Note from the NYTimes: Contrary to several reports in the French news media, the drug was not a cannabis-based painkiller, Ms. Touraine said. Early reports in

Note from the NYTimes: Contrary to several reports in the French news media, the drug was not a cannabis-based painkiller, Ms. Touraine said. Early reports in The Guardian, the BBC, and elsewhere called it a cannabinoid-based painkiller. (That sounded rather implausible because (a) cannabinoids have a ridiculously high therapeutic index -- ratio of medically effective dose to toxic dose -- and (b) with cannabis decriminalization spreading internationally, the commercial benefit of patenting a drug in the same space as a cheap non-proprietary alternative would appear to be small.) Edit: The Guardian amended their piece to state that it was a monoclonal antibody targeting the brain's endocannabinoid receptors. (Interesting idea, but Mabs have some really lethal failure modes, notably triggering a cytokine storm in some cases, cf. TGN1412.)