Grinspoon on Sativex

I love Lester Grinspoon. Few have done more for drug policy reform than he has over four decades of commitment to cannabis issues and now at age 77, he offers a wise perspective. Thanks to Tim Meehan for passing on the link to this interview at Cannabis Health.

You have to be a subscriber to read the whole thing, but the teaser alone is worth reading. Lester's take pretty much mirrors my own except of course he articulates it a lot better.

Over the 38 years during which I have been studying cannabis I have been so impressed by both its very limited toxicity and its versatility as a medicine that I should think that GW Pharmaceuticals would not take umbrage with the description of Sativex as “liquid marijuana”; I would see it as a compliment.

However, I think these folks have undertaken a bold endeavor to make use of the anecdotal data generated by medical marijuana users to create a pharmaceutical product which now requires them to persuade the world that manipulated orange juice is safer, easier to deal with and healthier than whole oranges; and, of course, it’s worth the extra cost.

He goes on to review the necessity for GW to sell the distinction between the pharmacuetical product and the natural plant in order to succeed at making a profit. Andrea Barthwell's role in this part of the scheme doesn't escape Grinspoon's notice either. Read what's there and if you have a spare $45, you can read the rest of the piece.