Saturday, April 7, 2012 -

    “Happy Days On Cannabis Farm”. The Times 6th April 2012

    Andrew Clark, Business Commentary, The Times

    Dope probably wasn’t at the forefront of George Osborne’s mind when he drew up the Budget but, nevertheless, he blew a big tax break towards Britain’s only legal cultivator of medicinal cannabis.

    GW Pharmaceuticals is preparing to enlarge its clandestine marijuana plantation, which is in an undisclosed location somewhere in the South of England. It wants to ramp up production of Sativex, its recently licensed cannabis-based drug for multiple sclerosis.

    GW is shaping up to be a stand-out beneficiary of the government’s “patent box”, which provides a rock bottom 10 per cent rate of corporation tax for profits on UK patented inventions. Unusually, GW Pharmaceuticals’ entire corporation fits inside the patent box because its technology platform, extracting chemicals from cannabis plants, qualifies as a UK invention.

    GW wants to expand Sativex into treatment for cancer pain and it reckons scores of other molecules in cannabis plants could be turned into drugs. Analysts reckon sales might reach £9 million next year and could climb to the hundreds of millions.

    The company yesterday shook up its board in preparation for growth, appointing a new finance director and beginning a search for a chief operating officer. But the taxman may ever only get a pittance.

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    Related news:

    1. What Does 2012 Hold For The Cannabis Campaign?
    2. “MS Patients Denied Licensed Cannabis Drug By NHS”, The Guardian, 30th May 2011
    3. Leading Scientists Confirm That Cannabis Is Safe And Non-Addictive
    4. BBC Taken In By The Sativex Scam.
    5. PCC Complaint. Manchester Evening News, 2nd September 2011
    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Ford/1450969824 Dan Ford

      Sativex is a simple Cannabis tincture, from a blend of two strains, I think it is outrageous the way they are distorting the truth so that they can patent it and have a U.K. monopoly.

    • steve a

      This is hard.  I don’t much like monopoly trading but if there is going to be one then let it be a British company that has it.  At least the excessive and unfair profits will make it back to us.  Or it would do were it not for all the tax breaks GW enjoys.

      Of more concern should be recent reports issued by the police about the dangers of getting cancer from breathing in cannabis smells.  Now while we know this is rubbish it must be of considerable concern to the residents of Kent who are downwind of the farm and don’t know the truth.

    • Anonymous

      GW will be sorely disappointed when consumers in the U.S. realize that they can access the benefits of cannabis without paying inflated prices to an overseas company by simply vaporizing blends tailored to treat specific ailments. The monopoly that GW intends to ride to profits will disintegrate as soon as consumers learn the science that supports the development of Sativex also supports the use of the plant cannabis, processed locally to keep dollars in the community. There is no complicated synthesis or processing needed to use cannabis medicines, anyone can make a Sativex equivalent for a fraction of the cost of the GW product. Read the book “Marijuana Gateway to Health: How Cannabis Protects Us from Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease”   

    • Anonymous

      Thanks, Sciencefreak, just checked that out and ordered it.

    • Anonymous

       What should be free for anyone who can put a seed in the ground, is being turned into profit for a chosen few. The government is responsible, making the sick suffer, they cant have it both ways! GW proves cannabis has medicinal value, (like we didnt know!)

      We used to think we this would be enough, but the government prefers dishonesty, to pretend that its not really cannabis, they call it Nabiximols

      ‘Nabiximols is distinct from all other pharmaceutically produced cannabinoids currently available because it is derived from cannabis plants, rather than a solely synthetic process.’

      sounds like a plant to me!

    • Anonymous

      Isn’t Sativex extracted from Cannatonic?

      The strain with high CBD? Cannatonic is an indica/sativa hybrid and its genetics are ‘MK-ultra’ crossed with ‘G13′. Correct me if I’m wrong.

      Good genetics good medicinal value. But why specifically Cannatonic? so many strains available these days