The medical marijuana drug Sativex, which could be approved in the United States in the coming years as a treatment for pain relief, has little potential for abuse, experts say.

The British pharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceuticals is currently testing the drug, which is delivered as a mouth spray and called Sativex, in clinical trials. The company plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the drug as a treatment for cancer pain when the trials are completed, likely sometime in 2014, a spokesperson for GW Pharmaceuticals told MyHealthNewsDaily.

The active ingredients in Sativex, known as cannabinoids, are derived from the cannabis plant. It is the first marijuana-based drug to be made by extracting the compounds from the plant, rather than synthesizing them. Two other drugs, Marinol and Cesamet, based on synthetic cannabinoids, were approved by the FDA in the 1980s.

Because the drug contains THC, the ingredient primarily responsible for marijuana's "high," it's possible people would use the drug for recreational rather than medical purposes.

"There is no doubt in my mind that there will be people that abuse it," said Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein, director of the Florida Poison Information Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

However, because the drug is delivered through ingestion, rather than smoking, it would take much longer to have an effect — at least an hour, compared with the minutes it takes to get high after smoking marijuana, said Margaret Haney, a professor of clinical neurobiology at Columbia University. This means drug users seeking a high would be less likely to abuse it. "Smoking is a really effective way to get a chemical into the brain," Haney said. The mouth spray "is a far safer administration,"she said.

And Marinol and Cesamet, which are also administered orally, have a low rate of abuse. "We don’t see a lot of problems from [those]," Bernstein said.

Not the same high
GW Pharmaceuticals intends to market Sativex in the United States for treatment of cancer pain. The drug is already approved in United Kingdom, Spain, Canada and New Zealand to treat muscle spasms due to multiple sclerosis, according to the company website.

Patients can adjust the dose of Sativex to prevent it from entering the blood too rapidly, allowing them to experience symptom relief without the marijuana high, according to GW Pharmaceuticals.

In addition, while marijuana is a hodgepodge of about 64 different substances, Sativex is composed mainly of two ingredients: THC and another cannabinoid called CBD. The latter component is thought to ameliorate some of the side effects of THC, including the high that marijuana users feel, said Dr. Armando Villarreal, an assistant professor of neurosurgery and pain management at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

And for habitual marijuana users, the cultural and ritualistic practices that go along with smoking pot, such as passing a joint, may be an important part of the experience, Bernstein said. These rituals cannot be replicated with the spray. "A lot of people that smoke marijuana would rather smoke it," he said.

Unlikely overdose
Unlike drugs such as painkillers, which come with a risk of death if people take too much, patients who "overdose" on the marijuana spray would be at little risk for acute health problems, Haney said.

"What could happen is the person could get very uncomfortably intoxicated," Haney said. But in terms of other serious health effects, "there's none that I know of," Haney said.

13 Comments

1. 1. housemusic3 04:10 PM 1/31/12

   regardless of it's potential to be abused (just like any other drug on the market) it's going to be far safer than any opiate based drug, that they currently use for Cancer patients for pain. End the hypocrisy concerning Marijuana, It's "High" time we give up the refer madness and follow logical Science

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2. 2. bigbopper 05:33 PM 1/31/12

   What's the rush (pun intended)?

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3. 3. bigbopper 05:35 PM 1/31/12

   OMG! A person could get very uncomfortably intoxicated! Nobody would want that, now, would they?

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4. 4. bigbopper in reply to JeffCorkern 05:36 PM 1/31/12

   How long do you hold it in after you inhale?
   
   Should you order pizza before or after you inhale?
   
   Is it true that it will cause your sperm count to drop? (I mean, if you're a guy?)

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5. 5. Comanche 06:59 PM 1/31/12

   I guess they lied to me about marijuana having no medical value, after all it is a schedule one drug. Listed as having a higher probability of abuse the cocaine and heroin.
   I bet now big pharma is in the weed business it will make its way off the schedule one list.
   Don't worry we will continue to round up young black men and send them off to prison for smoking weed. They will much more productive in the prison slave labor industries.

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6. 6. Comanche in reply to JeffCorkern 07:04 PM 1/31/12

   I could clearly see how emotion drug users like Carl Sagan where stifled by smoking weed.

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7. 7. housemusic3 07:18 PM 1/31/12

   comanche, you rhetoric is ridiculous. haha
   

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8. 8. housemusic3 07:26 PM 1/31/12

   sorry that last comment was meant for Jeff Corkern and I'll add this as well.
   
   Comanche, which is more harmful to society? Marijuana or the the effects and oppression caused by Marijuana Prohibition? not to mention the wasted time of law enforcement, the wasted money of taxpayers incarcerating individuals (40,000$ a year) or perhaps we should just keep ruining the lives of our youth. How is marijuana prohibition different to alcohol prohibition? Put that in your pipe and smoke it pal

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9. 9. neiltyson 08:58 PM 1/31/12

   Congrats, world on our way to a smoke-free dystopia...
   
   but ya know I'm pretty glad because I'm extremely mildly kinda but very addicted to marijuana...it has ruined my life and I am no longer a contributing member of society. I used to enjoy things like relaxing in my room, listening to Phish. Now, (that I'm addicted) I just go to work, walk my dog, play with my children, and love my wife. And this has gone on for years, no months, no...wait...no clue. I'm ruined. My college career went down the drain when I started daily usage. I had a solid 3.3 GPA and it dropped to a 3.5. I always knew that if I hadn't started I would've gotten into Yale Law, but since I was a dirty bastard and smoked anyway I ended up at Penn. I suppose I'm just lucky to be alive. I also whole-heartedly believe this study done showing an increased risk for schizophrenia. I hallucinate all the time. It's especially bad when I'm driving; the sun hits the distant road and there appears to be a gigantic puddle! It's truly frightening, lightning, trifling, sodomy!!!!!!! (five is enough)
   
   
   

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10. 10. dandawdy@gmail.com 09:04 PM 1/31/12

    The article is mistaken possibly as I believe, Sativex has the same hodgepodge of about 64 different substances(cannabinoids is most likely meant here, as whole cannabis plant contains many more than just 64 substances).

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11. 11. neiltyson in reply to JeffCorkern 10:34 PM 1/31/12

    I would like to respectfully disagree. Imagine the books Sagan would have written if it had not been for his "emotion drug"(whatever that means). They would probably be dull enough that you wouldn't even know his name. Many writers, mathematicians, and scientists have used psychoactive chemicals and attribute some of their findings to the perspective gained by this usage. Emotion drugs certainly do not disintegrate cultures. Instead I would say emotion drugs facilitate, rather than retard scientific progress. It's all a matter of who uses the drug, rather than the drug itself.

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12. 12. Wes55 10:51 AM 2/1/12

    "In addition, while marijuana is a hodgepodge of about 64 different substances, Sativex is composed mainly of two ingredients: THC and another cannabinoid called CBD."
    
    This statement is misleading. Sativex is made from two cloned varieties of whole cannabis plants. One variety is high in THC, the other high in CBD, but the entire "hodge podge" of substances are also extracted from the plants. Sativex contains ALL the same substances as the "dangerous illicit drug" marijuana.
    
    Patients in the several medical cannabis states have been able to access an equivalent medicine in the form of cannabis tinctures for years, at a fraction of the cost of Sativex. It is good that the rest of America will have access to this useful medicine in a few more years. It is certainly safer than vicodin and other narcotic pain killers.
    
    The only advantage Sativex has over "crude marijuana", is that the "right" people will make the money.

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13. 13. cannabis_is_medicine 01:56 PM 2/5/12

    Have you read the Statutory Product Characteristics?
    
    In the section "common side effects" ,"euphoric mood "is listed. Its exactly the same stuff as cannabis oil with a little alcohol and peppermint added but at a grossly inflated price. 10ml for £125 a bit more expensive than the local pot dealer.

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