There is a pharmaceutical version of cannabinoids. It is FDA approved for treatment of nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy. It was approved in the early 90s. The generic name is 'dronabinol' and the brand name is 'marinol'. There are some other approved versions.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000403/
I tried it. Did not like it at all. Gave me a headache and I had no way to control how much I was taking. I think it came in 2 different doses. With smoked cannabinoids, I had control. I can take 1 or 2 tokes or smoke the whole joint depending on pain severity. I did not get the relaxed 'oh I feel better now' that I got by smoking. It didn't really get me loaded.....just a headache and maybe a tiny bit of pain relief.
Vaporized cannabis is very very different than smoking cannabis. It doesn't feel like smoke going in your lungs. I can't tell if I have actually had a dose. It has none of the problems with smoked cannabis. No tars, none of the evil nasty crap smoking gives you, no apparent risk for developing lung disease down the road.