(Excerpt from the DEA’s marinol page )
Marinol SUCKS
I got an email from somebody who saw our website and wanted to know if we tried Marinol. I answered that we had, but it didn’t work for Alex due primarily to his inability to swallow a pill. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I hate Marinol. Guess it’s time to vent again.
The government would have us all believe that medical marijuana is dangerous for a wide variety of reasons, and as proof that there’s no need for cannabis, they provide Marinol. It’s a wonderful little pill that contains synthetic THC! You don’t need a plant or anything complicated like that, you just get THC straight out of a bottle. What a marvel to behold!
What they state sounds very compelling, and a lot of people buy it, but I have a few words to say about the DEA and their continued campaign of lies.
Marinol is safer than cannabis because it isn’t smoked.
The DEA won’t shut up about this, and I for one am sick to death of hearing it. Smoking pot isn’t the only way to get the effects, and in fact my son is proof – he eats the raw hash. How is ingesting a synthetic pill safer than ingesting hash? Really, I want to know. But the DEA never tells us why Marinol is any better than cannabis butter, vaporizers, or hash oil. Why not? Because they know they’re on damn shaky ground as it is, given that smoked marijuana isn’t even proving to be terribly dangerous.
Then there is the simple fact that many medications are better when taken in a non-pill form. Asthma inhalers target the lungs and so are able to act more quickly. Alex has used a nebulizer for albuterol more than once in his life due to various lung problems. Inhaling a medication has indeed proven useful even when it’s hard to measure out a dose. The doctors, when we said Alex won’t directly inhale the albuterol, said to simply run the nebulizer and aim the “smoke” at his face for something like five minutes. He would likely get enough to help with his cough. It’s interesting that more than one doctor has given such instructions for medicating a child, but the DEA claims smoking is too hard to measure a “safe” and regulated dose.
And if we insist on talking about safety, let’s keep in mind that the therapeutic index of marijuana is 1000:1 in conservative estimates, and I’ve seen it stated to be as high as 20,000:1. This means that the dose that’s effective for Alex, around 100 milligrams of hash, would have to be multiplied by at least 1000 to kill him. That is 100 grams of hash, eaten with a sufficient quantity of fatty food to absorb the THC effectively. For those who hate the metric system, 100 grams is just under a quarter pound. A quarter pound of hash is (a) far more than we have ever possessed, and (b) a whole lot to try and eat all at once. If the ratio is indeed as high as 20,000:1, Alex would have to eat about four and a half pounds (2 kilos) of raw hash. Yeah, that is dangerous for sure.
Marinol comes from a pharmacy
…so therefore it’s in measured doses that are safe and well-tested and other such horseshit. You know what’s interesting about a pharmacy, DEA? They can extract stuff, too. In fact, as you guys state, “scientists have extracted active ingredients from opium, which are sold as pharmaceutical products like morphine, codeine, hydrocodone or oxycodone.” I bet they could extract the plant matter in full rather than just having to manufacture fake THC! And let’s not even get started on the ridiculous price of Marinol – according to every source I’ve found, Marinol is more expensive than the street price of marijuana. So let’s just try to figure that one out – instead of harvesting a drug that has proven to be safe and effective, and sell it for cheap, we’ll manufacturer a synthetic and sell it for so much money, people who can’t afford the real thing still won’t be able to get Marinol. Gosh, I wonder if that’s a clever insurance scam so the pharmaceutical companies can make gobs of money….
For everybody paranoid about how corporations will destroy cannabis if it becomes legal, you’re too late – they already have. They are raping EVERYBODY right now. People who can’t get a hold of real cannabis get Marinol. The health insurance pays most of those costs, and pass those insane rates on to everybody in the country.
Marinol is legal
I have actually heard this as a reason to use Marinol over cannabis, and it’s ridiculous. Legal because of unethical practices isn’t the same as “good”. Marinol is a product built to try and stop the ever-increasing awareness of how wonderful cannabis is. It was created to destroy the plant, and while I’ll give it to Alex as a last resort (or rather, I would if it weren’t so “dangerous”), I’ll never agree that it’s a good product.
The funny thing is that a large number of medical marijuana users would probably shut the hell up about legalization if cannabis were schedule III instead of I. If I could get Alex a regulated dose of hash, do you think I’d bother with this website?
Man, you keep on with your patchouli sunflower moonbeam postings! I love that you are turning into such a hippy and only want herbs for you kid. Good job!
No, really, good article.
Nerd hippie, in fact. Scary combination!
The D.E.A are a very big problem. I know that the elder are starting to use cannabis cause they cant use the drug alcohol with there medication. And then there the ones that enjoy it cause the drug alcohol make them to sick, One lady told me she can get more relief at a lot lower price and the drugs her Doctor proscribe to her have alot of side effect where cannabis does not. And she does not have to worry about getting ill do to the drugs her Doctor proscribe for her.When cannabis become legal then the D.E.A are going to be losing a lot of money and credibly. As for as that pill marinol That is really not a safe drug to give to children. The D.E.A will lie to you cause they know most folks are to scare and stupid to learn the truth about cannabis
I have lots of health problems, one is I have COPD Lung Problems. I also use albuterol for 9 years now. Cannabis That is what I use. It really helps me; in fact it helps the lungs, I did my homework on that. My best to you and your child!
Keep on fighting. They will cave in soon enough, by there own accord or by the people who will finally get fed up with their b.s. and remove them by force if need be. Or the next election Ron Paul will win and start to dismantle the broken part of our government (anything fed) and things will fall into place. I pray for your fight to be short and a cure be found.
Having used the pill, the synthetic (inscence), and the real deal I have to agree. Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it better. For example if you’re pulled over it doesn’t matter if it’s a pill or smoked they’ll still throw a DUI at you. So it’s not even entirely legal. Also it’s not as effective as real as a pain reliever. However with insurance it’s only $10 for a month supply so I can’t really complain too much. Honestly though I’d rather just be able to grow some myself then trust the same mega corporation that keeps powerful and addictive opiates on the market. Who knows what else they’re sneaking into my “medication”?
My son is about 4 years of age. He has autism. I had questions weather of not this helped alex with eating anything new or helped him sleep of anything …. I’m getting desprate for my son to sleep and eat anything now … his pickiness has grown to an alarming rate . it terrifying me and my husband.
You should look at the Joey’s story – it’s old news, but his mother was terrified he was going to die due to not eating. She gave him cookies with cannabis and that has made a huge difference.
Come on, let’s tell the truth. I was just shopping around for the last few days to fill my marinol prescription. The lowest price for a 5mg dose I found was $13.00. The doc prescribed me 2, 5mg doses a day. That is $182 dollars a week for a crappy drug that does not cure a darn thing but works on your nausea and your appetite. For $182 dollars that would buy a month’s supply of pot that helps with sleep, stress, AIDS (HIV) & AIDS Wasting, Alzheimer’s Disease, Arthritis , Asthma / Breathing Disorders, Crohn’s / Gastrointestinal Disorders, Epilepsy / Seizures, Glaucoma, Hepatitis C, Migraines, Multiple Sclerosis / Muscle Spasms, Nausea / Chemotherapy, Pain / Analgesia, Psychological Conditions, Tourette’s Syndrome and the Terminally Ill. Write your senators and tell them you will vote them out of office if they don’t legalize this truly great drug. For you see I should be dead by now that’s what the lady at the Missouri Kidney Foundation told me just a few days ago. I am in renal failure and I have refused dialysis. ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) they call it silent death because you get very nauseas and can’t eat. Then you get malnutrition and your plasma albumin falls real low and will no longer support life, then one day you fall asleep and never wake up. Somehow I have managed to maintain my appetite for 41 weeks and it is not from taking marinol. The marinol is only for times the all-natural stuff is unavailable. I have to ask who wants synthetic junk over natural? AGAIN Write your senators and tell them you will vote them out of office if they don’t legalize this truly great drug.
Marinol works fine. My opinion of the posts on this section is they are more geared toward legalizing marijauna than taking Marinol as a drug itself. It is not a similar high to maijuana. Having been a former d
rug user I can say the hugh is nice and cerebral, its calming and I love f