An alternative medicine joke goes like this, “What do you call alternative medicine that works? … Medicine.” Lots of truth to that joke! All new medicines began as a rebellion against current thinking. Over time better medicine replaced older “proven” treatments. Cannabis is in a very strange position. It used to be a part of medical science, taught in medical schools, and prescribed by doctors. But for the last century, it was declared illegal for political reasons and is now beginning to be brought back into medial use. This has never happened before, so this “new” medicine that has been used for thousands of years is being required to go through the same approval process as completely new, and generally highly toxic, chemicals in order to have FDA approval. Does that make any sense?
New Drugs: New drugs that enter the market today are usually more expensive and more toxic than their predecessor. So it makes sense that the FDA has a very complicated, lengthy, and expensive process for anyone who wants to sell a new drug.
But cannabis-based drugs are a different. They could revolutionize pain management and other areas of medicine. And, unlike a new and unknown drug, we know that cannabis is an exceptionally safe medicine. Yet cannabis is held to these same standards, to the same complex and expensive FDA testing standards, as highly toxic and completely unknown chemicals. Does that make sense? Let’s dive right in and see!
History: Human beings have thousands of years of history with cannabis, both legal and illegal. We have decades of academic research, conducted in hospitals and universities. And in all of that research and history, there is not a single recorded case of anyone dying from a cannabis overdose.
Compare this to widely used pain killers. The Opioid crisis kills more than 50,000 American’s every year and is thought to have addicted between 1 and 2 million other individuals. Even over-the-counter prescriptions, which are supposed to be much safer than regulated prescriptions, are remarkably deadly. 4,000 Americans die every year from Tylenol overdoses and interactions. Aspirin kills around 400. Newer over-the-counter drugs like Motrin (Ibuprophen) and Aliev (Naproxen Sodium) are much safer. They only kill around 200 every year. But cannabis never killed anyone.
Cannabis can not only help with pain, when all other drugs fail, but it can also be very effective in reducing addiction to pain killers and in relieving anxiety and depression. Anti-depressive drugs such as Benzodiazepines, such as Valium and Xanax are responsible for or contribute to nearly 7,000 deaths every year.
Aging America: As America ages, issues of anxiety and depression are on the rise. Which means that deaths will also rise. In Europe, the number of Prozac prescriptions has doubled in the last decade, and right behind that tidal wave of prescriptions, we will see an equal rise in deaths.
Some researchers have theorized that the epidemic of depression, anxiety, and pain we are seeing today may be due to a simple lack of cannabinoids in those individuals. This could be partially due to age, partially due to stress, partially due to other factors. Since our bodies naturally produce cannabinoids, such as anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglyerol, which are nearly identical to THC and CBD. Rather than using highly toxic chemicals that might indirectly solve these problems, it would be simpler, cheaper, and possibly more effective to prescribe natural cannabinoid supplements.
FDA Testing: New cannabis treatments are required to go through the FDA testing process, which at a minimum costs tens of millions of dollars and takes years to complete. Many drugs cost even more, sometimes into the billions of dollars, and decades of waiting for approvals. For all the reasons above, cannabis should have a simpler path to FDA approval. Instead, cannabis researchers have to go through additional hurdles due to the peculiar status of cannabis. While states have allowed its use, the federal government continues to classify it as a Schedule 1 drug, making access to materials very difficult.
This classification makes no sense. When the Federal Government banned cannabis in the 1930’s, the AMA protested. Cannabis was an accepted and respected medicine, and medical textbooks recommended its use. Ever since then, the AMA has held that the Schedule 1 classification was a matter of politics, not medicine or science. The AMA also argued that there was no practical replacement for cannabis. One hundred years later that may still be true!
Patents & Prices: In the next few years, patents on many of our top miracle drugs will expire. These drugs have not become less effective, but without patents, they will become less profitable. They will compete with generics and bio-similars. In order to remain profitable, big pharma MUST release more drugs. These new drugs will probably not be more effective but must be more profitable, and they will likely be toxic with more adverse effects that the previous generation of drugs. At least that seems to be their direction.
The alternative is to allow cannabis to flourish. Make it easier for researchers to do their research. Simplify the approval process for such a non-toxic product. And maybe, just maybe, let go of the Federal prohibition on cannabis. That wouldn’t be very difficult. With more states making cannabis legal, that’s the direction we’re moving in. Why not move a little faster? It’s not just a matter of releasing new drugs, it truly is about saving the lives of thousands of people every year.
What do you think: Could you benefit from cannabis-based medicines? Should it be easier for cannabis medicines to be approved? Tell us what you think!