Big Pharma set to "take over" Medical Marijuana

Wow this really pisses me off. I know alot of you have heard about a cannabis sativa extract drug called Sativex. Well they have just completed phase 2 of testing and are now moving into the 3rd and final phase.

Remember not to long ago hearing about the DEA rescheduling marijuana for pharmaceutical companies? (or something to that effect) Well I guess this is why:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/20/big-pharma-set-to-take-over-medical-marijuana-market/

I am so sick of this corrupt government. They don't even try to hide the fact that their best interests are for the big corporations and the wealthy elite who currently control this country.



*mods, feel free to move this thread if this is the wrong place*

THATS SO FUCKED UP.....
The irs will be fucking with all dispencerys.....

heres the article so they dont have to click it.



Just as the federal government is clamping down on medical marijuana dispensaries, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) may be set to give Big Pharma the clearance to take over the market.
In 2007, GW Pharmaceuticals announced that it partnered with Otsuka to bring "Sativex" -- or liquefied marijuana -- to the U.S. The companies recently completed Phase II efficacy and safety trials testing and began discussion with the FDA for Phase III testing. Phase III is generally thought to be the final step before the drug can be marketed in the U.S.
"GW Pharmaceuticals plc (AIM: GWP) today announces the initiation of the Phase III clinical trials programme of Sativex in the treatment of pain in patients with advanced cancer, who experience inadequate analgesia during optimized chronic opioid therapy," GW said in a statement. "This indication represents the initial target indication for Sativex in the United States."
Sativex is the brand name for a drug derived from cannabis sativa. It's an extract from the whole plant cannabis, not a synthetic compound. Even GW defines the drug (.pdf) as marijuana.
Yet as the FDA is poised to approve the drug for Big Pharma, state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries that provide relief for thousands of Americans are under attack by other federal agencies.
Lynette Shaw, the owner and founder of Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana (MAMM) in Fairfax, California, was stunned when the IRS audited her 2008 and 2009 tax returns and disallowed the foundation's business deductions, then demanded millions of dollars in back taxes.
The IRS pursued her under § 280E of the federal tax code, which states that no business deductions will be allowed for companies "trafficking in controlled substances".
Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »


Shaw is now suing the IRS to prevent them from destroying the entire medical marijuana industry.
Last week, the Justice Department even threatened to prosecute state employees who license medical marijuana dispensaries.
As a result, Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) said she would veto a bill that would have allowed the state to license growers.
In February, marijuana advocacy group NORML warned that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) intended to legalize marijuana for Big Pharma only.
"The DEA's intent is to expand the federal government's schedule III listing to include pharmaceutical products containing naturally derived formations of THC while simultaneously maintain existing criminal prohibitions on the plant itself," Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), wrote at AlterNet.
h/t: The American Independent

^^^ Thank You Scarhole.

Shit, why didn't I think of that? lol

Looks much better than posting the link only. Which by the way, does take a second to load because of all the comments.

This is fucked up it will only serve to make it harder to legalize or even maintain medical rights....once big pharma owns it they wont want any competition.....we need to sue the federal government for rights to self medicate if this is considered a medication now by their own admission....every citizen should have the right to MAKE their own medicine whether it be willow trees for aspirin or cannabis for sativex......willow trees arent illegal are they? We are being screwed and this is just more evidence of the corporatism of our fucked gov't.......seriously this is gonna be another huge tax on medicare when in reality we could all self medicate at no cost(or even profit through taxation) to the gov't.....why should already wealthy corporations get to cash in when it could create many many small businesses across the nation providing jobs, GDP growth, and tax reciepts for them, cause we all know these pharma corps dont pay hardly any taxes...FUCK I think the FDA will now be the core of our issues, and dont even get me started on them

We could try to invoke states rights clause...and hopefully current med states laws could be "grandfathered" in now that its a MEDICINE by the FEDS own admission.....we already took care of it at the state level kinda thing

HarryCarey said:

We could try to invoke states rights clause...and hopefully current med states laws could be "grandfathered" in now that its a MEDICINE by the FEDS own admission.....we already took care of it at the state level kinda thing

Click to expand...

Something will have to be done about this BS. I only hope that it will end up working against the government once the general public sees a legal medication that is made from the actual buds of the marijuana plant.

First they tried to say cannabis has no medicinal value whatsoever.
Then big pharma developed Marinol, a synthetic type of THC. But most people that tried it say it sucks balls.
Now big pharma has developed an extract from the plant itself.

So I guess suddenly the government considers cannabis medicinal. God damned hypocrites and liars.

chillwills said:

Something will have to be done about this BS. I only hope that it will end up working against the government once the general public sees a legal medication that is made from the actual buds of the marijuana plant.

First they tried to say cannabis has no medicinal value whatsoever.
Then big pharma developed Marinol, a synthetic type of THC. But most people that tried it say it sucks balls.
Now big pharma has developed an extract from the plant itself.

So I guess suddenly the government considers cannabis medicinal. God damned hypocrites and liars.

Click to expand...

this is not new news bro ...the U.S. Goverment has had a patent on marijuana for years

The U.S. Dept of Health has had a patent on marijuana since 2002 and will hold it till 2021

The U.S. Patent Office issued patent #6630507 http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6630507.html to the United States Dept of Health and Human Services filed on 2/2/2001.

The patent lists the use of certain cannabinoids found within the cannabis sativa plant as useful in certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and HIV dementia.

Since cannabis sativa (or [URL="https://www.rollitup.org/"][URL="https://www.rollitup.org/"]marijuana[/URL][/URL] as we like to refer to it) contains compounds recognized and endorsed by an agency of the U.S. Government why is it that [URL="https://www.rollitup.org/"][URL="https://www.rollitup.org/"]marijuana[/URL][/URL] remains on the Federal Schedule One list of drugs?

The issuance of patent #6630507 is a direct contradiction of the Governments own definition for classification of a Schedule 1 drug.

colonuggs said:

this is not new news bro ...the government has had a patent on marijuana

The U.S. dept of health has had a patent on marijuana since 2002 and will hold it till 2021

This means the U.S. Government acknowledges the fact that marijuana has a medical value

Click to expand...

This thread is specifically about SATIVEX, a pharmaceutical, that has just completed phase 2 of testing.

I know the government has a patent on Cannabis.


But now that the FDA is approving an actual pharmaceutical that is based on the actual buds of the marijuana plant, there is no longer any room for debate about whether there are legitimate medicinal properties to cannabis.

Whereas the debate before was still somewhat 'theoritical' because no cannabis plant based drugs exist, now its factual.

Ya I had to rant a bit there, and yes this is old news on the patent side of shit but once the FDA gets involved with anything especially concerning pharmaceuticals the public will be locked out.....

I guess the next thing to find out is how long it will take phase 3 of testing to be completed before it is released onto the market. Any ideas?

I want to be a guinea pig for this testing, LOL....but really we shall see, usually takes about a year of clinicals to get a drug released in phase three but they probably want to expedite the process so they can start claiming patent rights on all the medical growers that are already out there.........we should file for a collective patent on ruderalis and indica varieties........try to really fuck with them, if they can do it we can right? Have they literally patented THC or just the genotype of Cannabis Sativa or the extracts thereof?

HarryCarey said:

I want to be a guinea pig for this testing, LOL....but really we shall see, usually takes about a year of clinicals to get a drug released in phase three but they probably want to expedite the process so they can start claiming patent rights on all the medical growers that are already out there.........we should file for a collective patent on ruderalis and indica varieties........try to really fuck with them, if they can do it we can right? Have they literally patented THC or just the genotype of Cannabis Sativa or the extracts thereof?

Click to expand...

According to the link that Colonuggs posted, it looks like Cannabinoids in general are patented. So that pretty much covers anything useful.

I would defenitly try the Sativex spray, provided they dont mix it with a bunch of other chemicals.

Growing weed will alway be scorned stigmatized. Some states force you to put that your a medical marijuana patient, which when you get pulled over means you will be automatically searched.
If you take oxycontin, they don't make you put THAT on your ID and you sure as hell wont be searched for it. Goddamn ridiculous.
I don't care who take it over or who says it legal, I'll always grow my own cause I don't trust anyone else with my pot anymore.

cant look to the government for good change.

its all about money.

you are about free to eat at mcdonalds.

once the heavy powerblocks are in play in government and firmly entrenched as today.

i doubt anything is going to change this, apart from a revolution.

well, or wait, its an empire and those fall.

the people is capable of nothing but bitch and moan at the government, the government knows this. until enough people rise up, they are gonna just do their shit.
and it gotta be a shitload of people, to make up for the loss in private jets, hookers and cocaine to the politicians.

and even then its going to take a long time. (nobody likes losing private jets, hookers and cocaine eh?)

sso said:

i doubt anything is going to change this, apart from a revolution. the people is capable of nothing but bitch and moan at the government, the government knows this. until enough people rise up, they are gonna just do their shit. and it gotta be a shitload of people,

Click to expand...

Change starts with a whisper.
Bitching about things at least is a start. The whisper, so to speak.
Those people are becoming aware. They're learning. They're sharing their new found information with others. Without realizing it, they're taking their first baby steps to taking control of their lives back from those who have taken that control away.
That should be encouraged, not discouraged with a flood of negativity.
Hopefully with encouragement, their eyes will be opened far enough to take the next step and become more active.

interesting information, government after money with big companies.... sad sad

this is old news, marinol has been schedule 3 for a bit(schedule 2 for quite a while), same idea
but it is a fine talking point, ask why these pharmaceutical preparations are medically useful and MJ is not?
discussing the price tags will always be interesting

They want government control from birth to death, and through out our life. this government

All your rights (or rights wev'e worked towards) gone. Down the drain. Later legal home grown, pharmaceuticals is taking over and the government has vested interests in this. Oh well.

growone said:

this is old news, marinol has been schedule 3 for a bit(schedule 2 for quite a while), same idea
but it is a fine talking point, ask why these pharmaceutical preparations are medically useful and MJ is not?
discussing the price tags will always be interesting

Click to expand...

How is it old news? Sativex just announced on April 19th that they completed the second stage of testing. They are now starting Stage 3,the final stage, then its on the market.

Sativex is the first and only pharmaceutical to be made from the actual buds of the marijuana plant. Marinol is synthetic garbage that most people who try,dont like.