This is a day that would have made Dennis Peron, a historically heroic activist for medical marijuana, jump for joy.
A prescription form of medical cannabis is available in a pill, and licensed doctors in California can prescribe it to patients. It is the first standardized, prescription medical cannabis. C3 International, a biopharmaceutical firm in the emerging cannabinoid therapeutics sector of healthcare, introduced this holistic alternative to opiates and narcotics earlier this month.
The pill, Idrasil, can be prescribed in three dosage levels, and it is for pain management, offering all the medicinal, analgesic, and therapeutic benefits of cannabis without euphoria (feeling high) while taking the medicine. It is a viable alternative to opiates and narcotics, as physicians and caregivers can provide patients with a safe, non-addictive, prescription drug in measurable dosages.
Idrasil is a medical phenomenon because it treats a wide range of ailments and pain stemming from AIDS, anorexia, arthritis, autism, anxiety/depression, cancer, chronic pain, glaucoma, migraines, persistent muscle spasms; Parkinson’s disease, seizures, severe nausea, and Tourette’s syndrome. It also treats any other chronic or persistent medical symptom that substantially limits major life activities as per the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
The prescription medicine also provides relief for patients struggling with clinical endocannabinoid deficiencies (CECD), which is a serious disorder that is a proven link to various disorders, such as migraines, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and other treatment-resistant afflictions.
Ingesting the pills is not the same as smoking marijuana. Ensuring consistency in THC is an issue with smoking cannabis that is eliminated by a regulated prescription drug with ascribed standards.
“Smoking and edible confections can vary greatly from plant to plant and batch to batch, which results in inconsistency [that] can lead to irregular analgesic or therapeutic results,” said Steele Clarke Smith III, chairman and CEO of C3 International, in a recent announcement. “With Idrasil, we have introduced quality of life in a tablet that provides consistent results [from] dose to dose. Cannabis has been used as medicine since the earliest recorded time. Our mission is to provide safe access to Idrasil, which is a patent-pending advancement in standardized natural cannabis in a pill.”
The pill is a non-addictive replacement for commonly prescribed opiates, such as OxyContin, Fentanyl, morphine, and codeine. It could supplant other commonly prescribed drugs such as Adderal, Humira, Phenobarbitol, Prozac, Valium, Vicodin, Xanax, and Zoloft, to name a few. Cannabinoids eliminate the potential adverse effects of opiate-based prescriptions, which include addiction, withdrawals, depression, lack of appetite, incoherence, and constipation.
A proprietary blend of concentrated cannabis extract, which is 100% natural and organic, isolates all the cannabinoids from cloned cannabis plants, resulting in a pure, natural extraction. For label readers and chemistry enthusiasts, the additional ingredients in Idrasil are calcium carbonate, magnesium stearate, dicalcium phosphate, microcrystalline cellulose, and silicon dioxide. According to a company spokesperson of C3, these are gluten-free, common tabulation additives found in foods and pharmaceuticals.
Idrasil is currently available only in California, but with laws changing among the states and, ultimately, nationwide or, at least, a reclassification of cannabis to a Schedule 2 narcotic, availability is expected to broaden substantially over time. Cannabis, unbelievably, is currently a Schedule 1 narcotic in the same category as cocaine and heroin.
Any California licensed physician can prescribe or recommend Idrasil for medical use. It is available only to California residents, according to multiple medical cannabis laws passed by the state. Additionally, C3 offers free medical insurance billing to most major insurance providers and employer-provided policies such as PacifiCare, Aetna, Cigna, Universal Care, and United Health Care, for both PPOs and HMOs and the State Compensation Insurance Fund. Idrasil is currently not covered by Kaiser, Medi-Cal, or Medicare.
It is only the beginning of what could be the disruption about to be felt around the pharmaceutical industry. Tsunami, anyone?