One synthetic cannabinoid traced to the Brooklyn outbreak was patented by Pfizer several years ago


Synthetic marijuana sent 120 people to the emergency room in New York City in one week in 2015.


An illegal drug that was originally developed by Pfizer Inc. is behind a spate of overdoses in Brooklyn that sent more than two dozen people to the hospital and turned a city block into “zombieland” this past July.
AB-FUBINACA, which was first patented by the pharmaceutical company (PFE) in early 2009, was found in a synthetic cannabinoid involved in the July 12 incident, according to a New England Journal of Medicine article published this week.
Pfizer confirmed to MarketWatch that the company never moved forward with AB-FUBINACA. But the public patent appears to have fueled its development in foreign labs,  the New York Times reports.
“Years ago we investigated a class of compounds for potential therapeutic value in treating cancer pain and inflammatory pain. Our work in this area was confined to the lab, never tested in patients, and eventually discontinued,” a Pfizer spokesperson told MarketWatch.
The drug is one of a fast-growing class of drugs called synthetic cannabinoids — also called spice, K2 and black mamba — which have become incredibly popular as marijuana alternatives. Also called synthetic marijuana, the drugs were originally developed by U.S. academics and pharmaceutical scientists, then abused as drugs around 2008, according to the NEJM article.

Users like synthetic marijuana because it’s inexpensive and undetectable on drug tests. But the unregulated drugs, which are classified as “Schedule I” controlled substances, can be incredibly dangerous. Their most severe effects include psychosis, delirium, seizures and death, according to the NEJM article.
Related:What an Attorney-General Sessions would mean for marijuana
Synthetic marijuana, which is developed in Asian laboratories and distributed globally, is particularly dangerous because the way the powdered drug is mixed with herbal products can, if done wrong, have “possibly devastating effects,” according to the New York Times report, with the Brooklyn incident serving as one such example.
There’s no known medical use of AB-FUBINACA and other synthetic cannabinoids, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-bizarre-connection-between-pfizer-and-the-synthetic-drug-turning-people-into-zombies-2016-12-15

So wait... weed is bad but synthetic weed is worth looking into because it has therapuetic value?

It sounds to me like they just comfirmed the whole corporations don't want you to be able to take care of yourself and rig the system so you have to depend on them conspiracy theory.

Pure genius.  Developing a toxic compound to replace relatively benign natural product.

If only you could patent weed.

They're trying to develop a compound with any/all of the probable therapeutic properties of marijuana, but which won't get you high.

And more importantly they can make a shitload of monry because they are the only legal source

Because eating people's faces is better than someone getting high.

Umm.....

Get both?

Lol. IIRC, the government tried to develop a marijuana plant that produced superior hemp while not producing a high as well. As with many government programs, they only succeeded in growing a super-potent strain of weed.  I believe the experiments involved using colchicine to polyploid the DNA of the plant, which produced a superior plant, but was extremely toxic to smoke.

If I'm fucked up enough to need meds maybe getting high is a good thing.  

Hopefully they don't try to make therapeutic Jim Bean that doesn't get you drunk.

Druggies having problems with bad drugs? I could care less.

Monsanto already has. It is the strain grown at UMiss for the federal government. The only federally legal weed in the country, IIRC. Distributed monthly to the 5 or 6 surviving patients of a defunct federal research project that never asked the participants for any feedback or information.

I bet you didn't have a problem with .gov poisoning booze back in the day.

This.

Wait... What?

For the most part I agree with you.  The only point of contention is the evidence of brain abnormalities and malformation in people under 24-25 years old.  That said, I do think there is a lot of potential research that could be done if the FDA would actually allow it.

NCBI link

They actually ARE working on an alcohol substitute, it gives you the same "buzz" but doesn't impare you or damage your liver.  Last I heard it was on human trials in Britain.

Yup. I believe they were the originator for the strain grown at the University for the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program. Uncle Sam now owns a patent or two on cannabis and Monsanto owns the patent on the first genetically altered cannabis.

I meant the second part about the defunct .gov program.

Well, the survivors are still getting their monthly supply, but the program never really did much else. It started with a bunch of goals, but it never really investigated any of them.

lol

Don't do drugs kids. 

You never investigate things that conflict with the narrative.  There was a huge detailed study of fat in the diet done years ago on mental patients.  The results were not released for like 15-20 years because the people doing the research didn't like the outcome.

They WERE trying. Couldn't make it work and so they stopped. Other people kept fucking with it and THAT is how 120 people ended up in the hospital. Some self-righteous "journalist" is now trying to blame Pfizer with this sensationalist hit piece.

Probably.  We only get the 10 mpg carb and Reefer Madness level marijuana research propaganda.

Sounds like it could end up being a self correcting problem sooner or later. 

Monopoly