The Leaf THE LEAF July-August 2017 | Page 20

Health, cannabis was not involved in these studies at all, only a synthetic ECS stimulant designed to mimic cannabis’s effects. The effects of the synthetic chemical compounds on the endocannabinoid system were, indeed, a dangerous factor. 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. After news of the hospitalisations broke, media around the world began putting out misleading headlines about cannabis research being the cause. However, according to Marisol Touraine, France’s Minister of The pill acted on the body’s endocannabinoid system. Taken orally, the drug was undergoing a Phase 1 clinical trial at a licensed private European laboratory that specialises in clinical trials, the French health ministry said. Attempting to recreate the natural analgesic effects of cannabis, this pharmaceutical company unwittingly killed someone and gravely injured several others. Why would these serious risks be taken when cannabis provides a clearly safer alternative? Well, for starters, in countries around the planet, in order to study the effects of cannabis, it is particularly difficult — because it is illegal. Big pharma also plays a large role in why cannabis is illegal too, as they lobby state officials to keep it that way. However, the crumbling illegality of cannabis is only part of the reason Big Pharma is rushing into the lab to synthesize its effects. As the Free Thought Project pointed out earlier this month, a new survey of adults found that 80% of respondents reported substituting cannabis for their prescription drugs. There is a mass exodus from pills to pot — and the industry is scared. Of course, no one is advocating for the cessation of pharmaceutical innovation as many pharmaceutical medications have proven to be incredibly beneficial. However, when governments and Big Pharma collude, through the use of patents and prohibition, to create a synthetic product, that merely mimics the effects of a plant ingested by millions daily, and people are hurt in the process, something must be said. http://thefreethoughtproject.com/big-pharma- synthesizing-cannabis-patent-able-pill-killing- people/prohibition crumbles away in other states.”