Leave it to the trees

Prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves.

A British company, GW Pharma, is in advanced clinical trials for the world's first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents. Sativex, a mouth spray it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain (and hopes to see FDA approval by the end of 2013).

The spray contains marijuana's two best known components – delta 9-THC and cannabidiol – and already has been approved in Canada, New Zealand as well as eight European countries for a different usage (relieving muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis).

FDA approval would be an important milestone in the country's uneasy relationship with marijuana. The DEA categorizes weed as a dangerous drug with no medical value, but the availability of a chemically similar prescription drug could increase pressure on the federal government to revisit its position. Not to mention encouraging other pharmaceutical companies to follow in suit.