Posts Tagged ‘dronabinol’  Medical Marijuana (Proposition 203)
July 15th, 2010  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, an
Initiative called the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act will be on
the Ballot this November.  We organized several teams
(behavioral health, substance abuse, public health, licensure,
rules, IT, and administrative council etc.) to examine the
Initiative over the last few weeks.  You can read a news article
this week that highlights some of my concerns about the
Initiative.  Here’s some background:  The active ingredient in
marijuana that’s cited for its medicinal value is called
Tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC).  A synthetic version of THC
called dronabinol is available by prescription (tradename
Marinol®).   Marinol (dronabinol) is approved by the FDA for the
treatment of anorexia in AIDS patients and for nausea and
vomiting in folks undergoing chemo. It’s a Schedule III
medicine, which means that doctors can prescribe it off label
(e.g. for things other than nausea, vomiting, and chemotherapy)
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