Of course, it will not help every patient with one of these disorders, but it is safe enough to be worth trying even if only a few benefit. When the commission makes its comparisons, the General may also learn that legal marihuana would be less expensive than most conventional medicines. One marihuana cigarette usually relieves the nausea and vomiting of cancer chemotherapy. Patients and doctors agree that marihuana is usually more effective, even apart from problems created by nausea. THC is absorbed slowly and unreliably by mouth, and users often find out hours later that they have taken too much or too little.
Smokers can judge the correct dose more easily because they receive immediate feedback.
Besides, Marinol makes some patients uncomfortable, possibly because it contains only one of the many related cannabinoids in marihuana. Some of these substances may modify the effects of THC, which occasionally causes anxiety, mainly in new users. The question is who is going to pay for those studies. The cost of new drugs is ordinarily borne by pharmaceutical companies, which invest millions because they hope to win a 20-year patent that will make them millions more. Marihuana, of course, cannot be patented, since it is a plant that grows freely all over the world and has been used as a medicine for thousands of years.