Pubdate: Tue, 11 Dec 2012
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Arnold Shoichet
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n627/a02.html

MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES A LEGAL RIGHT

Re: Doctors hesitant to be pot 'gatekeeper,' Opinion, Dec. 5

I appreciated Sharon Kirkey's wide-ranging coverage of a difficult topic.

 From the perspective of a doctor who supports patients who use 
medicinal marijuana, I was disappointed that there was not clearer 
acknowledgment of two details that I consider important.

The first is that there is a significant difference between the use 
of cannabis for recreation, and its use for medicine.

The difference is not well understood, but they are clearly not the same thing.

Recreational users smoke marijuana to experience the psychological 
euphoria or "high."

Medical users consume it usually in edible forms, and have a quite 
different response.

For certain patients, including many who live with chronic pain, the 
benefits of cannabis are remarkable. It can relieve symptoms more 
effectively than conventional treatments, with fewer side effects and 
apparently greater safety.

It is widely noted that there has not been a recorded death from overdose.

The second detail is that in Canada, access to marijuana for medical 
purposes is a legal right, as defined by Canadian Courts.

Solving how we as a society carry out the intentions of the Court is 
at the heart of the issue.

Arnold Shoichet,

MD Advisory Board chair, Medicinal Cannabis Resource Centre
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom