The Sativex Scam part 2

    The Sativex Scam part 1, “The Truth That Must Be Told

    The Opportunity

    It is certain that mankind has used cannabis consistently for around 5000 years.  In fact, it’s probably more.  That was the Bronze Age.  Before that was the Stone Age which lasted 2.5 million years.  Before that homo sapiens wasn’t even the predominant species.  I would guess it’s more like hundreds of thousands of years ago that ancient man first discovered the value of the cannabis plant.

    Cannabis is mentioned in Chinese writings on pharmacology said to date from 2737 BC.  Also in the ancient Indian Atharva Veda from the second millennium BC and on tablets from the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, an Assyrian king, who lived around 650 BC.

    An urn containing cannabis leaves and seeds, unearthed near Berlin, is believed to date from 500 BC.  Homer and Herodotus both referred to cannabis in their writings and the practice of inhaling its vapours.

    Clearly there is something extraordinary about this plant, about it’s medicinal and other properties.  Crucially, we wouldn’t have continued to use it for all this time if it wasn’t both safe and effective.

    Cannabis became politically incorrect (for there is no other reason for its prohibition) early in the 20th century.  It was fundamentally a racist attitude that first demonised cannabis.  Harry Anslinger, who was out of a job after alcohol prohibition ended in 1933, was quite straightforward about it, he said it made white women promiscuous with black men.  Then it was said to make you mad and violent.  Then the story swung in completely the opposite direction and it was supposed to make you apathetic and lazy. Attitudes have changed very little since.  When you hear people like Charles Walker, the Tory MP or the US Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, and the ridiculous things they say, you realise that it’s exactly the same nonsense and prejudice as before.  It’s just been updated and tweaked for a modern audience.

    So against this background, the huge, absolutely colossal business opportunity that cannabis offers is clear.  Something that is so intrinsically popular and valuable to mankind is suddenly banned and controlled as if it were a deadly poison or more precious than gold or diamonds.  Those controlling it have the business opportunity to end all others.  Now, they even have the ability to bring all the most modern weapons of warfare in co-ordinated, international action to protect and defend their interests.  Every police force across the world is engaged in protecting the cannabis business and, over time, consistent propaganda has built up a moral outrage and repugnance against what is actually a benign but extremely valuable plant.  The revenue potential is such that it means nothing to buy all the doctors and scientists that you might need to validate and promote your scheme.  These are the perfect conditions and environment to step in and seize one of the biggest and safest business opportunities ever.

    It was organised crime that first exploited the cannabis market.  Now though it is government sanctioned monopoly and international law that has brought forth the emergence of Sativex.

    Developed by GW Pharmaceuticals, with the co-operation of governments and drug enforcement agencies across the world, Sativex is  the first stage in a master plan to hijack the medicinal properties of the cannabis plant for private profit and to reap trillion dollar rewards under the patronage of senior politicians and the law enforcement and armed forces they control.  It is the ultimate scam.

    • Mark

      This is unbelievable. Shouldn’t the monopolies commission be involved? If any drug has been around for a while, essentially already well developed, then how can a pharma company claim to have found/developed it for themselves? Well, they are treated as such because, even though cannabis is generic (i.e. the ibuprofen of the nurofen world), not loads of pharma companies can produce it.

      Amphetamines, cocaine and morphine can be prescribed, why not cannabis?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Laxton/657882889 Ian Laxton

      If the prospect of a one sole company monopolising the cannabis market doesn’t bother you. It should, it really should. This plant belongs to everyone, not one company. If it was made legal everyone could make their own sativex (hashoil.) Evil government protected bastards.

    • Steam Punxs Motorcycles…

      Love it Peter … well done my friend … its great that ‘you see’ what tens of thousands of other folk ‘see’ in this the biggest scam in history .. well written and very articulate Blogg  ;0)x  Namaste…

    • Mart Kalvet

      What am I missing? Where is the actual content of this piece? This is on par with any of the more incoherent rants from an average US Tea Party conspiracy nut. Where’s your proof? 

    • http://www.hydroponica.co.uk Philip Walsh

      The current policy of the UK government is to privatise and monopolies medical cannabis. No competition is allowed to occur and no other companies have been ‘gifted’ £10million pounds of taxpayers money. If any one out there is still in doubt that the UK government is ‘hand in glove’ with GW pharma. they only need to check out GW’s address; Its Porten Down, the governments most protected area. Lets stop this privatisation monopolisation, by writing to your MP’s and stating clearly that you can see this deception / theft for what it is. I intend to write and make representation to the monopolies and mergers commission to ask that they investigate this piece of thievery.

    • Anonymous

      The proof is all around us.We are told that Cannabis is a toxic, dangerous, gateway drug that has increased in potency 50 times(according to Nadine ‘mad as a box of frog’s’ Dorries) and is in fact so dangerous, that it is safer for young people to take cocaine rather than to smoke just one joint!(thank you Charles ‘charlie for kid’s’ Walker).
      Our government also state’s that it has no medical benefits and is destroying the lives of young people which, if true, would mean an even stronger argument for regulation and not more ineffective prohibition.

      Enter GW Pharmaceutical’s and a big wedge of money and hey presto THEIR particular advanced and safe formula of Cannabis ‘medicine’ is a major breakthrough in chemical science for M.S sufferers and is so good that they must charge an absolute fortune for it, so that pct’s across the country will not pay for it and so a private prescription is needed in order for a sick person to obtain a few cans of what is essentially Cannabis oil in a spray can!
      To add further insult to injury, under the schengen agreement, a Dutch citizen can obtain a doctors prescription for herbal Cannabis for various ailments, enter the UK, wander around our fair (HA!) city’s and town’s and medicate whenever and where ever they wish to, without any fear of arrest or prosecution. 

      The deception is that most of Joe public still thinks that this ‘medicine’ is somehow different from what most of us stoner’s/medical users know as hash oil, or honey oil.
      The truth is that apart from peppermint oil and alcohol, there is absolutely nothing special about the content’s of Sativex that should warrant the outrageous claims and extortionate price for what is in effect good old fashioned hippy hash oil!  

      The fact is that most medical users find that herbal Cannabis work’s better if ingested in cakes or food and even better if smoked or vaporized.It still remains the most effective way to treat their particular ailment.Also a welcome side effect is a feeling of well being,something which in itself is invaluable to the individual as a healthy and relaxed mind is half the battle in any ailment. The dose can be titrated more effectively and is overall more effective than spraying alcohol infused Cannabis oil under the tongue.
      More importantly, the fact that it can be grown at home by their own hands and thus put’s them in control of the strain, dose and method of administration seems a better option than spending hundreds of pounds a month for a few bottles of something they can make themselves for far less.

      To put it in simple terms, a plant which has the power to heal or maintain a variety of ailment’s, makes people happy and relaxed and has been used by mankind for thousands of years without a single death, should not be held hostage by a multimillion pound pharmaceutical industry or state.
      It is our right as individuals to put into our bodies what we wish,whether for medical or recreational use.

      The evidence is right in front of our eye’s.It’s just a matter of spotting the wood through the tree’s.
      If I have made any errors I hope someone will correct me.

        

    • Mart Kalvet

      Thanks for the answer; the article really made none of that clear. Also, “Part 2.5″ has been somewhat illuminating.

    • http://www.peter-reynolds.co.uk Peter Reynolds

      Thank you dirty

    • http://www.peter-reynolds.co.uk Peter Reynolds

      Mart, if the article was unclear I apologise.  I am encouraged though if you now understand more of what I am trying to explain.  It would help me if you could say what needs to be put across differently??

    • Mart Kalvet

      Well, it seems that you’re trying to implicate GW Pharmaceuticals in something criminal. Unless you provide proof of a scam/conspiracy on the part of GW, I’m wont to assume that all that they’re doing is exploiting the current sociopolitical situation for their business benefit — nothing more or less sinister than, for example, the Medical Marijuana Delivery Systems LLC (that you’ve so kindly allowed to promote themselves and their TETRACAN Medical Marijuana Patch on your site) are doing. 

      I can see how exploutation of the crackbrained drug market situation created by governments could be considered immoral, and such actions may well deserve admonishment. To call it a scam and a conspiracy without providing evidence of scamming/conspiring is an exaggeration at best and a denigration of the legalisation movement, allowing authorities and the public to disregard all proponents of liberal drug laws as crackpots and conspiracy nuts, at worst. 

    • http://www.peter-reynolds.co.uk Peter Reynolds

      Do you have any interests to declare?

      As is crystal clear from the three parts of this story already published, there is much more to come.  However, even as I am very strongly opposed to conspiracy theories in general, the lies and misinformation of which I have already provided proof, cause me great concern about what is going on.  Yes, based on the evidence, I do believe that the Home Office and GW have probably crossed the line into criminality.

      As for you, well, methinks you doth protest too much.

    • Anonymous

      This is all about choice and truth.Both of which are denied to the people of the UK by it’s own government.If GW wish to promote their product then that’s fine, as long as the truth is not a casualty of that promotion.
      By stating that Sativex is a different medicine from the one that grows in a few people’s loft’s, they are in effect stating that there is no choice for the medical user other than to spend hundreds of pounds a year for something which can be grown and administered just as well,if not better in it’s natural form and can be grown by the patient for just a few pence rather than to screw even more money out of the patient.That is a blatant lie.They further insult us by stating that it does not get you high, when on their own info pamphlet it clearly states that this is a common occurrence. They however call it a side effect and believe that it covers them.
      It’s not a side effect, it’s an effect full stop.
      In Holland you can get herbal Cannabis on prescription if you so desire or pop into your local coffee shop and buy it there over the counter.You are given a choice.While here in the UK we are bombarded with lies about the effects and results of Cannabis use by self serving politicians who go out of their way to ignore not just reason but more importantly scientific,documented proof of the efficacy and safety of herbal Cannabis both as a recreational as well as a medical drug.GW Pharma MAY not be committing a crime, but at the very least they are perpetuating a great moral injustice by promoting their strain of Cannabis oil in this way and to suggest that it is the only non toxic, non psychologically damaging form of Cannabis which can be bought by the wealthy few sick patients who require it. What’s next?Hope available only on prescription?
      From my point of view as a recreational and medical user I find this completely abhorrent.I currently use absolutely no medication for any of my ailments as Cannabis tends to it all safely and effectively.If I were to stop using it completely I would be on at least 5 different kinds of prescription medications, which would be far more detrimental to my health than using just one-IE Cannabis.And I wouldn’t even enjoy the experience either!
      Us UK Cannabis users, whether recreational or medical, or like myself a little of both, demand the same rights(or better) which are afforded to our European counterparts and wish not to be treated like ignorant children and criminalised for a crime and a victim which does not exist and have fingers wagged at us by the very people who rolled and smoked a joint with those very fingers in the first place! 

    • Mart Kalvet

      I have no special interests; I’m just an advocate of drug control and regulation (ie, decriminalisation and legalisation), and also of granting patients fair access to any form of medical cannabis products they happen to prefer. 

      Thank you for lining out the argument so clearly in your reply; why on earth you could not have done that in the article is beyond me. 

      Far be it from me to try to disrupt or divide your cause; it’s just that as a somewhat weathered online debater I tend to demand the more proof the more outrageous the claims. I’m sure you have ample documentation to support your claims agains GW and Home Office. 

      My only problem with MMDS is the very clear implication by the representative that the “side effect” of getting a euphoric high from cannabis, and the presumably resultant “lifestyle choices” are “unacceptable”. So they’re using the same selling point that GW use: that their cannabis product will medicate without getting you “unacceptably” stoned, the only difference being that their patches probably won’t, while Sativex apparently will. 

      So, hey, no hard feelings, I hope; I’m looking forward to next instalment(s) of the Sativex scam story and will definitely keep frequenting the site. 

      More power to you! 

    • Mart Kalvet

      (Also, almost anything that claims to be “holistic”, especially in the field of medicine, spells “bunkum” in my book, but that’s a wholly other story.) 

    • http://www.peter-reynolds.co.uk Peter Reynolds

      Thanks for your replies Mart.  The remarkable importance of the  endocannabinoid systemn means that cannabis may well be as close to a panacea for ill health as it is possible to get.

    • Cshaws

      Dirtysquirty

      You mentioned “The truth is that apart from peppermint oil and alcohol……” – but missed the other ingredient – propylene glycol.  (para 6.1 in the GW SPC). God knows why its there, but one of the many uses of prop glycol is as an ingredient of smoke machines …. and a major ingredient of deodorant ….  :^). 

      I also noticed the following on the GW site :  ”By manipulating the genes at these four positions, our scientists can precisely control the cannabinoid composition of a plant”

      This, to me, suggests ‘genetic modification’ aka ‘GM’.  If so, this doesn’t bode well for the future of our ancient friend.
      For an unadulterated version I would go for the ‘good old hippy hash oil’ every time.

    • Mechant404

      Cshaws,

      Hortapharm- who bred the cannabis for GW- don’t use artificial genetic modification.

      Hortapharm grow organically and use biological pest and disease control.

      Hortapharm use the normal range of normal plant breeding techs such as selective breeding, back-crossing, feminisation…
      The gene modification for these cannabinoids is achieved the same way as breeding for THC: though it requires scientific equipment (Gas chromatography–mass spectrometer) to measure the cannabinoids present in the resin to determine if the breeding was successful.
      This allows Hortapharm to target the genes responsible and breed cannabis for specific cannabinoids.

    • Anonymous

      I didn’t miss it, just forgot how to spell it properly if I’m honest and rushed a bit but well pointed out.I just thought that my main point was that it is in effect basically the same thing as hippy hash oil or old school cannabis tincture.We have all used propylene glycol at some point or another,I used an electronic cigarette in the past to stop me smoking tobacco,propylene glycol was one of the ingredients in the liquid nicotine cartridges that are used to produce nicotine vapour.  I fully agree with you about  not having it in Sativex.

      The only real difference between Rick Simson’s ‘phoenix tears’ tincture and Sativex itself in my opinion is a 1:1 ratio (although I’ll admit to not knowing the ratio of phoenix tears),peppermint oil, propylene glycol and alcohol.Slap on some expensive packaging and add a PIL(patient information leaflet) and hey presto you can pass it off as lab produced medicine.

      If I were given a can of Sativex I would perform my own little experiment and try to get the crap out of it that GW put in!I had a theory that if I were to empty a spray can of the stuff out into a pyrex dish, let it stand for a day or two until the alcohol evaporated,then washed out the mint and glycol with water and left it to dry out properly, I think it could actually be vaporised or smoked.That’s just a thought that I had and DO NOT recommend that anyone who has Sativex do this or attempt to tamper with this drug in any way at all.Just so we are clear:I myself alone would want to give this a go and would not want anyone else to attempt this.In theory this may work.Anyone with a chemistry degree would be welcome to correct me if I’m incorrect.I wouldn’t worry about our ancient friend, it will be around long after we are all gone.

    • http://www.peter-reynolds.co.uk Peter Reynolds

      I can confirm that the contents of a Sativex bottle can be vaporised or smeared on a cigarette paper and smoked just like any cannabis oil.

    • Cshaws

      Thx.  I stand corrected.

    • Anonymous

      Fantastic Peter, when did you find this out?And is it any good or does the mint oil make it taste funny?Did you wash it first or just jump straight in and just wait for the alcohol to evaporate?The more people that realise that Sativex can be smoked then the less they will believe this cock and bull story about it being so special that it doesn’t even get you high!Dare you to spread it on your toast like marmite…!

    • http://www.facebook.com/cureuk Cure Ukay

      I do not recommend anyone smoking Sativex as it contains Ethanol.

    • http://www.peter-reynolds.co.uk Peter Reynolds

      Which evaporates when the bottle is opened very quickly and any residue is instantaneously burned off.  Also, people vastly overestimate the amount of alcohol in Sativex.  It is miniscule.

    • Anonymous

      Sativex is basically the same thing as oil if you’ve ever come across that, so yes of course you can smear it on a rizla and smoke it in a joint if you really wanted to, although I wouldn’t advise doing that either. As Peter says, the alcohol is only there to thin the oil out so that it can be sprayed, it would quickly evaporate.

      Incidentally there’s nothing to stop  cannabis being sold as a blend, in the same way as tobacco is. Sativex is just that; a blend of cannabis.

    • Anonymous

      So technically then there may be nothing stopping a person who gets Sativex legally on prescription, from evaporating the alcohol off, filtering out the mint and glycol,drying it out thoroughly and sticking a little blob of this into a vaporiser and medicating anywhere they wanted.Even if it were right outside the houses of parliament if they so needed to!
      No smoking law would be broken, as no smoking went on.No drug law would be broken, as the substance involved is not Cannabis at all as the public knows it, just user modified Sativex, a legal prescription drug which both the manufacturer and government assure the public is completely different from the evil skunk Cannabis and cannot get you high.
      Very interesting…..

    • Draeger