Two-Timing Pharma Company Opposes Legalization, Working on Synthetic THC

Put Arizona pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics into its own basket of deplorable. The company is donating big to oppose cannabis legalization, a move it claims will protect children — while working behind the scenes on a cannabis-derived drug of its own.

The company is claiming to have kids’ interests in mind, but is clearly more concerned with ways to “protect its own bottom line,” the Arizona Republic noted.

Federal SEC filings first noticed by The Intercept revealed why the company put $500,000 behind Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, the effort working to defeat legalization initiative Prop 205.

In the filings, the company outlines its plans to develop a pharmaceutical product that uses dronabinol, one of several synthetic versions of THC, like Marinol.

Cannabis patients generally prefer whole plant marijuana rather than synthetic THC, which lacks other cannabinoids as well as terpenes. These compounds are necessary to work in concert with THC in order for cannabis to be therapeutic, the so-called “entourage effect” identified on CNN by Sanjay Gupta.

According to Insys, the “legalization of marijuana or non-synthetic cannabinoids in the United States could significantly limit the commercial success of any dronabinol product candidate.”

If Arizona and other states like California, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Maine with legalization initiatives on the ballot were to legalize cannabis, Insys’s “ability to generate revenue… would be materially adversely affected.”

That’s right — the drug war needs to continue for this pharmaceutical company to stand a chance of making money. It says so itself.

At the same time, let’s look at what Insys currently manufactures and markets. It’s an opioid spray that uses a synthetic opiate called fentanyl — that’d be the same fentanyl that’s many times more powerful than heroin, traces of which were found in Prince’s system when the singer was found dead following an opiate overdoes.

Killing Prince, fueling prison, furthering prohibition — all in the pursuit of profits. That’s big pharma — and big pharma even admits it.

What do you think? Is marijuana legalization at odds with the pharmaceutical industry?