Reply #42: As a researcher in biomedicine, IMHO if THC has strong anti-cancer activity [View All]

[andym]

it will be discovered and pursued. There is great motivation for NIH funded investigators to find "interesting" compounds that inhibit cancer and then to discover their mechanism(s). When sufficient evidence exists, what happens is that small Pharma will try to develop more potent compounds that target the same biological regulator and then sell the new compounds to big Pharma. See Sirtris and the development of more potent resveratrol-ralated compounds (for diabetes among other diseases) that sold for GSK for 720 million. http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2008/04/21/daily26.html Resveratrol can be obtained at your friendly local supermarket, yet Sirtris was worth a lot of money. If a "target" or "targets" can be pinned down for THC, then big Pharma will go after it (them). In this particular case, they won't be shedding tears that the natural substance is not legal in the USA by federal law.