Unfortunately Doc, the synthetic version (Marinol) has none of the nausea-combating properties that the actual smoke has. Having endured 40 days of radiation and 5 months of brutal chemo two years ago, I was given scripts for every anti-nausea med they had and none had any effect at all. At the insistence of a friend, I tried a few puffs of weed and within moments I felt a rush of relief throughout my gut. I was able to drink water and even eat a little.
I asked for a script for Marinol because I didn't like the "stoned" feeling I got from smoking the weed, and all it did was make me feel wasted for 12 hours and had no effect on the nausea.
There is something in the smoke that is not in the synthetic pill (actually it is a gel ball filled with oil). I asked around at Dana Farber and everyone I asked, patients, nurses, and doctors, all said my experience was by far the most common.
If Marinol worked, medical marijuana would not be an issue. But it doesn't. Ask any oncologist or cancer patient. I can't stress that enough.
It is unbelievable to me that some company can't isolate the actual THC and put it in some kind of vaporizer type thing that patients could use without having to smoke the weed after buying it illegally from the creepy guy down the street.
p.s. My scans are still clean. God bless the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
The reason the plant is so effective vs. synthetic THC is that it is impossible to synthesize the same structure in a lab. See the papers on synthetic THC by Dr. Alex Shulgin
Unfortunately, research and development of this plant is still prohibited nearly worldwide. Very few chemists in the US are allowed and the government only allows those few to work with government-produced cannabis (garbage).
One day people will wake up. I am confident that cannabis will yield far better meds than opium.
“Unfortunately Doc, the synthetic version (Marinol) has none of the nausea-combating properties that the actual smoke has. Having endured 40 days of radiation and 5 months of brutal chemo two years ago, I was given scripts for every anti-nausea med they had and none had any effect at all. At the insistence of a friend, I tried a few puffs of weed and within moments I felt a rush of relief throughout my gut. I was able to drink water and even eat a little.”
I have no doubt that your personal experience as related here is true. In the sense that you experienced “relief.” However, it could have simply been a “pacebo effect” where the drug worked based upon the power of suggestion. Or, it was the “being stoned” effect that, that you otherwise disliked, caused the relief. It is so hard to know.
Personally, as long as the drug (marijuana in this case) is properly prescribed and used strictly by the person it is prescribed for, I have no problem with medical use....even if it a pacebo effect. I just don’t want this to be a back door way of legalizing more intoxicating drugs. We have enough problems with alcohol as it is.
Glad you are doing better. Uncontrolled nausea is really a terrrible thing to deal with on top of cancer.
I have seen this beneficial effect first hand and was amazed so I have no objection to medicinal use. In fact why not just legalize it and tax it.