Synthetic. It's already here. It is so cheap and easy to come by that it was available briefly as a street drug in parts of the U.S. before being clamped down on. Got a very bad name quickly because so easy for an idiot to overdose, but at the correct levels the effect is the same, as the chemistry is the same as Natural THC. Same, or very similar, functional group at the active center, and very cheap to synthesize compared to obtaining natural THC the hard way. This allows Pharma to draw a distinction and help keep Natural weed away as a medicinal competitor. The article I've linked to is wrong, of course. The
synthetic is safer than the natural, not more dangerous. The synthetic doesn't wreck your lungs!!! Safety for the synthetic is strictly a matter of dosage and individual metabolism and chemistry. It is complete nonsense to state that the natural product is in any way superior from a medicinal standpoint.
https://herb.co/marijuana/news/synthetic-thc-fda-approval
That's would be like saying willow bark tea is better than aspirin, rose hips are better than synthetic vitamin C. That's all complete nonsense.
N.B. The synthetic forms are
not identical to THC, which has several chiral centers and would be difficult to synthesize. The synthetic forms all have a functionally active group that is identical to, or mimics, the THC active site, but the remainder of the molecule is different. The synthetic and natural forms all bind the CB1 receptor, but the synthetic forms can be tailored to possess other desirable properties such as the rate at which they are metabolized, etc. Natural products provide the inspiration for many useful medicines. Then the Analytical, Natural Product and Synthetic Organic Chemists take charge, and with the help of the Physiologists, something truly wonderful often results.
The synthetic will be expensive in the U.S., cheap in other countries.
