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A pharma company that spent $500,000 trying to keep pot illegal just got DEA approval for synthetic marijuana<\/p>\n
Insys\u00a0gave $500,000 last summer<\/a>\u00a0to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, the group opposing marijuana legalization in Arizona. The donation amounted to\u00a0roughly 10 percent of all money raised by the group<\/a>\u00a0in an\u00a0ultimately successful campaign against legalization. Insys was the only pharmaceutical company\u00a0known to be giving money to oppose legalization last year, according to\u00a0a Washington Post analysis<\/a>\u00a0of campaign finance records.<\/p>\n Syndros is a synthetic formulation of THC, the main psychoactive component in the cannabis plant. It was\u00a0approved by the FDA last summer<\/a>\u00a0to treat nausea, vomiting and weight loss in cancer and AIDS patients. The DEA approval places Syndros and its generic formulations in Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act,\u00a0indicating a \u201chigh potential for abuse.\u201d Other Schedule II drugs include cocaine, morphine and many prescription painkillers.<\/p>\n Whole-plant marijuana remains in Schedule I of the CSA, an even stricter regulatory category that designates a lack of medically accepted use in addition to a high abuse potential.<\/p>\n Insys has been active in marijuana policy for several years. In 2011 it\u00a0wrote to the DEA to express opposition<\/a>\u00a0to loosening restrictions on naturally derived THC, citing \u201cthe abuse potential in terms of the need to grow and cultivate substantial crops of marijuana in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year it\u00a0petitioned the DEA to loosen restrictions<\/a>\u00a0on synthetic versions of CBD, another compound in the cannabis plant. The company is\u00a0currently developing a CBD-based drug<\/a>\u00a0to treat pediatric epilepsy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears they are trying to kill a non-pharmaceutical market for marijuana in order to line their own pockets,\u201d a spokesman for Arizona’s marijuana legalization campaign\u00a0said of Insys<\/a>\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n The company last year\u00a0said that it opposed<\/a>\u00a0the marijuana legalization measure because \u201cit fails to protect the safety of Arizona\u2019s citizens, and particularly its children.\u201d But it added that it \u201cfirmly believes in the potential clinical benefits of cannabinoids,\u201d and that \u201cwe hope that patients will have the opportunity to benefit from these potential products once clinical trials demonstrate their safe and effective use.\u201d<\/p>\n Insys is also the subject of\u00a0numerous state and federal\u00a0criminal investigations<\/a>, as well as a shareholder lawsuit, over its aggressive marketing of a product containing the potent and deadly opioid painkiller fentanyl. In December, the FBI\u00a0arrested<\/a>\u00a0the company’s former chief executive and five other executives\u00a0on charges that they \u201cpaid kickbacks and committed fraud to sell a highly potent and addictive opioid that can lead to abuse and life threatening respiratory depression.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to its synthetic marijuana products, Insys is also\u00a0developing a drug<\/a>\u00a0to treat opioid overdose.<\/p>\n The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n