BIG BIZ! Global Medical Cannabis Research

[Pinch]

This is part of an article published in Canada about the future of the medical cannabis industry..

Around the globe -- in the United States., in Israel, in France, in the U.K. and in the Netherlands -- other private and public companies are researching and developing similar cannabinoid-based medicines.

But most are examining specific, synthesized components of the plant rather than the organic, whole-plant, herbal medicine tack favoured by Hornby and Advanced Nutrients.GW Pharmaceuticals, a U.K.-based company founded in 1997 by Geoffrey Guy, is considered a leader in the field in part because of its partnership with one of the most experienced pot growers, Hortapharm, a Dutch company founded by U.S. hippies.

Hortapharm, whose chief grower is said to have created one of the most popular strains of marijuana, Skunk No. 1, has a licence from the Dutch government to grow marijuana for research purposes.

GW expects that the strain-specific research Hortapharm has done over the years (which is very similar if not identical to what Advanced Nutrients has been doing) will help it develop non-smoking-based products.

Later this year, GW hopes to market in Canada a marijuana-based spray called Sativex.The firm's success and the announcement that pharmaceutical giant Bayer was investing nearly $100 million to become a partner were among the developments that excited the number crunchers at Toronto's Hill & Gertner.

"We found out they were publicly traded and had raised $150 million, had a market cap of between $300 and $600 million without even having a product on the market," Williams said. "So, as investment bankers, we looked at that and went, 'Hey, this is interesting!'"

Medical marijuana, he said, wasn't something the Bay Street (similar to our Wall Street) suits had heard about but the more they dug into the issue, the more they liked what they saw.

"This plant is incredibly versatile -- which is probably why so many people use it," Williams enthused. "Medically, there seems to be some real medical applications."

So they hired Harvard's Grinspoon as their scientific adviser.

Grinspoon has been proselytizing about the benefits of marijuana for more than 25 years. He put forward the first business proposals to develop whole-plant products and has been a tireless crusader for medical pot.

After a lifetime of studying marijuana, here are Grinspoon's conclusions, which are prominently featured in Cannasat's promotional literature:

"There is very little to support the proposition that smoking marijuana represents a great risk to the pulmonary system. Although cannabis has been smoked widely in this country for four decades now, there are no reported cases of cancer or emphysema which can be attributed to marijuana.

"I suspect that breathing a day's worth of the air in Houston or any other city with poor air quality poses more of a threat than inhaling a day's dose of smoked marijuana.

"Furthermore, those who are, in today's anti-smoking climate, concerned about any toxic effects on the pulmonary system can now use a vaporizer, a device which frees the cannabinoid molecules from the plant material without the necessity of burning it and thereby producing smoke.

"As for the psychoactive effects, I am not convinced that the therapeutic benefits of cannabis can be separated from the psychoactive effects nor am I persuaded that that is always a desirable goal. For example, many patients with multiple sclerosis who use marijuana speak of mood elevation as well as the relief of muscle spasm and other symptoms. If cannabis contributes to this feeling better, should patients be deprived of this effect?"

But there really isn't much existing research into marijuana's health effects.

What there is, indicates the plant could be enormously useful in the treatment of AIDS, multiple sclerosis, wasting syndrome, epilepsy, glaucoma, hepatitis C . . . and a host of other ailments.

"I think a whole new class of drugs will be derived from the plant," Williams said. He pointed out that the opium poppy is used to produce more than 20 drugs on the market today, but there are currently only two medications based on marijuana available -- both used primarily in cancer treatment.

" We think there is lots of room for lots of different drugs to be developed."

But the strident anti-pot policies of successive U.S. administrations has fettered research. In the United States., the medical program is based at the University of Mississippi and it is it is next to impossible for researchers anywhere else to get needed approvals.

In Canada and Europe, the climate is less oppressive.

So, this is where we're headed.. Pinch