tfs

Large conglomerates and multinational corporations seem to be intent on sucking the fun out of just about everything. It seems that they’ve now set their sights on doing this to weed. English Pharma Behemoth, GW Pharmaceuticals, is now seeking approval of Sativex, a marijuana-based nasal spray.

GW Pharma has assured investors that they have meticulously extracted only the finest, most potent cannabanoids from “proprietary” strains of gourmet marijuana grown in the richest most fertile soil, lovingly drawn from the moist nether regions of mother Earth. The company is very quick to congratulate itself on creating a drug that provides all of the benefits of weed with few of the undesirable ’side effects.’ In other words, GW claims to have developed a medicinal form of weed that doesn’t get you high.

As with the pharmaceutical industry at large, this medicine wasn’t developed with any societal good in mind. This is merely an attempt to seize as much market share as possible from a medical marijuana gold rush that appears to be in full frenzy. As we have learned from an industry that spends two-thirds of its research budget on copycat drugs, Big Pharma isn’t out to help anyone other than its own investors.

Unfortunately for GW, a cold corporate mindset can’t accurately wrap itself around weed culture.  No self-respecting weed connoisseur will spend 10 to 20 times the price of natural herb for a product that is peddled as ‘refined.’ There is already a whole spectrum of refined greenery.

For instance, anyone with a passing familiarity with weed already knows that vaporization allows the ingestion of THC without inhaling particulate matter and allows for a much more mellow high. Sounds a lot more pleasant than shoving a dispenser up one’s nose.