Big Pharma is hurriedly attempting to imitate these same effects — in their labs.
Throughout the bodies of every human on the planet is a physiological system that plays a crucial role in establishing and maintaining human health. The endogenous cannabinoid system (ECS), discovered by scientists unafraid of studying marijuana, is made of endocannabinoids and their receptors which are found throughout the body: in the brain, organs, connective tissues, glands, and immune cells.
The goal of the ECS is to maintain homeostasis within your body.
While the human body produces its own version of endocannabinoids to stimulate these receptors, scientists have discovered that phytocannabinoids, plant-based substances, can also stimulate these cannabinoid receptors. The most well-known, and most psychoactive phytocannabinoid is Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is derived from the cannabis plant. However, other, non-psychoactive cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) are gaining the interest of researchers due to a variety of healing properties.
There are over 20,000 articles searchable on PubMed detailing the effects of “cannabinoid”(s). New research has shown that cannabis is an effective treatment for a myriad of ailments ranging from cancer, to epilepsy, to PTSD.
These seemingly miraculous benefits have gotten the attention of the pharmaceutical industry which is likely interested in profiting from said benefits. The thing about cannabis, however, is that it doesn’t need Big Pharma to produce it, package it and distribute, as it can grow in your backyard.
But, when government-connected industries wish to shut out their competition, which in this case is a plant, they lean on the state’s ability to stifle competition through claiming a right to the intellectual property behind a particular set of ingredients – otherwise known as a patent.
Since no one can patent a wild plant, pharmaceutical industries turn to their labs and chemistry to recreate nature.
The drug Marinol is an example of a pharmaceutical chemical compound that is produced by Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc. and used to mimic nature. It contains a nearly identical molecular structure as the THC molecule and has similar effects of marijuana on cancer patients in regards to increasing appetite, etc. But unlike its natural counterpart, Marinol does not grow on trees.
This impulse to exclusively own the rights to life-saving medicines is nothing new. However, with the ever-increasing scientific data showing the miraculous effects of cannabis on healing the human body, Big Pharma is hurriedly attempting to imitate these same effects — in their labs.
This haste is proving to be deadly, at least in one example, in France.
According to Ouest France, a recent test conducted by Biotrial, on behalf of the Portuguese pharmaceutical company Bial, has left six people hospitalized in Rennes. One of those six people was declared clinically dead at the University Hospital of Rennes last week.
Source:http://ehealthmagz.com
