Is Conolidine a Drug?

A common question we get a lot is whether or not Conolidine is a drug. Unfortunately, this question requires a frame of reference because the way we see drugs as the public is VASTLY different from how various agencies that govern drugs see them.

We have other connotations when we hear the word “drug” as an average citizen in the United States. We equate the term with a negative sense or state. When one hears the word drug, we think of illicit drugs like cocaine or heroin, but is Conolidine a drug?

In the common vernacular, these illicit substances are drugs. The dictionary defines a drug as a substance used as a medication or in the preparation of medication. The DEA lists Heroin and Cocaine as Schedule I drugs. Schedule 1 is the most dangerous classification and are not medication. 

While this may seem to conflict with the definition of a drug, in reality, the driving force behind heroin, for example, is an opiate. Opiates produce pain-relieving MEDICINE like hydrocodone or morphine. This opiate is harvested from the Poppy flower.

When it comes to drugs in everyday commerce, the definition changes. The Food and Drug Administration defines a drug by whether or not it can treat, prevent, or cure medical conditions and illnesses. Medications like Insulin for people with diabetes fall into this category.

The FDA is not responsible for approval of products past this point. Many consider this a good and bad thing. This means that the public has more options for treatment from alternative sources.

This also means that subpar companies can flood the market with dangerous and harmful products without fear. If there is no need to approve the product, then there is no accountability.

What Is Considered a Drug?

This type of drug requires company years of preparation. The company goes through an extreme audit by the FDA before being approved for production.

This is where Conolidine starts to get interesting… almost any quality raw material can be used to produce drugs. Chemists isolate and concentrate compounds from a plant or synthesize them in a laboratory. The only issue is, you cannot trademark a plant.

The Earth provides us with everything we use in our daily lives, and somewhere across the course of our development as people; we made the wise decision not to allow someone to purchase the rights to the Dandelion, as an example.

A large pharmaceutical company cannot grab the Poppy plant and slap a trademark symbol on it. This is true also for Conolidine.

So, Is Conolidine a Drug?

What is the bottom line? Conolidine could go through a comprehensive research and development procedure and be made into a drug. Will this lead to Conolidine becoming a drug?

Luckily, there is no way for Big Pharma to buy the Crepe Jasmine bush or Tabernaemontana divaricata. Even if there is a Conolidine “drug” in the future, full-spectrum extractions of the plant would still be considered legal to possess.

With a medicinal effect but no approval from the FDA, the FDA does NOT consider Conolidine a drug. However, like our opiate example throughout this article, the Poppy flower went from flower to medicine, to illicit drug, and then back to treatment.

Conolidine could always follow that same path, aside from the illicit nature due to its lack of addictive qualities. Concluding that the Conolidine alkaloid is a drug still needs a large amount of reasonable data against it.