Pubdate: Sat, 10 Dec 2011 Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN) Copyright: 2011 The StarPhoenix Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400 Author: Jodie Sinnema, Postmedia News WIDE RANGE OF PATIENTS FIND SOME RELIEF IN POT Margaret Marceniuk inhales her medical marijuana through a pharmaceutical puffer and a head-shop pipe. Tamara Cartwright vaporizes her pot with a machine called a Volcano, then inhales three to four bags of the vapour while locked away in her bedroom, away from her toddler. Ian Layfield in Victoria swallows cannabis-infused oil capsules he makes himself, frying olive oil with pot leaves, then straining it with cheese cloth and pouring it into gel caps. He also mixes cannabis into a topical cream he rubs into his left foot and ankle, which was crushed in October 2006 after being rolled over by a grader. Todd Kaighin, an HIV patient in downtown Toronto, largely smokes traditional joints, while Janice Cyre outside Edmonton presses her marijuana leaves into steeped tea. Many users also nibble on the odd brownie or cookie baked with cannabis leaves, pot-infused oil or canna-butter. All have their federal licences to legally take medical marijuana to help dull pain, boost appetite and curtail nausea or diarrhea associated with multiple sclerosis, colitis, severe arthritis, HIV or fibromyalgia. But all laugh disdainfully at the dried marijuana grown by the federal government in a mine in Manitoba, describing it as "dust" or "catnip in a bag" that has little therapeutic benefit and brings headaches. They either buy their medical pot illegally through compassion clubs or legally grow their own plants in their basements, with some occasionally and reluctantly forced to buy from street dealers when their supply runs low. Marceniuk, who recently moved about 80 kilometres west from Edmonton to Lake Isle, Alta., has never smoked cigarettes and didn't rebel as a teenager by getting high on pot. She refused to try medical marijuana for her constant pain while working as a school teacher and wasn't keen on using it while her two sons were still living at home. But since she's been on disability for seven years, Marceniuk has slowly incorporated marijuana into her daily routine to help her with the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis. She's one of 108 with the disease in Alberta - 480 across Canada - who can legally use marijuana under Health Canada's medical marijuana program, according to 2001 to 2007 data. More multiple sclerosis patients are allowed to use medical marijuana than any other patient group in Alberta. Diagnosed with MS at age 28, Marceniuk has experienced blindness, migraines, balance issues, chronic pain and fatigue. At 55, conventional medications only hold the pain at bay for so long. "I have breakthrough pain," said Marceniuk, who is currently on 13 different medications, including one conventional pain killer. About seven years ago, she started using marijuana, first with Sativex, a legal synthetic marijuana she inhales in a puffer form similar to an inhaler for asthmatic patients. Her doctor prescribes it like any other pharmaceutical and doesn't have to apply to Health Canada for a medical marijuana licence or use triplicate subscriptions, which are needed for opiates and narcotics such as morphine that have the potential for misuse or abuse. A vial of Sativex lasts about one month for Marceniuk, who inhales four puffs for each daily treatment. Three to four hours later, the associated high brings relief and dulls the pain. But the Sativex didn't seem to help that much until Marceniuk began smoking dried marijuana in a pipe, about once a week. The relief from smoking was almost immediate, and the doctor believes the smoked leaf opened pathways that allowed the synthetic compound to work better. "It doesn't get rid of the pain completely. As my son says, it makes me not care about the pain," she said. "It helps me get through the pain." Marceniuk can legally take both forms of marijuana, since she has received approval from the federal government, but it took her two years to find a doctor willing to spend the time to fill out the lengthy forms for a licence. In January 2010, figures from Health Canada suggested 153 Alberta physicians supported marijuana prescriptions, compared to 685 in British Columbia and 939 in Ontario. Marceniuk only smokes her pipe at home, occasionally supplementing with cannabis-infused brownies made with special oil. When out with friends, she takes Sativex. She purchases her pot illegally from a compassion house in Vancouver she visits once or twice a year. "The stuff coming from the government is literally just dust," Marceniuk said. "I'm not impressed by it." Nor are others, who say when the government harvests its crop, workers separate the cannabis leaves and buds from the crystals, the snowflake-like compounds that grow on the bud and contain most of the active ingredient called tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. The extracted THC is then made into a tincture or liquid form, and sprayed back onto the plant so that the THC levels are standard in all the product, at about 12.5 per cent, according to the Health Canada website. But critics say tests have shown levels far lower, at six per cent. They suggest variety in strength and plant types is important for patients with different medical needs. But the guesswork is part of what troubles physicians like Edmonton's Dr. Rufus Scrimger, who has worked as an oncologist for 25 years. Scrimger said he doesn't feel comfortable prescribing medical marijuana for his cancer patients because doctors are given no training to understand the different strains, strengths or types of marijuana they should be prescribing for each ailment. "There's not a lot of good medical data out there to support its use, evidence that says it's better than all the other medications that we have available to us for nausea or pain," said Scrimger, the Alberta Medical Association's section head for oncology. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [sidebar] MEDICAL MARIJUANA BY THE NUMBERS 4,884 - Number of Canadians authorized to possess marijuana (as of January 2010) 10 - Age of the youngest patient, a boy with epilepsy, living in Quebec's Beauce region, authorized for one gram per day, referred by a pediatrician. 90 - Age of oldest patient, a man in downtown Vancouver with severe arthritis, authorized to consume five grams daily, referred by a general practitioner. 56 - Largest allowed dosage, in grams per day. It was approved for a 45-year-old man with spinal cord injury and disease, living near Kelowna, B.C. Top medical reasons for marijuana applications, 2007-2011 Severe arthritis......... 7,445 Other (Category 2)*... 4,032 Chronic pain.............. 2,194 Spinal cord injury....... 2,130 Spinal cord disease.... 1,583 Cancer....................... 1,387 Multiple sclerosis....... 1,254 AIDS, HIV infection..... 1,130 Epilepsy........................ 394 Hepatitis B or C............ 276 * Category 2 patients have debilitating symptoms of medical conditions not covered by Category 1 for which conventional treatments are considered ineffective. These applications require an assessment by a specialist. Category 1 patients are authorized to possess marijuana to treat symptoms of cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy seizures, spinal cord injury or disease, and severe arthritis. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.