Pubdate: Sat, 10 Dec 2011
Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2011 Nanaimo Daily News
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608
Author: Glen McGregor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

MEDICAL POT APPLICATIONS CITING ARTHRITIS TAKE A DRAMATIC JUMP

 From 2008 to 2010, Number Citing the Condition to Use Marijuana Up 2,400%

The federal government has seen a staggering increase in the number 
of requests for medical marijuana authorizations from applicants 
claiming they have severe arthritis to legally obtain the drug.

Applications to Health Canada based on severe arthritis claims jumped 
2,400% between 2008 and 2010, far outstripping the number of claims 
for cancer, HIV/AIDS and other serious diseases, an Ottawa Citizen 
analysis has found.

The spike in arthritis claims was part of an overall rise in 
applications over the past three years, as more private clinics 
specializing in marijuana began referring patients to pot-friendly 
doctors willing to sign their forms.

But unless there has been an enormous, undocumented surge in 
arthritis rates in Canada over the past three years, the data 
suggests that patients or their doctors may be gaming the 
government's rules to obtain medical marijuana more easily.

Arthritis was listed as the reason for 40% of all applications under 
the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations received so far in 2011. 
That was double the rate seen in 2008, according to electronic 
records released to the Citizen under the Access to Infor-mation Act.

Severe arthritis is one of the Category 1 illnesses that require 
patients to obtain the signature of just a single doctor under Health 
Canada rules. Cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS infections and 
spinal cord injuries and disease and are also listed in Category 1, 
but often have more obvious visible symptoms than arthritis.

Patients with other Category 2 illnesses such as hepatitis, glaucoma 
or ulcerative colitis must go through the additional step of getting 
a specialist to sign their applications, a process that can take many 
months and does not always succeed.

Some marijuana advocates believe that patients are asking doctors to 
sign off on the faster Category 1 condition of severe arthritis to 
speed their applications.

"I think a lot of people are applying under arthritis even if they 
may have a different condition," says Scott Gilbert, who runs the 
Hamilton Medical Marijuana Centre. "They are going with whatever is 
the easier one to get approved on."

Although a patient might otherwise qualify for authorization based on 
a Category 2 illness, a savvy doctor familiar with the MMAR program 
might ask if the patient also has arthritis, too.

Health Canada is conducting a review of MMAR and plans to overhaul 
the way the program works, in part by transferring more authority to 
doctors. The department says it is required to approve applications 
that have been signed by a doctor and meet the conditions of the 
MMAR. It has noticed the sharp increase in marijuana applications but 
doesn't know why, exactly, the numbers are rising so sharply.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom