the cannabinoid THC (tetrahydrocannabinol),
which the Food and Drug Administration
allows for treatment of cancer and HIV-
related symptoms like nausea and loss of
appetite, which cannabis advocates say the
raw plant material can treat without a
corporate middleman. Insys said in its August
filing it has no plans to resume those sales,
though it is preparing a similar drug.
Marijuana legalisation supporters say legal
access to cannabis, which does not cause
overdose deaths, could help combat overuse
of medicine that serves as an on-ramp to
potentially life-destroying addictions.
Johns Hopkins University researchers
concluded in 2014, after studying the effects
of state medical marijuana laws through 2010,
that "medical cannabis laws are associated
with significantly lower state-level opioid
overdose mortality rates."
Currently, 25 states have laws allowing
residents to use marijuana as medicine,
though the plant remains a federally illegal
Schedule I substance, which is defined as
having no accepted medical value.
The Obama administration has allowed states
broad leeway to regulate sales of marijuana
for recreational or medical use, despite federal
prohibition, and major-party presidential
candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
have indicated they would pursue a similar
approach.
Arizona voters legalised medical marijuana in
an initiative that won by about a 4,000-vote
margin in 2010, and supporters of this year's
legalisation initiative expect the ultimate vote
to be close again, perhaps the closest of the
five states – including Maine, Massachusetts,
Nevada and California – that also will
consider joining the four pioneering pot
legalisation states and the nation's capital in
November.
Pro-legalisation campaign spokesman Barrett
Marson says if the other side has any shame
they will return Insys' donation, which is far
and away the largest received by opponents to
date.
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-
09-08/fentanyl-maker-donates-big-to-
campaign-opposing-pot-legalization