Big Pharma a Threat to Cannabis Industry

Big Pharma’s anti-marijuana stance aims to squash the competition, activists say

Pharmaceutical company Insys spent $500,000 to block legalization in Arizona. Five months later it won approval for a cannabis-derived medical drug

As marijuana legalization swept the US in November, Arizona was alone in its rejection of legal weed. There, a pharmaceutical company called Insys was a major backer of the successful campaign to stop the state’s recreational cannabis measure, publicly arguing that pot businesses would be bad for public health and endanger children.

But to marijuana activists, the motive of Insys was clear – to squash the competition.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/03/big-pharma-marijuana-competition-insys-arizona
Medical marijuana could cost big pharma $4 billion a year

Once medical marijuana becomes a legitimate part of the healthcare industry, that is

Once the federal government finally allows medical marijuana to become a legitimate part of the healthcare industry, Big Pharma could suffer the loss of billions of dollars, a new report finds.

It seems the pharmaceutical trade has more than enough reasons to fear the legalization of marijuana, as an analysis conducted by the folks at New Frontier Data predicts the legal use of cannabis products for ailments ranging from chronic pain to seizures could cost marketers of modern medicine somewhere around $4 billion per year.

https://www.salon.com/2017/05/27/medical-marijuana-could-cost-big-pharma-4-billion-a-year_partner/
Is Big Pharma Out to Stop—Or Take Over—Marijuana Legalization?

Pharmaceutical companies might not have to actively oppose cannabis legalization to cause problems for the marijuana movement.

Geoffrey Guy stood out when he began attending conferences of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in Washington, DC, in the mid to late 1990s. The stout British gentleman, dressed in a Brooks Brothers suit, was hard to miss among the other attendees dressed in tie-dye shirts and psychedelic parkas, recalled Allen St. Pierre, then NORML’s deputy national director.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ezp5qm/big-pharma-marijuana-legalization
A pharma company that spent $500,000 trying to keep pot illegal just got DEA approval for synthetic marijuana

Insys Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company that was one of the chief financial backers of the opposition to marijuana legalization in Arizona last year, received preliminary approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration this week for Syndros, a synthetic marijuana drug.

Insys gave $500,000 last summer to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, the group opposing marijuana legalization in Arizona. The donation amounted to roughly 10 percent of all money raised by the group in an ultimately successful campaign against legalization. Insys was the only pharmaceutical company known to be giving money to oppose legalization last year, according to a Washington Post analysis of campaign finance records.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/24/a-pharma-company-that-spent-500000-trying-to-keep-pot-illegal-just-got-dea-approval-for-synthetic-marijuana/?utm_term=.2dccb0c3310d
Big Pharma Is Donating To Anti-Legalization To Gain A Head Start In The Weed Business

For decades big pharma has been an opponent of the legalization movement. Whenever initiatives to legalize a recreational market have popped up, pharma companies have been the first on the scene to dole out the cash and defeat them. All along its led the cannabis community to raise a suspicious eye toward pharma companies. But as legalization gains popularity across the country big pharma is looking less like an enemy and more like the competition.

Last ballot season began just like any other, with states looking to legalize and pharma companies lining up in opposition.

https://herb.co/marijuana/news/big-pharma-weed
Opioid Companies Lobby Against Medical Marijuana

Our next several blogs will catalogue the various ways drug companies have ruthlessly promoted our nation’s deadly opioid epidemic. This first installment on just the latest outrage- political lobbying to block the legalization of medical marijuana. Future blogs will each tell other aspects of this sordid story.

The exponential growth of addiction to prescription opioids offers a classic example of selfish corporate greed swamping any vestige of corporate conscience. The Pharma drug pushers are attempting to protect their blood money profits by blocking fair competition from much safer and much cheaper medical marijuana. As usual, Pharma displays great loyalty to its executives, its shareholders, and its subservient politicians, while displaying a shameful disregard for the lives of its customers and the welfare of our society.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/allen-frances/opioid-companies-lobby-ag_b_11287182.html

Likes: 0

Viewed:

source