIV.
After Abrams’s presentation, a questioner bemoaned the difficulty of “separating the high from the clinical benefits.” Abrams responded: “I’m an oncologist as well as an AIDS doctor and I don’t think that a drug that creates euphoria in patients with terminal diseases is having an adverse effect.” His study was funded by the University of California’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.
Add ICRS Notes
The 15th annual meeting of the ICRS was held at the Clearwater, Florida, Hilton, June 24-27. Almost 300 scientists attended. R. Stephen Ellis, MD, of San Francisco, was the sole clinician from California. Medical student Sunil Aggarwal, Farmacy operator Mike Ommaha and therapist/cultivator Pat Humphrey audited the proceedings.
Some of the younger European scientists expressed consternation over the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling and the vote in Congress re-enforcing the cannabis prohibition.
“How can they dispute that it has medical effect?” an investigator working in Germany asked us earnestly. She had come to give a talk on “the role of different neuronal populations in the pharmacological actions of delta-9 THC.”
For most ICRS members, the holy grail is a legal synthetic drug that exerts the medicinal effects of the prohibited herb.
For most ICRS members, the holy grail is a legal synthetic drug that exerts the medicinal effects of the prohibited herb. To this end they study the mechanism of action by which the body’s own cannabinoids are assembled, function, and get broken down. A drug that encourages production or delays dissolution, they figure, might achieve the desired effect without being subject to “abuse.”
News on the scientific front included the likely identification of a third cannabinoid receptor expressed in tissues of the lung, brain, kidney, spleen and smaller branches of the mesenteric artery. Investigators from GlaxoSmith-Kline and AstraZeneca both reported finding the new receptor but had different versions of its pharmacology. It may have a role in regulating blood pressure.
Several talks and posters described the safety and efficacy of Sativex, G.W. Pharmaceuticals’ plant extract containing high levels of THC and cannabidiol (CBD) formulated to spray in the mouth. See “Dr. X’s Top Talks,” on page 11.
G.W. director Geoffrey Guy seemed upbeat despite the slide his company’s stock took this spring when UK regulators withheld permission to market Sati-vex pending another clinical trial. Canada recently granted approval for doctors to prescribe Sativex, and five sales reps from Bayer (to whom G.W. sold Canadian marketing rights) are promoting it to neurologists. Sativex was approved for treatment of neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis, but can be prescribed for other purposes as doctors see fit.
Most of the work being done with CBD and CBN is done with materials provided by GW, and some two dozen papers and posters gave them acknowledgment. At last there is a realistic alternative to NIDA for the young researchers to look to for support (and plant cannabinoids to study). GW has contributed to a significant shift in attitude.
On numerous occasions during the meeting a NIDA-funded researcher would describe the negative effects of THC, and immediately a scientist with a British accent would be at the mike pointing out that such a high dose injected into the stomach of a rat had nothing to do with the human experience with cannabis. It must have happened five or six times. The Brits were always very diplomatic, but they functioned like a truth squad.
Roger Pertwee of the University of Aberdeen reported intriguing results from experiments using a cannabis strain bred by GW to be high in THCV (tetrohydrocannabivarin).
It turns out that THCV strongly antagonizes anandamide while hardly antagonizing THC! It’s as if the cannabis plant contains and makes available to the body a choice of drugs and the body uses those it needs to achieve a balanced state (homeostasis).
If the body is producing endocannabinoids in excess, it can use the plant cannabinoid THCV to achieve homeostasis. If the endocannabinoid system needs a boost, the THC provides it (while the THCV shuts down the EC system, giving it a rest as it were). The key to relief, apparently, is not high cannabinoid levels but proper gradients.
“The endocannabinoid system is the supeme modulator. Its job is done once you’re back to the norm.”
Guy explained, “It’s as if the plant contains a first-aid kit giving the body everything it needs to get bettter, and the body decides which components to employ… The endocannibnoid system begins to kick in in abnormality, in pathology. Perhaps it kicks in whether the pathology is an increase in something or a decrease in something. What it’s trying to do is get whatever that abnormality is back to homeostasis.
“The antagonist may be working to restore function back to the center, and the agonist might be working to restore function back to the center, and once they’ve achieved the norm, they don’t go any further. The endocannabinoid system is the supeme modulator. Its job is done once you’re back to the norm. Most endocannabinoid modulators simply won’t drive the physiology or biochemistry —whatever they’re controlling— past the norm to a detrimental effect.”
Rimonabant Comes Closer
Which might explain the apparent benignity of Rimonabant, a drug that works by blocking the CB1 receptor system. Rimonabant is being tested by Sanofi-Aventis for weight loss and smoking cessation. Originally known as SR-141716, it was developed in the early 1990s as an antagonist drug for use by researchers. At the 2004 ICRS meeting, Sanofi researchers described favorable results from clinical trials of Rimonabant as a diet drug. They informally predicted regulatory approval in Europe and the U.S. within a year. Some observers warned that blocking the CB1 receptor system could result in unforeseen longterm side effects and noted that at least one MS patient had experienced an exacerbation after taking Rimonabant.
Although regulatory approval has not yet been granted, Sanofi reported good news at this meeting regarding side-effects: no more MS cases in a smoking-cessation study study involving more than 1,000 patients worldwide. “Both the 5mg and 20mg doses continued to show efficacy in the maintenance of abstinence from smoking,” reported Gerard Le Fur. “The 20mg dose also demonstrated efficacy in the reduction of weight gain as well as significantly increasing the HDL-Cholesterol levels.”
A Sanofi team also reported favorable results from studies using Rimonabant to treat various rodent models of “metabolic syndrome” —obesity-related high blood pressure, high insulin levels, excessive triglycerides and “bad” cholesterol and other problems increasing the risk of diabetes, heart attack and stroke. There is growing acceptance of the notion that the body can adjust to even a heavy blockade of the CB1 system. Perhaps when the CB1 receptor is blocked, the endocannabinoids are redirected to other targets. At times the layman is struck by how rudimentary the biochemists’ understanding of the body’s mechanism of action really is.
“We’re on plateau one or two and the answer is on plateau 12,” said Guy. “ We could spend the next 30 years on receptors and still not fully understand them. When we talk about receptors and agonists and antagonists we should be talking in the same breath about functionality —real functionality, not models in non-pathological situations. We need an understanding of the clinical outcome.”
Osteopathic Manipulation
Boosts Endocannabinoid System
John McPartland of GW Pharmaceuticals reported that osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) works via the endocannabinoid system. McPartland and co-workers conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled study involving 31 patients of a New Zealand osteopath.
“Cannabimimetic effects” were measured by patients filling out a questionnaire before and after treatment defining levels of light-headedness, hunger, alterness, etc. Anandamide levels in the blood were also measured before and after treatments.
The “sham” manipulation mimicked a new technique called “biodynamic osteopathy in the cranial field.” The sham practitioner sabotaged her own concentration and mental healing intention by silently reciting “backwards serial sevens” while she applied light manual contact to the patient’s head.
Subjects receiving OMT indeed reported feeling cannabi-mimetic effects (more creativity, less coherence, for example) and their serum anandamide levels increased 168% over pre-treatment levels. Subjects receiving sham manipulation reported no changes in the questionnaire and there was no change in their serum anandamide levels.
McPartland et al noted that patients receiving OMT often experience an improved sense of well-being, sedation and euphoria —effects similar to those brought on by cannabis consumption. Previous studies indicated these psychotropic effects are not elicited by endorphins (as once had been assumed).
A recent study by Andrea Giuffrida, who contributed to the OMT study, showed that “runner’s high” correlated with elevated anandamide and not endorphins. Patients receiving chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and energy healing also experience parallel psychotropic effects.
The authors conclude that the endocannabinoid system may be mediating a widespread but heretofore unrecognized therapeutic phenomenon.
This article originally appeared in O’Shaugnessy’s and is republished with special permission
http://marijuana . com/news/2014/07/the-greatest-story-never-told-smoking-marijuana-does-not-cause-lung-cancer/
http://marijuana . com/news/2014/07/the-greatest-story-never-told-smoking-marijuana-does-not-cause-lung-cancer/
The Greatest Story Never Told: Smoking Marijuana Does Not Cause Lung Cancer
By O'Shaughnessy's on July 29, 2014
Marijuana smoking —“even heavy longterm use”— does not cause cancer of the lung, upper airways, or esophagus, Donald Tashkin, MD, reported at the 2005 meeting of the International Cannabinoid Research Society.
Coming from Tashkin, this conclusion had extra significance for the assembled drug-company and university-based scientists (most of whom get funding from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse). Over the years, Tashkin’s lab at UCLA has produced irrefutable evidence of the damage that marijuana smoke wreaks on bronchial tissue.
With NIDA’s support, Tashkin and colleagues have identified the potent carcinogens in marijuana smoke, biopsied and made photomicrographs of pre-malignant cells, and studied the molecular changes occurring within them.
It is Tashkin’s research that the Drug Czar’s office cites in ads linking marijuana to lung cancer. Tashkin himself has long believed in a causal relationship, despite a study in which Stephen Sidney, MD, examined the files of some 64,000 Kaiser patients and found that marijuana users did not develop lung cancer at a higher rate or die earlier than non-users.
Of five smaller studies on the question, only two —involving a total of about 300 patients— concluded that marijuana smoking causes lung cancer.
“Our major hypothesis,” Tashkin told the ICRS, “was that heavy, longterm use of marijuana will increase the risk of lung and upper-airways cancers.”
Tashkin decided to settle the question by conducting a large, population-based, case-controlled study. “Our major hypothesis,” he told the ICRS, “was that heavy, longterm use of marijuana will increase the risk of lung and upper-airways cancers.”
The Los Angeles County Cancer Surveillance program provided Tashkin’s team with the names of 1,209 L.A. residents aged 59 or younger with cancer (611 lung, 403 oral/pharyngeal, 90 laryngeal, 108 esophageal).
Interviewers collected extensive lifetime histories of marijuana, tobacco, alcohol and other drug use, and data on diet, occupational exposures, family history of cancer, and various “socio-demographic factors.”
Exposure to marijuana was measured in “joint years” —average number of joints per day x years that number smoked. Thus if a person had smoked two joints a day for 15 years they’d have consumed for 30 j-yrs.
Controls were found based on age, gender and neighborhood. Among them, 46% had never used marijuana, 31% had used for less than one joint year, 12% had used for 1-10 j-yrs, 5% had used 10-30 j-yrs, 2% had used for 30-60 j-yrs, and 3% had used for more than 60 j-yrs.
Tashkin controlled for tobacco use and calculated the relative risk of marijuana use resulting in lung and upper airways cancers. A relative risk ratio of .72 means that for every 100 non-users who get lung cancer, only 72 people who smoke get lung cancer. All the odds ratios in Tashkin’s study turned out to be less than one!
Compared with subjects who had used less than one joint year, the estimated odds ratios for lung cancer were .78 for 1-10 j-yrs [according to the abstract book and .66 according to notes from the talk]; .74 for 10-30 j-yrs; .85 for 30-60 j-yrs; and 0.81 for more than 60 j-yrs.
The estimated odds ratios for oral/pharyngeal cancers were 0.92 for 1-10 j-yrs; 0.89 for 10-30 j-yrs; 0.81 for 30-60 j-yrs; and 1.0 for more than 60 j-yrs. “Similar, though less precise results were obtained for the other cancer sites,” Tashkin reported. “We found absolutely no suggestion of a dose response.”
The data on tobacco use, as expected, revealed “a very potent effect and a clear dose-response relationship —a 21-fold greater risk of developing lung cancer if you smoke more than two packs a day.” Similarly high odds obtained for oral/pharyngeal cancer, laryngeal cancer and esophageal cancer. “So, in summary” Tashkin concluded, “we failed to observe a positive association of marijuana use and other potential confounders.”
There was time for only one question, said the moderator, and San Francisco oncologist Donald Abrams, M.D., was already at the microphone: “You don’t see any positive correlation, but in at least one category, it almost looked like there was a negative correlation, i.e., a protective effect. Could you comment on that?” (Abrams was referring to Tashkin’s lung-cancer data for marijuana-only smokers, 1-10 j-yrs.)
“Yes,” said Tashkin. “The odds ratios are less than one almost consistently, and in one category that relationship was significant, but I think that it would be difficult to extract from these data the conclusion that marijuana is protective against lung cancer. But that is not an unreasonable hypothesis.”
Abrams’s Favorable Results
Abrams had results of his own to report at the ICRS meeting. He and his colleagues at San Francisco General Hospital had conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled study involving 50 patients with HIV-related peripheral neuropathy. Over the course of five days, patients recorded their pain levels in a diary after smoking either NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes or cigarettes from which the THC had been extracted. About 25% didn’t know or guessed wrong as to whether they were smoking the placebos, which suggests that the blinding worked.
Abrams’s results show marijuana providing pain relief comparable to Gaba-pentin, the most widely used treatment for a condition that afflicts some 30% of patients with HIV.
After Abrams’s presentation, a questioner bemoaned the difficulty of “separating the high from the clinical benefits.” Abrams responded: “I’m an oncologist as well as an AIDS doctor and I don’t think that a drug that creates euphoria in patients with terminal diseases is having an adverse effect.” His study was funded by the University of California’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.
Add ICRS Notes
The 15th annual meeting of the ICRS was held at the Clearwater, Florida, Hilton, June 24-27. Almost 300 scientists attended. R. Stephen Ellis, MD, of San Francisco, was the sole clinician from California. Medical student Sunil Aggarwal, Farmacy operator Mike Ommaha and therapist/cultivator Pat Humphrey audited the proceedings.
Some of the younger European scientists expressed consternation over the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling and the vote in Congress re-enforcing the cannabis prohibition.
“How can they dispute that it has medical effect?” an investigator working in Germany asked us earnestly. She had come to give a talk on “the role of different neuronal populations in the pharmacological actions of delta-9 THC.”
For most ICRS members, the holy grail is a legal synthetic drug that exerts the medicinal effects of the prohibited herb.
For most ICRS members, the holy grail is a legal synthetic drug that exerts the medicinal effects of the prohibited herb. To this end they study the mechanism of action by which the body’s own cannabinoids are assembled, function, and get broken down. A drug that encourages production or delays dissolution, they figure, might achieve the desired effect without being subject to “abuse.”
News on the scientific front included the likely identification of a third cannabinoid receptor expressed in tissues of the lung, brain, kidney, spleen and smaller branches of the mesenteric artery. Investigators from GlaxoSmith-Kline and AstraZeneca both reported finding the new receptor but had different versions of its pharmacology. It may have a role in regulating blood pressure.
Several talks and posters described the safety and efficacy of Sativex, G.W. Pharmaceuticals’ plant extract containing high levels of THC and cannabidiol (CBD) formulated to spray in the mouth. See “Dr. X’s Top Talks,” on page 11.
G.W. director Geoffrey Guy seemed upbeat despite the slide his company’s stock took this spring when UK regulators withheld permission to market Sati-vex pending another clinical trial. Canada recently granted approval for doctors to prescribe Sativex, and five sales reps from Bayer (to whom G.W. sold Canadian marketing rights) are promoting it to neurologists. Sativex was approved for treatment of neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis, but can be prescribed for other purposes as doctors see fit.
Most of the work being done with CBD and CBN is done with materials provided by GW, and some two dozen papers and posters gave them acknowledgment. At last there is a realistic alternative to NIDA for the young researchers to look to for support (and plant cannabinoids to study). GW has contributed to a significant shift in attitude.
On numerous occasions during the meeting a NIDA-funded researcher would describe the negative effects of THC, and immediately a scientist with a British accent would be at the mike pointing out that such a high dose injected into the stomach of a rat had nothing to do with the human experience with cannabis. It must have happened five or six times. The Brits were always very diplomatic, but they functioned like a truth squad.
Roger Pertwee of the University of Aberdeen reported intriguing results from experiments using a cannabis strain bred by GW to be high in THCV (tetrohydrocannabivarin).
It turns out that THCV strongly antagonizes anandamide while hardly antagonizing THC! It’s as if the cannabis plant contains and makes available to the body a choice of drugs and the body uses those it needs to achieve a balanced state (homeostasis).
If the body is producing endocannabinoids in excess, it can use the plant cannabinoid THCV to achieve homeostasis. If the endocannabinoid system needs a boost, the THC provides it (while the THCV shuts down the EC system, giving it a rest as it were). The key to relief, apparently, is not high cannabinoid levels but proper gradients.
“The endocannabinoid system is the supeme modulator. Its job is done once you’re back to the norm.”
Guy explained, “It’s as if the plant contains a first-aid kit giving the body everything it needs to get bettter, and the body decides which components to employ… The endocannibnoid system begins to kick in in abnormality, in pathology. Perhaps it kicks in whether the pathology is an increase in something or a decrease in something. What it’s trying to do is get whatever that abnormality is back to homeostasis.
“The antagonist may be working to restore function back to the center, and the agonist might be working to restore function back to the center, and once they’ve achieved the norm, they don’t go any further. The endocannabinoid system is the supeme modulator. Its job is done once you’re back to the norm. Most endocannabinoid modulators simply won’t drive the physiology or biochemistry —whatever they’re controlling— past the norm to a detrimental effect.”
Rimonabant Comes Closer
Which might explain the apparent benignity of Rimonabant, a drug that works by blocking the CB1 receptor system. Rimonabant is being tested by Sanofi-Aventis for weight loss and smoking cessation. Originally known as SR-141716, it was developed in the early 1990s as an antagonist drug for use by researchers. At the 2004 ICRS meeting, Sanofi researchers described favorable results from clinical trials of Rimonabant as a diet drug. They informally predicted regulatory approval in Europe and the U.S. within a year. Some observers warned that blocking the CB1 receptor system could result in unforeseen longterm side effects and noted that at least one MS patient had experienced an exacerbation after taking Rimonabant.
Although regulatory approval has not yet been granted, Sanofi reported good news at this meeting regarding side-effects: no more MS cases in a smoking-cessation study study involving more than 1,000 patients worldwide. “Both the 5mg and 20mg doses continued to show efficacy in the maintenance of abstinence from smoking,” reported Gerard Le Fur. “The 20mg dose also demonstrated efficacy in the reduction of weight gain as well as significantly increasing the HDL-Cholesterol levels.”
A Sanofi team also reported favorable results from studies using Rimonabant to treat various rodent models of “metabolic syndrome” —obesity-related high blood pressure, high insulin levels, excessive triglycerides and “bad” cholesterol and other problems increasing the risk of diabetes, heart attack and stroke. There is growing acceptance of the notion that the body can adjust to even a heavy blockade of the CB1 system. Perhaps when the CB1 receptor is blocked, the endocannabinoids are redirected to other targets. At times the layman is struck by how rudimentary the biochemists’ understanding of the body’s mechanism of action really is.
“We’re on plateau one or two and the answer is on plateau 12,” said Guy. “ We could spend the next 30 years on receptors and still not fully understand them. When we talk about receptors and agonists and antagonists we should be talking in the same breath about functionality —real functionality, not models in non-pathological situations. We need an understanding of the clinical outcome.”
Osteopathic Manipulation
Boosts Endocannabinoid System
John McPartland of GW Pharmaceuticals reported that osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) works via the endocannabinoid system. McPartland and co-workers conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled study involving 31 patients of a New Zealand osteopath.
“Cannabimimetic effects” were measured by patients filling out a questionnaire before and after treatment defining levels of light-headedness, hunger, alterness, etc. Anandamide levels in the blood were also measured before and after treatments.
The “sham” manipulation mimicked a new technique called “biodynamic osteopathy in the cranial field.” The sham practitioner sabotaged her own concentration and mental healing intention by silently reciting “backwards serial sevens” while she applied light manual contact to the patient’s head.
Subjects receiving OMT indeed reported feeling cannabi-mimetic effects (more creativity, less coherence, for example) and their serum anandamide levels increased 168% over pre-treatment levels. Subjects receiving sham manipulation reported no changes in the questionnaire and there was no change in their serum anandamide levels.
McPartland et al noted that patients receiving OMT often experience an improved sense of well-being, sedation and euphoria —effects similar to those brought on by cannabis consumption. Previous studies indicated these psychotropic effects are not elicited by endorphins (as once had been assumed).
A recent study by Andrea Giuffrida, who contributed to the OMT study, showed that “runner’s high” correlated with elevated anandamide and not endorphins. Patients receiving chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and energy healing also experience parallel psychotropic effects.
The authors conclude that the endocannabinoid system may be mediating a widespread but heretofore unrecognized therapeutic phenomenon.
This article originally appeared in O’Shaugnessy’s and is republished with special permission
Did GWPRF stopped trading or am I seeing thing?
Anybody know why GWPRF is not trading? Or am I seeing thing!
If I had the answer to that, i wouldn't be on investorshub.
FDA approval news is not gonna come any time soon. It would be nice if George Soros (a cannabis legalization proponent) announced he picked up a few share of this, then this thing will go through the roof.
Either this is the bottom or it is going to $1. FDA approval for Sativex or Epidiolex is not coming any time soon...earliest next year.
Horrible! It's tanking!
GW Pharmaceutical's Epidiolex Has Relatively Low Bar for Success
Kurt Zuschlag, Benzinga Staff Writer March 26, 2014 6:57 AM
On Tuesday, Leerink reiterated an Outperform rating on GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: GWPH [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) and $79 price target.
Analyst Joseph Schwartz believes the “bar for success is relatively low” for upcoming Epidiolex data, based on the review of epilepsy trials. Schwartz went on to explain that 20 to 50 percent reduction in seizures versus placebo is generally good enough to approve add-on treatments.
In the second half of 2014, the company will start placebo-controlled proof-of-concept study followed by studies in Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in 2015.
Shares closed up 1.5 percent to $66.19 in Tuesday's trading.
http://www . benzinga . com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/14/03/4418294/gw-pharmaceuticals-epidiolex-has-relatively-low-bar-for-
'Weed 2: Cannabis Madness: Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports' Premieres on CNN Tuesday, March 11 at 10 pm ET
Categories: Cable News Ratings
Written By Amanda Kondolojy
February 26th, 2014
WEED 2: Cannabis Madness: Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports"
Premieres on CNN Tuesday, March 11 at 10 pm ET
After sparking a national debate with his acclaimed documentary Weed, and op-ed "Why I changed my mind on weed," CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta delves deeper into the challenges of legalizing medical marijuana.
Weed 2: Cannabis Madness: Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports, premiering Tuesday, March 11th at 10 pm ET, looks at U.S. federal laws that consider marijuana a drug with no medicinal value and serious scientists who say they’re wrong. It is the politics of pot - the politicians vs. the patients.
Legal in 20 states plus the District of Columbia, limited access to medicinal marijuana has caused significant battles between legislators and qualified patients seeking this type of treatment. Vivian Wilson, a 2-year-old girl suffering from chronic seizures, is one of those patients. Wilson made headlines in 2013 when her father confronted New Jersey Governor Chris Christie pleading "please don't let my daughter die" and imploring him to legalize medical marijuana in the state.
In the one-hour documentary, Gupta gets exclusive access to the journey of Vivian's family who, along with many patients, are willing to do anything to get medical marijuana and face many legal challenges along the way. He meets with dozens of families dubbed “medical marijuana refugees” who have moved to Colorado, where pot is legal, to get medical marijuana for their sick children. Gupta also examines disparities in the U.S. government's research into the benefits of medical marijuana and reports on groundbreaking discoveries in other countries. Gupta’s investigation takes him around the world looking for answers, including a rare inside look at a pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom that is the only one in the world turning pot into a prescription drug.
http://tvbythenumbers . zap2it . com/2014/02/26/weed-2-cannabis-madness-dr-sanjay-gupta-reports-premieres-on-cnn-tuesday-march-11-at-10-pm-et/240401/
Doctor, lawmaker discuss proposed Medical Cannabis Therapeutic Treatment Research Act at MUSC
Lauren Sausser
Posted: Monday, February 24, 2014 5:51 p.m., Updated: Monday, February 24, 2014 6:16 p.m.
Rep. Wendell Gilliard said he wants to help fast-track a proposed state law that would give patients with epilepsy access to a type of medical marijuana called Epidolex through clinical trials at the Medical University of South Carolina.
"I would definitely be for it," Gilliard said, D-Charleston. "I think we are headed in the right direction."
Gilliard met Monday with health care professionals at MUSC to discuss the legislation, which was introduced in the Legislature last week by Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort. It has been referred to the Senate Medical Affairs Committee for discussion.
At the meeting, MUSC neurologist Jonathan Edwards told Gilliard that the efficacy of Epidolex still is unknown.
"We don't know for sure if this will make a difference," Edwards said, "but we want the possibility to explore it."
Epidolex, which is manufactured by GW Pharmaceuticals, a British company, uses a marijuana extract called Cannabidiol oil. It does not induce the type of psychotic effects of regular marijuana because it doesn't include high levels of the chemical THC.
Marijuana typically bought and sold illegally has very high levels of THC, which induces the "high" associated with the drug.
Experts believe Epidolex may help relieve some of the symptoms associated with epilepsy, particularly seizures, but it is too soon to tell. Small clinical trials are underway at New York University and the University of California-San Francisco.
"We shouldn't restrict it just to clinical trials," Edwards said. "We should also use it in cases where we are running out of options. ... We need to have options to offer those patients."
One of those patients could be 6-year-old Mary Louise Swing of West Ashley, who suffers from epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Mary Louise can't speak, and her mobility is limited, said her mother, Jill Swing.
If Mary Louise is not on medication, she can have about 150 seizures per hour. Even with medication, she can have as many as 100 seizures in an hour. They come quickly and sometimes involve falling.
Swing considered moving to Colorado for her daughter. Davis heard the story and said he doesn't want the Swings to have to leave the state to get treatment, and he introduced the bill Wednesday.
While the use of medical marijuana is fraught with controversy, MUSC health care providers stressed in the meeting with Gilliard that this drug is unlike marijuana available on the street, and is probably safer than many of the prescription drugs that doctors already are allowed to administer to patients.
"There's a lot of misconceptions about this issue," said MUSC lobbyist Mark Sweatman, who attended the meeting Monday at the hospital. "There's nothing wrong with having a discussion about it and to introduce a bill that generates discussion."
Sweatman said MUSC leaders have not officially taken a position on the bill.
http://www . postandcourier . com/article/20140224/PC16/140229652/1009/doctor-lawmaker-discuss-proposed-medical-cannabis-therapeutic-treatment-research-act-at-musc&source=RSS
2013: "UN PUNT D'INFLEXIÓ"
El conseller delegat d'Almirall, Eduardo Sanchiz, ha destacat que les vendes de la companyia van tornar a créixer el 2013, un any que ha definit com un punt d'inflexió per al grup, ja que va llançar 28 productes a nivell local, "que impulsaran el creixement els propers anys".
Les principals plataformes de creixement d'Almirall (aclidinio, linaclotida, Sativex i la franquícia de dermatologia) van créixer un 38% el 2013, fins a representar el 33% de les vendes totals del grup, respecte del 24% del 2012.
Translated:
2013: "a turning point"
The Chief Executive of Admiral, Eduardo Sanchiz, stated that the company's sales were to grow in 2013, a year that has been defined as a turning point for the group as they launched 28 products locally, "be promoted the growth for years to come."
The main platforms of growth of Admiral (aclidinio, linaclotida, Sativex and dermatology franchise) grew by 38% in 2013, to represent 33% of the Group's total sales, compared with 24% in 2012
http://www . europapress . cat/economia/noticia-almirall-entra-perdues-2013-despres-fer-provisions-80-milions-per-costos-reestructuracio-20140224102404.html
Why? You know something that we don't?
State House Committee Holds Hearing on Medical Cannabis
Written By: APN STAFF 2-12-2014
By Christopher Eichler, Special to The Atlanta Progressive News
(APN) ATLANTA--It was standing room only for the State House of Representatives Health and Human Services Committee debate of HB 885, Georgia’s medical cannabis, or marijuana, bill.
The entire room was filled with doctors, neurologists, activists, and parents, all present to give testimony to more than twenty State Representatives in support of legalizing the use of cannabis oil to treat epileptic seizures in Georgia.
As previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, Georgia has an existing medical cannabis research trial program under law, but it has never been implemented since enacted over thirty years ago. HB 885 would add epilepsy to the list of qualified conditions in Georgia, which already includes cancer and glaucoma.
HB 885 is one of the most restrictive medical marijuana bills being considered in the country. It would not allow for the smoking of medical marijuana, but would only allow for the oral use of cannabidol oil, CBD oil, for the treatment of seizures.
The CBD oil is made from a strain of marijuana that is very high in cannabidol, and very low in THC, the psychoactive ingredient that has the potential to get one high.
Among those giving testimony at the hearing was Paige Figi, mother of Charlotte Figi, the six year-old girl who suffered from hundreds of seizures a week until taking the CBD oil; and Joel Stanley, one of the Colorado brothers who developed the “Charlotte’s Web” strain of marijuana that is used to make the CBD oil. Their story was featured in Dr. Sanja Gupta’s CNN television special, WEED.
Paige Figi explained how the CBD oil reduced Charlotte’s seizures from “hundreds a week, to as few as one to none a week,” and reduced the seizure times from “over five minutes per seizure, to less than 15 seconds for some.”
“Charlotte’s life has completely changed, she is talking, and able to sleep through the entire night.”
Not everyone was so enthusiastic about the Charlotte’s Web oil. Sue Rusche, President and CEO of National Families in Action, raised some questions about the Stanley brothers’ production.
“Has the Charlotte’s Web oil been purified; is it free of molds and pathogens?”
“I know the Charlotte’s Web oil has not been animal tested, which is required for FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approval,” Rusche said.
Even though the Charlotte’s Web oil has not been FDA approved, there are hundreds of families like Paige Figi’s who have moved to Colorado in the hopes of using the oil and seeing results like Charlotte’s.
“The oil is 85 percent effective at reducing seizures by 50 precent or more, and... the cost is around 200 dollars per week versus 2,000 dollars or more a week for conventional pharmaceuticals,” Stanley said.
“These parents have exhausted all other pharmaceutical options, nothing else is working,” Stanley said.
Even if HB 885 passes, the main problem is obtaining the oil itself.
“The elephant in the room is the DEA (U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency). Colorado can do what it does in Colorado, but as soon as any cannabis crosses Colorado state lines, the DEA will come down,” Rick Allen, Director of the Georgia Drug and Narcotics Agency, said.
State Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon), one of the co-sponsors of the bill, had a bit more optimistic view of the situation.
“I have seen the results that are happening through Charlotte’s Web. We will be evaluating every option to get it to Georgia,” Peake said.
One option Rusche proposed was Epidiolex, a cannabidiol developed by GW Pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom. Rusche prefers this product over the Charlotte’s web oil, because “Epidiolex has been granted FDA orphan status,” she said. This means it has been approved by the FDA for use in medical trials.
When Rusche was asked why no parents were trying to get the Epidiolex, Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) chimed in, “If Dr. Gupta had done a show on Epidiolex, then it would be more popular.”
Another option mentioned by Mr. Allen is the Federal Marijuana Farm at the University of Mississippi, the only location to be federally licensed to grow cannabis in the United States.
The Farm, according to Allen, does produce a cannabidiol oil that is purified, and free of molds and all pathogens.
However, the approval process to obtain the oil for medical trials is a lengthy one that could take years.
“Our children don’t have years,” many parents testified, echoing comments by Rep. Peake.
(END/2014)
http://www. atlantaprogressivenews. com/interspire/news/2014/02/12/state-house-committee-holds-hearing-on-medical-cannabis.html
State House Committee Holds Hearing on Medical Cannabis
Written By: APN STAFF 2-12-2014
By Christopher Eichler, Special to The Atlanta Progressive News
(APN) ATLANTA--It was standing room only for the State House of Representatives Health and Human Services Committee debate of HB 885, Georgia’s medical cannabis, or marijuana, bill.
The entire room was filled with doctors, neurologists, activists, and parents, all present to give testimony to more than twenty State Representatives in support of legalizing the use of cannabis oil to treat epileptic seizures in Georgia.
As previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, Georgia has an existing medical cannabis research trial program under law, but it has never been implemented since enacted over thirty years ago. HB 885 would add epilepsy to the list of qualified conditions in Georgia, which already includes cancer and glaucoma.
HB 885 is one of the most restrictive medical marijuana bills being considered in the country. It would not allow for the smoking of medical marijuana, but would only allow for the oral use of cannabidol oil, CBD oil, for the treatment of seizures.
The CBD oil is made from a strain of marijuana that is very high in cannabidol, and very low in THC, the psychoactive ingredient that has the potential to get one high.
Among those giving testimony at the hearing was Paige Figi, mother of Charlotte Figi, the six year-old girl who suffered from hundreds of seizures a week until taking the CBD oil; and Joel Stanley, one of the Colorado brothers who developed the “Charlotte’s Web” strain of marijuana that is used to make the CBD oil. Their story was featured in Dr. Sanja Gupta’s CNN television special, WEED.
Paige Figi explained how the CBD oil reduced Charlotte’s seizures from “hundreds a week, to as few as one to none a week,” and reduced the seizure times from “over five minutes per seizure, to less than 15 seconds for some.”
“Charlotte’s life has completely changed, she is talking, and able to sleep through the entire night.”
Not everyone was so enthusiastic about the Charlotte’s Web oil. Sue Rusche, President and CEO of National Families in Action, raised some questions about the Stanley brothers’ production.
“Has the Charlotte’s Web oil been purified; is it free of molds and pathogens?”
“I know the Charlotte’s Web oil has not been animal tested, which is required for FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approval,” Rusche said.
Even though the Charlotte’s Web oil has not been FDA approved, there are hundreds of families like Paige Figi’s who have moved to Colorado in the hopes of using the oil and seeing results like Charlotte’s.
“The oil is 85 percent effective at reducing seizures by 50 precent or more, and... the cost is around 200 dollars per week versus 2,000 dollars or more a week for conventional pharmaceuticals,” Stanley said.
“These parents have exhausted all other pharmaceutical options, nothing else is working,” Stanley said.
Even if HB 885 passes, the main problem is obtaining the oil itself.
“The elephant in the room is the DEA (U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency). Colorado can do what it does in Colorado, but as soon as any cannabis crosses Colorado state lines, the DEA will come down,” Rick Allen, Director of the Georgia Drug and Narcotics Agency, said.
State Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon), one of the co-sponsors of the bill, had a bit more optimistic view of the situation.
“I have seen the results that are happening through Charlotte’s Web. We will be evaluating every option to get it to Georgia,” Peake said.
One option Rusche proposed was Epidiolex, a cannabidiol developed by GW Pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom. Rusche prefers this product over the Charlotte’s web oil, because “Epidiolex has been granted FDA orphan status,” she said. This means it has been approved by the FDA for use in medical trials.
When Rusche was asked why no parents were trying to get the Epidiolex, Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) chimed in, “If Dr. Gupta had done a show on Epidiolex, then it would be more popular.”
Another option mentioned by Mr. Allen is the Federal Marijuana Farm at the University of Mississippi, the only location to be federally licensed to grow cannabis in the United States.
The Farm, according to Allen, does produce a cannabidiol oil that is purified, and free of molds and all pathogens.
However, the approval process to obtain the oil for medical trials is a lengthy one that could take years.
“Our children don’t have years,” many parents testified, echoing comments by Rep. Peake.
(END/2014)
http://www. atlantaprogressivenews. com/interspire/news/2014/02/12/state-house-committee-holds-hearing-on-medical-cannabis.html
Anti-drug advocate argues for “reefer sanity” in Utah
Medical marijuana » Author, drug policy expert Kevin Sabet tells Utah lawmakers: Don’t open borders to cannabis oil.
By kirsten stewart
| The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 1 hour ago • Updated 28 minutes ago
An outspoken opponent of legalizing marijuana visited Utah on Friday to urge lawmakers to put the brakes on a bill that would give epileptic children access to non-intoxicating cannabis oils.
"These parents are not part of the marijuana movement .They are very good parents in a desperate situation. My heart goes out to them," said Kevin Sabet, director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida and co-founder of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana).
But as a matter of policy, "there’s a better and safer route" for them to get the medication they need, he said, referring to an investigational trial of GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex, pharmaceutical-grade cannabidiol.
Known as CBD, cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive chemical in cannabis shown to have anti-seizure properties.
To open Utah’s borders to cannabis — no matter how high in CBD or low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical that produces a high in users — may not help and could harm families desperate for medical solutions, Sabet argues.
He recommends that lawmakers, instead, pass a resolution urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to speed approval of Epidiolex.
Health professionals can already apply with the drug maker to run clinical trials. Each site can take up to 25 patients who, for the duration of the trial, receive Epidiolex for free, he said.
Utah parents pushing for CBD oil for their children are wary of the "there’s a drug for that" argument. They say they’ve failed to convince local hospitals to start trials, which don’t guarantee access because FDA trials require some participants to be given placebos.
It could take years for the drug to come to market, they say, and when it does, it may be prohibitively expensive.
But Sabet counters that whole-plant CBD oils, like the highly touted Charlotte’s Web produced by the Stanley brothers, Colorado-based pot growers, aren’t cheap. There’s a growing waiting list for the product, which means it’s not readily available either, and there’s no independent quality control to ensure it’s safe for kids, he said.
Sabet, a conservative columnist and leading national spokesman for the anti-drug movement, also spoke Friday to a gathering of cops and addiction treatment experts at the annual conference of the Utah Council for Crime Prevention.
While not opposed to easing criminal penalties for marijuana possession, he warned legalizing the drug — even just for medical use — will "normalize" pot, hook more youth and serve only to line the pockets of a powerful marijuana industry.
"I’m not in favor of the status quo," he said. "But what I don’t like is when people take advantage of people in desperate situations, and unfortunately the wider legalization movement has been doing that. It was cancer patients 10 years ago. Now it’s kids with epilepsy."
Contrary to popular opinion, marijuana is addictive and dangerous, Sabet said. It’s potency has tripled in the past 15 years, he said.
"Stuff being sold today — dabbing, waxes and butane hash oil extraction — is the kind of thing that would make Jerry Garcia turn round," he said.
Today’s pot growers aren’t "just a few underground hippies," he said. They’re wealthy, college-educated business people wooing investors with pitches to become the "Anheuser Busch of marijuana" or to introduce "the marijuana version of Marlboro cigarettes."
Sabet was preaching to the choir Friday. Prevention experts are already concerned about an upward trend in marijuana use among Utah’s youth.
A recent survey found more Utah 10th graders are using marijuana than are using cigarettes, said Susannah Burt, prevention director for the state Department of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.
"If weighing the risks for the community versus the benefits for a handful of families, I would say, ‘Yes, I would prefer FDA studies to be conducted prior to supporting legalization of cannabidiol," she said.
Public opinion swings the other way — even in Utah, where a slight majority favor legalizing medical marijuana, a recent Tribune poll found.
But armed with alarming statistics, Sabet said states should think twice about following Colorado’s lead.
Since Colorado legalized medical marijuana — recreational sales are now also legal — the state has seen dramatic increases in marijuana-related driving fatalities and the accidental ingestion of pot-infused candy and brownies by children, he said.
"Denver now has more dispensaries than Starbuck’s," he said, noting the low-cost pot grown there is being diverted to other states.
Teen use of weed in Colorado is nearly three times the national average, Sabet said. "If Denver were an American state it would have the highest marijuana use rate in the country."
http://www. sltrib. com/sltrib/news/57512246-78/marijuana-utah-drug-sabet.html.csp?page=1
Anti-drug advocate argues for “reefer sanity” in Utah
Medical marijuana » Author, drug policy expert Kevin Sabet tells Utah lawmakers: Don’t open borders to cannabis oil.
By kirsten stewart
| The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 1 hour ago • Updated 28 minutes ago
An outspoken opponent of legalizing marijuana visited Utah on Friday to urge lawmakers to put the brakes on a bill that would give epileptic children access to non-intoxicating cannabis oils.
"These parents are not part of the marijuana movement .They are very good parents in a desperate situation. My heart goes out to them," said Kevin Sabet, director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida and co-founder of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana).
But as a matter of policy, "there’s a better and safer route" for them to get the medication they need, he said, referring to an investigational trial of GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex, pharmaceutical-grade cannabidiol.
Known as CBD, cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive chemical in cannabis shown to have anti-seizure properties.
To open Utah’s borders to cannabis — no matter how high in CBD or low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical that produces a high in users — may not help and could harm families desperate for medical solutions, Sabet argues.
He recommends that lawmakers, instead, pass a resolution urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to speed approval of Epidiolex.
Health professionals can already apply with the drug maker to run clinical trials. Each site can take up to 25 patients who, for the duration of the trial, receive Epidiolex for free, he said.
Utah parents pushing for CBD oil for their children are wary of the "there’s a drug for that" argument. They say they’ve failed to convince local hospitals to start trials, which don’t guarantee access because FDA trials require some participants to be given placebos.
It could take years for the drug to come to market, they say, and when it does, it may be prohibitively expensive.
But Sabet counters that whole-plant CBD oils, like the highly touted Charlotte’s Web produced by the Stanley brothers, Colorado-based pot growers, aren’t cheap. There’s a growing waiting list for the product, which means it’s not readily available either, and there’s no independent quality control to ensure it’s safe for kids, he said.
Sabet, a conservative columnist and leading national spokesman for the anti-drug movement, also spoke Friday to a gathering of cops and addiction treatment experts at the annual conference of the Utah Council for Crime Prevention.
While not opposed to easing criminal penalties for marijuana possession, he warned legalizing the drug — even just for medical use — will "normalize" pot, hook more youth and serve only to line the pockets of a powerful marijuana industry.
"I’m not in favor of the status quo," he said. "But what I don’t like is when people take advantage of people in desperate situations, and unfortunately the wider legalization movement has been doing that. It was cancer patients 10 years ago. Now it’s kids with epilepsy."
Contrary to popular opinion, marijuana is addictive and dangerous, Sabet said. It’s potency has tripled in the past 15 years, he said.
"Stuff being sold today — dabbing, waxes and butane hash oil extraction — is the kind of thing that would make Jerry Garcia turn round," he said.
Today’s pot growers aren’t "just a few underground hippies," he said. They’re wealthy, college-educated business people wooing investors with pitches to become the "Anheuser Busch of marijuana" or to introduce "the marijuana version of Marlboro cigarettes."
Sabet was preaching to the choir Friday. Prevention experts are already concerned about an upward trend in marijuana use among Utah’s youth.
A recent survey found more Utah 10th graders are using marijuana than are using cigarettes, said Susannah Burt, prevention director for the state Department of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.
"If weighing the risks for the community versus the benefits for a handful of families, I would say, ‘Yes, I would prefer FDA studies to be conducted prior to supporting legalization of cannabidiol," she said.
Public opinion swings the other way — even in Utah, where a slight majority favor legalizing medical marijuana, a recent Tribune poll found.
But armed with alarming statistics, Sabet said states should think twice about following Colorado’s lead.
Since Colorado legalized medical marijuana — recreational sales are now also legal — the state has seen dramatic increases in marijuana-related driving fatalities and the accidental ingestion of pot-infused candy and brownies by children, he said.
"Denver now has more dispensaries than Starbuck’s," he said, noting the low-cost pot grown there is being diverted to other states.
Teen use of weed in Colorado is nearly three times the national average, Sabet said. "If Denver were an American state it would have the highest marijuana use rate in the country."
http://www. sltrib. com/sltrib/news/57512246-78/marijuana-utah-drug-sabet.html.csp?page=1
Cannabis Spray Only for the Rich?
By Mike Adams · Wed Jan 29, 2014 :: High Times
For the past several months, HIGH TIMES has been providing extensive coverage on GW Pharmaceuticals' popular cannabis-based drug called Sativex, which in addition to being recognized for years in some countries as a treatment option for multiple sclerosis, it is also the first cannabis-based drug to ever be clinically tested as a combatant against brain cancer.
Cannabis purists often take issue with this highly publicized drug, as many have concerns over Big Pharma getting their greedy hands in anything associated with marijuana. Yet, for those seriously ill patients living in countries where medical marijuana is not available -- not legal -- Sativex has become salvation's wings for some of them; unfortunately, mostly the rich.
A disturbing report released this week by Leaf Science indicates that while Sativex has been approved for use in New Zealand, where medical marijuana is currently banned, very few patients are actually able to get prescriptions filled because of the astronomical price tag associated with the drug -- about $20,200 per year.
What's more is Sativex patients are required to cover all of the costs, because the drug is not currently supported by Pharmac, the New Zealand Crown Agency responsible for determining which medications are used in community and public hospitals, according to the agency's website.
Sadly, while a number of patients report Sativex works for them, most admit to being reduced to scouring the streets for cheaper alternatives for which to self medicate.
"They don't really want people to do the right thing. They don't really want people to have safe medicine,' said Sativex approved patient Billy McKee, who uses marijuana to relive chronic pain since having his leg amputated in a car accident 30 years ago.
Here in the United States, Satixex is on the verge of receiving approval by the FDA. Earlier this month, reports speculated that GW Pharmaceutics was in its final stages of clinical trials, which could put the drug on the American market in the not so distant future -- but at what cost?
In the end, the real question is how much more blood does Uncle Sam feel obligated to squeeze from jugulars of the sick before giving them the legal right to choose between the high costs associated with Big Pharma and smoking marijuana?
Mike Adams writes for stoners and smut enthusiasts in High Times, Playboy's The Smoking Jacket and Hustler Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @adamssoup and on Facebook/mikeadams73.
http://www. masterbong420. com/news/article.php?id=653&title=Cannabis-Spray-Only-for-the-Rich
Medicinal cannabis spray priced out of reach
Published: 5:48AM Tuesday January 28, 2014 Source: Fairfax
Getting high may be legal, medically speaking, but it helps if you're rich.
Ministry of Health figures show that almost nobody is using the medical cannabis mouth spray Sativex.
Medical cannabis users and advocates say that with a price tag of about $1300 a month, most patients were ignoring the spray and opting for the cheaper, but illegal, option of smoking cannabis instead.
At present, only four people have an active prescription for the spray and only 48 have ever received ministry approval.
The medication has been available with a sign-off from the health minister since 2008. In 2010, it was approved more widely for treatment of multiple sclerosis, but all other medical uses still require ministerial sign-off.
The low uptake of the spray has sparked renewed calls to subsidise Sativex and in the meantime, to treat people who break the law for medical reasons more leniently.
The renewed calls also come as the Green Party seeks to reignite debate on the legal status of cannabis, with co-leader Metiria Turei saying it would push for decriminalisation in any post-election talks.
Medical cannabis activist Billy McKee said he gained approval to take Sativex several several years ago but was put off by the cost.
"It was like thousands of dollars. I can't afford that," he said.
"They don't really want people to do the right thing. They don't really want people to have safe medicine."
Mr McKee had his leg amputated 30 years ago after a car accident and smokes cannabis to relieve phantom pains. Last year, he fought charges of selling and cultivating cannabis all the way to the Supreme Court but lost and is now serving a six months' home detention sentence.
He said he knew of several people who had been prescribed Sativex but none could afford to stick with it, even though it often proved effective.
Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said there had been a muddying between cannabis dependency and genuine medical need.
"There's a lot of people who use cannabis recreationally who will say they are doing it for medical reasons," he said.
But for people with chronic pain and in genuine need the high cost of Sativex meant illegal cannabis was the only viable option.
"We do need to fund proper medicine and, until we do, having a little compassion will go a long way."
Cannabis' medical effectiveness, in spray form or otherwise, is also still up for debate, and some claim it has been vastly over stated.
In a paper published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry this month, Otago University academics said although cannabis could help relieve pain, sometimes it was often no better than legal alternatives. It recommended never prescribing raw cannabis and using tablets or sprays, such as Sativex, to treat pain only when all other options had failed.
But extra funding for the drug appears unlikely. Despite complaints about the cost, a Pharmac spokesman said no one had lodged an application for the agency to subsidise Sativex.
"It is not something we have ever looked at but the first step would be for someone to lodge a funding application."
What is Sativex?
Sativex is a cannabis-derived mouth spray manufactured by British company GW Pharmaceuticals, designed to help multiple sclerosis patients.
As well as treating pain and muscle spasticity, one of the spray's side effects is a "cannabis-like high".
In New Zealand it is classed as a scheduled B drug, like cannabis, but your doctor can prescribe it, subject to Ministry of Health or ministerial approval.
It is only technically approved to treat multiple sclerosis but, with ministerial approval, it has been prescribed for patients with neuropathic pain and spinal cord injuries.
Sativex is not subsidised by Pharmac and, according to the agency, a typical yearly prescription costs about $20,200.
A doctor can ask the health minister for special permission to prescribe a patient raw cannabis, but so far all such applications have been rejected.
http://tvnz .co. nz/national-news/medicinal-cannabis-spray-priced-reach-5811326
Medicinal cannabis spray priced out of reach
Published: 5:48AM Tuesday January 28, 2014 Source: Fairfax
Getting high may be legal, medically speaking, but it helps if you're rich.
Ministry of Health figures show that almost nobody is using the medical cannabis mouth spray Sativex.
Medical cannabis users and advocates say that with a price tag of about $1300 a month, most patients were ignoring the spray and opting for the cheaper, but illegal, option of smoking cannabis instead.
At present, only four people have an active prescription for the spray and only 48 have ever received ministry approval.
The medication has been available with a sign-off from the health minister since 2008. In 2010, it was approved more widely for treatment of multiple sclerosis, but all other medical uses still require ministerial sign-off.
The low uptake of the spray has sparked renewed calls to subsidise Sativex and in the meantime, to treat people who break the law for medical reasons more leniently.
The renewed calls also come as the Green Party seeks to reignite debate on the legal status of cannabis, with co-leader Metiria Turei saying it would push for decriminalisation in any post-election talks.
Medical cannabis activist Billy McKee said he gained approval to take Sativex several several years ago but was put off by the cost.
"It was like thousands of dollars. I can't afford that," he said.
"They don't really want people to do the right thing. They don't really want people to have safe medicine."
Mr McKee had his leg amputated 30 years ago after a car accident and smokes cannabis to relieve phantom pains. Last year, he fought charges of selling and cultivating cannabis all the way to the Supreme Court but lost and is now serving a six months' home detention sentence.
He said he knew of several people who had been prescribed Sativex but none could afford to stick with it, even though it often proved effective.
Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said there had been a muddying between cannabis dependency and genuine medical need.
"There's a lot of people who use cannabis recreationally who will say they are doing it for medical reasons," he said.
But for people with chronic pain and in genuine need the high cost of Sativex meant illegal cannabis was the only viable option.
"We do need to fund proper medicine and, until we do, having a little compassion will go a long way."
Cannabis' medical effectiveness, in spray form or otherwise, is also still up for debate, and some claim it has been vastly over stated.
In a paper published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry this month, Otago University academics said although cannabis could help relieve pain, sometimes it was often no better than legal alternatives. It recommended never prescribing raw cannabis and using tablets or sprays, such as Sativex, to treat pain only when all other options had failed.
But extra funding for the drug appears unlikely. Despite complaints about the cost, a Pharmac spokesman said no one had lodged an application for the agency to subsidise Sativex.
"It is not something we have ever looked at but the first step would be for someone to lodge a funding application."
What is Sativex?
Sativex is a cannabis-derived mouth spray manufactured by British company GW Pharmaceuticals, designed to help multiple sclerosis patients.
As well as treating pain and muscle spasticity, one of the spray's side effects is a "cannabis-like high".
In New Zealand it is classed as a scheduled B drug, like cannabis, but your doctor can prescribe it, subject to Ministry of Health or ministerial approval.
It is only technically approved to treat multiple sclerosis but, with ministerial approval, it has been prescribed for patients with neuropathic pain and spinal cord injuries.
Sativex is not subsidised by Pharmac and, according to the agency, a typical yearly prescription costs about $20,200.
A doctor can ask the health minister for special permission to prescribe a patient raw cannabis, but so far all such applications have been rejected.
http://tvnz .co. nz/national-news/medicinal-cannabis-spray-priced-reach-5811326