Best delivery system for medical marijuana?

[Wonk]

(LEXINGTON, Ky., August 20th, 2003, 11 a.m.) -- A University of Kentucky pharmacy researcher is working to create a prescription patch to deliver marijuana-like chemicals to ease nausea and stimulate appetite in people with AIDS and cancer.

The patch would be a breakthrough because it could administer beneficial marijuana chemicals without inhaling the illegal plant. Most states outlaw smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes.

(snip)

A THC-based rectal suppository is in development at the University of Mississippi. THC, delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol, is a main intoxicating chemical in marijuana. Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University are looking into THC's potential to reduce dependence for people on long-term morphine therapy. Other researchers are developing inhalers, vaporizers and lozenges that are placed under the tongue.

more...

Can't have cancer patients just growing their own now, can we? Where's the profit in that? That'd be un-American! We must ban all drugs, unless they're patented by multi-national pharmaceutical companies! </sarcasm>

on edit: added vaporizer

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. I went with bong

Gets you high the fastest, plus the water helps filter out all the yucky stuff.

Or a supository...whatever your bag is baby!

Yeaaahhhh

[Squeech]

6. I agree: the bong!

Prepare to be assimilated!

Note that the pill already exists: there's a synthetic THC in tablet form that they prescribe for the nausea that chemotherapy causes. Of course, if you're nauseous, you may not be able to tolerate swallowing anything, or you may not be able to keep it down long enough for the active ingredient to get into your system. Plus I don't see why we're so sure that the chemical we know how to synthesize is the one responsible for the effect we want. I tend to look mainly at pro-weed literature anyway, so the information I see is that patients don't like this pill, that it doesn't serve their needs.

[0rganism]

11. Just can't beat the snow-filled bong

Nothing quite compares, and you can go skiing with it!

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. snow filled?

I've never tried that, but I have put ice cubes in the water. When the water is cold, it's definately better. I'll have to remember that one.

Even though I haven't smoked in ages.

:smoke:

[MiltonLeBerle]

27. Back in school, we had a 3-foot Graphix that we'd fill with ice...

and due to the melting factor, we always kept a glass to pour off the excess water through the bowl stem-
One night, there were about 6 of us doing just that, and then my idiot roommate was really stoned, and mistakenly used the bongwater glass to make his drink which was of course mostly bongwater.

Worse than that:
Some people I knew at U of I(llinois) had wanted to make pot tea, but weren't too sure about how to do it(this was all pre-internet), so they just boiled up some bongwater, and actually drank some of it...as you might expect they all quickly got pretty sick.

[bicentennial_baby]

17. Snow bong!

or Ice bong works grrreat!

[Rocinante]

2. Suppository?

Damn.

[kixot]

3. Joints are just so damn friendly.

Makes it easy to share the love. Plus, you don't have to worry about some dazed dilbert spilling bong water on the carpet.

[FireHeart]

4. Unfortunately

If you have lung cancer and seek relief from the side effects of chemotherapy, smoking pot in any form obviously isn't acceptable.

I'm in favor of the lozenge, provide the beneficial effects aren't reduced.

[Qutzupalotl]

5. Vapor!

http://www.lightwell.net

[Qutzupalotl]

16. The inventor says it's "parsimonious"

because he couldn't bring himself to say "conservative". ;)

[MiltonLeBerle]

7. vaporizer

http://www.marijuanavaporizer.com/

[tridim]

8. What? No hash?

Hash in a water pipe is super safe. Er, uh, so I'm told.

[Brother Buzz]

9. Could an old sick hippie use a hookah?

[short bus president]

10. brownies for the smoke sensitive

4 foot bong for the rest of us.

[maveric]

12. Who voted for rectal suppository?? And Why??

I voted bong but I'm a bowl toker myself. I used to have a collection of chamber pipes when I was in my younger days. I beleive that they are all still on display at the Salem NH police station.

[short bus president]

15. yeah, I dunno about for smoke

but I understand Stevie Nicks liked to take her cocaine that way...

[Ein]

14. Vaporizer

Everyone needs medical marijuana, for the stress... man.

[sujan]

18. joint

[DS1]

19. Strawberry or Chocolate Phillies Blunts.

best shared.

[Best_man23]

20. Hookah

With some ice water to cool the smoke or red wine for taste.

[Best_man23]

21. Rice Krispies Treats

Mix the marajuana in with the butter as you prepare the mixture, then mix with the Rice Krispies. The treats will be green in color, but works to deliver medicinal pot to those who can't smoke it due to respiratory problems.

[Spirochete]

22. Inhaling smoke is not good...

and if you're taking it for nausea, brownies and pills are not a good idea. So that leaves about three options, and suppositories sound unpleasant as well. The patch sounds like the best option to me, though maybe the slowest to take effect. Maybe an aspirator or something like that.

[MiltonLeBerle]

25. Pot Smoke is different than cigarette smoke-

whereas the nicotine makes tobacco a vascular constrictor, Pot acts as a bronchial dilator, and is even used(smoked) by some asthmatics for that reason.

[baldguy]

23. Well, I got a guy I know named Mike . . .

[Booberdawg]

24. I'd say patch

The purpose sited is:
"to ease nausea and stimulate appetite in people with AIDS and cancer."

Come on - bongs and joints are for recreational use. Not all AIDS and cancer patients are pot heads.

[SyracuseDemocrat]

26. Vaporizer

the pot gets to you fast, and you don't get lung damage.