Marijuana opponents always try to make it sound like all we need is cannabis derived pharmaceutical products, and that legalizing the entire plant for medical purposes is a waste of time. One product that they point to early and often is Sativex. There’s just one major problem with their argument – Sativex doesn’t work the same as using the entire cannabis plant. That was proven in a recent study, during which Sativex failed to help cancer patients deal with their pain. Per Yahoo News:
An experimental cannabis drug failed to alleviate pain in cancer patients as hoped in a clinical study, sending shares in its British maker GW Pharmaceuticals as much as 21 percent lower on Thursday.
GW, which is developing the drug Sativex for pain in collaboration with Japan’s Otsuka, said the first of three late-stage trials found no statistically significant difference between subjects using its product and those given a placebo.
GW Chief Executive Justin Gover said the findings were both disappointing and surprising, given encouraging results in earlier tests, but the company’s scientists had not given up hope.
Can Sativex help some patients in some fashion? Probably. Is it the end all be all that medical marijuana opponents and members of the pharmaceutical industry are touting it as? Not even close. I’m fine with Sativex being available to people that wish to use it, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of legalizing the entire plant, which helps far more people.
