How to grow medicinal cannabis

Potter DJ. A review of the cultivation and processing of cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) for production of prescription medicines in the UK. Drug Test Anal. 2013. doi: 10.1002/dta.1531. [Epub ahead of print]

The quality demands of the pharmaceutical industry require prescription medicines to be consistent in their active ingredient content. Achieving this, using raw cannabis as a feedstock, is especially challenging. The plant material is extremely inhomogeneous, and the ratios of active ingredients are affected by a range of factors. These include the genetics of the plant, the growing and storage conditions, the state of maturity at harvest, and the methods used to process and formulate the material. The reasons for this variability are described, with particular emphasis on the botanical considerations. To produce the complex botanical medicine Sativex®, which contains the cannabinoids Δ9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) and a range of other ingredients, the company had to manage these variables. This medicine, for the treatment of spasticity due to multiple sclerosis, is the first cannabis-based medicine to be approved in the UK. 

I have visited the secret location of the production of Sativex....loads of pot plants & very smelly....due to chemicals called terpenes. 

Maybe they should move production to Germany where Sativex is selling like rock cakes or should that be like space cakes as there is no light on the UK tunnel when it comes to getting NICE approval. 

This is unlikely unless there is movement on the cost front as it is considered to be too expensive from a cost-benefit exercise

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