Synthetic marijuana drug coming to chemo patients

cnn ^ | 5/17/06

[LouAvul]

Seventeen years after it was withdrawn from U.S. markets, a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana is going back on sale as a prescription treatment for the vomiting and nausea that often accompany chemotherapy, the drug's manufacturer said Tuesday.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International hopes to begin selling Cesamet in the next two to three weeks, company president Wes Wheeler said.

The Costa Mesa, California, company received Food and Drug Administration approval Monday to resume sales of the drug, which it bought from Eli Lilly and Co. in 2004. Valeant currently sells the drug, also called nabilone, in Canada.

Lilly originally received FDA approval for nabilone in 1985 but withdrew it from the market in 1989 for commercial reasons, Wheeler said. Valeant, since purchasing the drug, has revised its label and updated its manufacturing process, he added.

The drug will compete with Marinol, made by Belgium-based Solvay SA. Marinol, another synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana that's more commonly known as THC. It also received FDA approval in 1985.

Synthetic THC acts on the brain like the THC in smoked marijuana but eliminates having to inhale the otherwise harmful smoke contained in the illegal drug, Valeant said.

Cesamet is a Schedule II drug, meaning it has a high potential for abuse. The 1-milligram tablets are meant to be taken twice daily before cancer patients undergo chemotherapy and up to 48 hours following treatment. Side effects include euphoria, drowsiness, vertigo and dry mouth.

[gondramB]

>>"you can't legalize something that causes cancer"

Cigarettes cause cancer and they are legal.<<


And you would never be able to get cigarettes legalized if they weren't already grandfathered.

[LouAvul]

I just did a search on mrleroy but he's been banned. Who is mrleroy?

[Supernatural]

Alcohol was legal, then illegal, then legal again. And look how many deaths and crimes alcohol is involved in, not to mention broken marriages and lost jobs.

The revenue for the govt. from alcohol is too good to pass up no matter how many it kills or harms.

[gondramB]

>>Alcohol was legal, then illegal, then legal again. And look how many deaths and crimes alcohol is involved in, not to mention broken marriages and lost jobs.

The revenue for the govt. from alcohol is too good to pass up no matter how many it kills or harms.<<

If there were not a history of alcohol being legal in the U.S. I doubt you could get it legalized.

[Conservative Goddess]

I have glaucoma. If the only treatment available was pot, you betcha I'd be smoking it....legal or not.

[Supernatural]

Ask Elvie Musika about the medical benefits of marijuana.

She lost one eye to gloucoma years ago and still has her other eye thank to GOVERNMENT SUPPLIED MEDICAL MARIJUANA.

Do a search on Elvie Musika and see what you come up with. I met the lady and she told me her story. She still gets the government supplied marijuana and went to court to do it after she had already lost one eye.

[monkeyshine]

LOL, I never made the connection.

Last year my aunt and cousins came over for thanksgiving, and my aunt was telling us how she had been waking up very early lately for no reason, at 4:20, she said, every day she'd suddenly wake up and look at the clock and the clock read 4:20. I said "4:20, huh?"... well her kids got a good giggle out of it, but she of course had no clue.

[robertpaulsen]

"Do a search on Elvie Musika and see what you come up with. I met the lady and she told me her story"

I haven't met her, but at least I can spell her name. It's Elvy Musikka.

Do you think we should legalize a new drug based on anecdotal stories or clinical trials?

[robertpaulsen]

MrLeRoy was indeed banned a couple of years ago. He then came back to FR under various names -- Holy Spirit, No King but Jesus, onmyfeet, the Kings dead -- and was banned each time.

He's now posting on the board as Know your rights. It's just a matter of time.

[Supernatural]

How about legalizing something based on the truth instead of keeping it illegal because of lies?

[Know your rights]

It's just a matter of time.

Bobbie's been huffing and puffing like that for as long as I can remember. My advice is to not hold your breath waiting for FR to ban posters based on bobbie's obsessions.

[Know your rights]

If there were not a history of alcohol being legal in the U.S. I doubt you could get it legalized.

And do you think that's a desirable state of affairs ... or do you think that conservatives should continue to speak out for limited government and individual liberty?

[Know your rights]

So, it is OK with you for sick people to use marijuana as medicine but you do not want to let them legally use it?

It's their choice. Whether that's OK with me or not OK with me is irrelevant.

Squirm, duck, wriggle, dodge.

[robertpaulsen]

"Squirm, duck, wriggle, dodge"

This from the Master Weasel himself.

[Know your rights]

Squirm, duck, wriggle, dodge ... and a "yer another." Very impressive.

[mugs99]

I'm going to side with

I'll side with those who say it works for them. The others are just protecting their drug profits.
.

[mugs99]

If rhubarb is poisonous, then it also demonstrates that Supernatural is wrong when he states, "plants work as well as the extract".

Potato plants are poisonous too. Do you enjoy french fries or do you consume potato extract? Marijuana is 100% non poisonous. Supernatural is right.
.

[mugs99]

Considering what a straight-arrow my grandma was, I was pretty shocked when my mom told me that.

Marijuana was the number one home remedy in America when it was outlawed in 1937. Americans had never heard of "marijuana"...they knew it as cannabis and could buy it in two pound tins at every drug store in the country. They were told that marijuana was a "Mexican narcotic". They didn't find out that marijuana and cannabis were the same until the law was passed.
. .

[Know your rights]

Marijuana was the number one home remedy in America when it was outlawed in 1937. Americans had never heard of "marijuana"...they knew it as cannabis and could buy it in two pound tins at every drug store in the country. They were told that marijuana was a "Mexican narcotic". They didn't find out that marijuana and cannabis were the same until the law was passed.

And that proud tradition of government lies continues to this very day (e.g., 'today's pot is 30 times more potent').

[mugs99]

LOL...30 times more potent!