MCLC: China cashes in on cannabis

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: China cashes in on cannabis
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Source: The Independent (1/5/14):
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/as-cannabis-is-widely-legalise
d-china-cashes-in-on-an-unprecedented-boom-9039191.html

As cannabis is widely legalised, China cashes in on an unprecedented boom
The country holds hundreds of patents relating to the drug, which means
more profits as decriminalisation spreads globally
By IAN JOHNSTON

Almost 5,000 years ago, Chinese physicians recommended a tea made from
cannabis leaves to treat a wide variety of conditions including gout and
malaria. Today, as the global market for marijuana experiences an
unprecedented boom after being widely legalised, it is China that again
appears to have set its eyes on dominating trade in the drug.

The communist country is well placed to exploit the burgeoning cannabis
trade with more than half of the patents relating to or involving cannabis
originating in China. According to the World Intellectual Property
Organisation (Wipo), Chinese firms have filed 309 of the 606 patents
relating to the drug.

About 147 million people – around 2.5 per cent of the world's population –
use cannabis, according to the World Health Organisation. And medicinal
properties of the drug are increasingly being recognised. It can be used
to treat conditions ranging from the nausea caused by chemotherapy for
cancer patients and chronic pain to cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and
epilepsy.

Last month, Uruguay became the first country to legalise marijuana in its
entirety – from growing the crop to processing and use. Yesterday it
appeared that a second South American country, Peru, could follow
Uruguay's example and legalise cannabis production. The former director of
the Peruvian National Drug Control Commission, Ricardo Soberon, said: "The
possibility of removing the criminal element from the cannabis trade – a
drug that is a lot less dangerous than others – is the answer to 50 years
of repeating the same strategies with no results."

Last week, the US state of Colorado decriminalised the recreational use of
cannabis and people in Washington state have also voted to legalise
marijuana, although stores are not expected to open until later in the
year. Shares in companies involved in cannabis soared after Colorado's
move. One firm, MediSwipe Inc, had its stock jump by nearly 70 per cent on
2 January. The legal trade of cannabis in the US alone could be worth
$10bn (£6bn) by 2018. And analysts say it is China that is once again at
the forefront of exploiting new economic opportunities.

"Because cannabis in Western medicine is becoming accepted, the
predominance of Chinese patents suggests that pharmaceutical sciences are
evolving quickly in China, outpacing Western capabilities," Dr Luc
Duchesne, an Ottawa-based businessman and biochemist, wrote in
InvestorIntel. "CTM [Chinese traditional medicine] is poised to take
advantage of a growing trend. The writing is on the wall: Westernised
Chinese traditional medicine is coming to a dispensary near you."

Many of the Chinese patents are for herbal treatments. One, filed by the
Yunan Industrial Cannabis Sativa Co, refers to an application made from
whole cannabis sativa seeds to make "functional food" designed to improve
the human immune system. Another, by an inventor called Zhang Hongqi, is
for a "Chinese medicinal preparation" for treating peptic ulcers. It uses
an array of ingredients, including cannabis sativa seed. The filing says
it has "significant therapeutic effectiveness and does not cause any
adverse effect".

There is also a patent filing from China for a treatment for constipation,
which is made using fructus cannabis and other ingredients such as
"immature bitter orange", Chinese angelica and balloon flower. This, it is
claimed, treats constipation's root causes and symptoms resulting in
"obvious curative effects".

However, only one company in the world has developed cannabis-based drugs
as medicines that have been recognised by regulators in the West following
the long, costly process of clinical trials. GW Pharmaceuticals, based in
Wiltshire, makes Sativex for the treatment of symptoms of multiple
sclerosis and cancer pain, and Epidiolex for childhood epilepsy.

A spokesman for the company, which is the only one licensed to carry out
research on cannabis in the UK, said China had a long history of working
with herbal medicines. "In that sense it doesn't come as a surprise. This
is a country with thousands of years of working with plants in medicines,"
he said of the patent filings.

In December, Jamaica announced it was forming its first medical marijuana
company, called MediCanja. Henry Lowe, a scientist and executive chairman
of MediCanja, said medical cannabis could help "transform Jamaica's
fledgling economy". He added: "Given Jamaica's history with ganja, we
could be the hub for medical ganja in Latin America and the Caribbean."

Peter Reynolds, leader of Cannabis Law Reform (Clear), a UK-based campaign
group, said China had another advantage over other countries in selling
cannabis as it is one of the largest producers in the world of industrial
hemp, a form of cannabis with a low amount of the psychoactive compound
THC. "The Chinese are smarter and they are on to all the good ideas," Mr
Reynolds said. "The potential for cannabis as a medicine is monumental."

But smoking cannabis remains illegal in China. In April last year, the
South China Morning Post reported that it was a popular drug among the
country's young people despite the threat of lengthy prison sentences.

Mr Reynolds said the UK possessed world-leading expertise on cannabinoids,
and there was a "terrible, terrible irony" that the Government was so
hostile to its use. "We're in a situation now where cannabis is available
on prescription [in the UK], but it's almost impossible to get because it
costs so much more," he said.

The opening up of a legal trade in non-medical marijuana is not without
its critics. Uruguay's decision to remove all legal restrictions on use
was condemned by the International Narcotics Control Board, the body
charged with monitoring international treaties on narcotics. "Cannabis is
not only addictive but may also affect some fundamental brain functions,
IQ potential and academic and job performance, and impair driving skills,"
it said in a statement. "Smoking cannabis is more carcinogenic than
smoking tobacco."