There is a "significant increase" in prescriptions of the THC capsule Marinol in the states that recently passed pro-marijuana initiatives, according to associate product manager of Roxane Laboratories, Inc, David Querry.The roster now includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. As a result of the new laws, more patients ask for marijuana, but doctors have responded by prescribing Marinol first.

Marinol is a registered trade mark of Unimed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and is marketed by Roxane Laboratories, Inc. It was introduced to the market in 1985 and approved by the FDA for the treatment of nausea caused by anti-cancer drugs and later against loss of appetite and cachexia in AIDS patients.

Standard practice dictates that doctors prescribe all conventional medications before offering an experimental drug as a treatment of last resort. But Roxane presents Marinol as a solution, not an option, for physicians who are "torn" when patients ask for marijuana. "What do they do?" asks Querry. "Honour the patients' wishes and recommend a medication that doesn't have identified medical studies to prove its safety and efficacy - or fall back on an FDA-approved product with fourteen years of history on the market?"

Only time will tell whether Marinol can capture the medical- marijuana market. But Roxane isn't taking any chances. Since 1996, when Californians first endorsed medical marijuana, the company has been waging a high-powered PR campaign. According to Querry, the company retained Hill & Knowlton "to educate the physicians and the public and the legislatures" about Marinol, because the drug is often mischaracterized by advocates of medical marijuana.

(Source: The Nation of 20 September 1999)