The Straight Toke - THE Marijuana Blog

does sinthetic (sic) pot really work?

There are a lot of misconceptions about "synthetic marijuana", namely that it exists! When people refer to synthetic marijuana, they're almost always referring to synthetic THC, an "alternative" to medical marijuana that's gained quite a bit of popularity amongst the medical community. Synthetic THC is THC -- it's just that instead of being created as part of the natural growth cycle of marijuana, it's man-made. Since the active ingredient is the same, synthetic THC is often given in situations where a doctor might otherwise prescribe medical cannabis. The most common form of synthetic THC is Dronabinol (sold under the brand name of Marinol,) and is a Schedule III drug.

But does it really work? Yes, it does, in as much as synthetic THC is just as active as the natural THC found in marijuana. Since the chemical itself is exactly the same, there is no difference in its operation. There is, however, a difference between treatment with synthetic THC and medical marijuana. A big difference. Marijuana buds contain a variety of compounds other than THC, as many as several hundred active components are thought to exist in the average cannabis bud. Marinol (and similar medications) only contain synthetic THC -- none of the other compounds are included. As such, they can only provide a small subset of the medical benefits that cannabis can. Furthermore, since many of the naturally-occurring chemicals act to "dampen" the effects of THC, the psychoactive effects of Marinol can be much more intense and disorienting than natural marijuana. As if that's not enough to sway one from using synthetic THC, there's the issue of cost -- synthetic THC can cost more (and come with more hassle) than natural weed.

So it costs more, it can have worse psychoactive effects, and it only mimics a small part of marijuana's chemical makeup. It's still a mystery why we turn to the laboratory when we have such a good natural source of THC... As far as I'm concerned, the choice is obvious: if possible, choose natural cannabis over synthetic THC. You'll spend less, have a better time, and might even discover that you prefer nature's solution.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 8th, 2007 at 11:04 pm and is filed under Health/Medicine, Q/A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.