[donhunt]

If there was any medical value to marijuana the drug companies would’ve extracted and duplicated any money making drugs already.

The whole political scam is to culture a scheme to extract tax money from pot sales.

[Sudetenland]

It’s called Marinol. They have attempted to do so, but Marinol doesn’t do what smoking pot seems to do.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

If there was any medical value to marijuana the drug companies would’ve extracted and duplicated any money making drugs already.

The whole political scam is to culture a scheme to extract tax money from pot sales.

The federal government must be in on the scam because the HHS has had a patent on it since 2003.

Consider U.S. patent #6,630,507, entitled Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants. Filed in 2001, this patent, which was subsequently granted in 2003, gives us an insight into the canny duplicity that has characterized U.S. government policy toward marijuana. In the patent, assigned to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the applicants state the following: "Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia."

(See: Patent on Pot)

[varyouga]

Most drug makers such as Bristol and Merck already did so in the 1930s after the processing of hemp was first mechanized. In the first year over 30 medications were patented. The medications were said to be as effective as opiates but non-addictive and non-toxic. The fibers would make fabric and paper much cheaper and sturdier. The US Constitution was written on sturdy hemp paper. The US government even made films and pamphlets promoting hemp as the “crop of the future”. The industry boomed until it was illegally and secretly outlawed in 1937 via an unpayable tax. If you read the absurd senate debate, the testimony of the experts are outright lies and hyperbole. The only explanation is that they were paid to lie. The people with the most to lose from mechanized hemp were the threatened cotton , paper-wood and opium industries. Follow the money.

Today, research and possession of privately grown plants is 100% federally illegal. No drug maker can touch it. They have synthesized similar compounds for drugs such as Marinol and Sativex but they are still different from what the plant makes. Read Dr Alex Shulgin’s paper on synthetic cannabinoids and why the plant is medically far superior to anything man made. Why don't these medical MJ stores sell extractions? The very high-end stores actually do but the market price of MJ is still too high due to prohibition. The price in stores is still pegged to the illegal price to reduce resales. For instance, a cancer patient consuming extract to keep their weight up would easily need $200-400 worth of extract each day. Insurance won't pay for it. By smoking instead, it cuts down the price of the required active dose to $20-40 per day.

Keeping it illegal today props up many huge entrenched industries. Prohibition keeps this weed worth its weight in $20 bills! If legal, it's price would be close to basil. Right now, the amount of money the government can fine or seize at will is far greater than if they ever legally taxed it.