Obama says marijuana ‘no more dangerous than alcohol’

[RainDog]

230. If you want to get really cynical

GW Pharmaceutical (a British co.) and Bayer, the U.S. outlet for its marijuana medicine, Sativex, has petitioned the DEA to permit the use of Sativex for MS in the U.S. That started a few years ago, iirc.

Sativex™ is a marijuana plant, not a synthetic, medicine. GW grows its own marijuana in a hidden, indoor location (indica, sativa -also recreational varieties- and ruderalis, with little to no THC), grinds up the plants after curing, suspends them in a liquid, and delivers the medicine via a mouth spray.

Since 2010, marijuana as medicine has been legal in the UK via Sativex. It's also legal in Canada, Israel, Spain, Germany, and other western European nations - more are coming. Sativex can be patented because of the processing and delivery method of what is simply marijuana. As noted, since Uruguay legalized marijuana, Canada and Israel have made a trade agreement with that nation to grow marijuana for its medical market.

Sativex is essentially the same thing as "Rick Simpson oil" (the guy comes across as nutty, but an American biotech co. is trying to get trials approved to study the use of cannabis oil for treatment of melanomas).

Former big wigs from the Drug Czar's office in the Bush administration, such as Andrea Barthwell, former Deputy Drug Czar, have worked as lobbyists for GW/Bayer to place Sativex™ on the drug schedule along with the synthetic THC drug marinol, i.e. a substance with medical benefit.

Currently, marijuana is scheduled as a substance with no medical benefit.

Barthwell pretends Sativex isn't simply marijuana, but chemists would challenge that claim. Here's what she said when she was the mouthpiece for drug warriors: Cannabis medicines aren’t compatible with modern science. They do not constitute “a serious line of research.”

If the DEA approves Sativex™ - they are stating that marijuana has medical benefit and, thus, should not be a schedule I substance.

iow, maybe corporate profit has something to do with fast tracking enlightenment in DC.

and maybe seeing the way in which Colorado can collect taxes on a previously underground market has made the scales fall from some eyes...