vol2 - Page 135

 in the study that the resulting data was difficult to inter-
 pret.
 17. Some things, however, did become obvious as a
 result of this study. The study gave me a sense of the large
 number of patients who were self=medlcatlng with marijuana.
 Perhaps the most outstanding and obvious fact distinguishing
 oral THe and marijuana is that oral THC is orally administered,
 while marijuana is inhaled or smoked® The condition being
 treated is severe, protracted emesis -_ vomiting. An oral
 medication can be vomited up. Inhalation, or smoking, bypasses
 the digestive system. At a more subtle level, there are a
 number of important facets to this distinction. Titration, or
 a patient's ability to control the dosage of the drug he or she
 is receiving, is far greater with an inhaled product. Once a
 patient receives an adequate dose and stops vomiting_ the
 patient can discontinue further dosing. In effect, the patient
 ....... simply stops smoking -- or delivering any additional drug.
 With ingestion, however, such titration is impossible. More-
 overs cancer patient, s particularly those receiving chemo-
 therapy or certain types of radiation treatmen£, suffer from a
 number of distinct digestive problems which include delayed
 gastric emptying and poor absorption through the small
 intestine. This means it is very difficult to properly dose a
 patient with synthetic THC ands inversely_ very easy to deliver
 an overdose, with pill delivering more of the drug than the
 patient needs.