Pubdate: Thu, 03 Apr 2014
Source: Guelph Mercury (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Metroland Media Group Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.guelphmercury.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1418
Author: Joanne Shuttleworth

WE NEED MEDICAL MARIJUANA

In an effort to overhaul Canada's medical marijuana system and stop
abuses in and of the system, Health Canada is changing the way medical
marijuana is prescribed, grown and obtained.

Under the old system, Health Canada would issue a licence to patients
who had been recommended by their doctor and who met a certain medical
criteria.

The government grew marijuana and for a while was the only legal grow
op in the country.

But it couldn't meet demand and the quality of government-grown weed
was widely criticized.

So Health Canada also issued licences to individuals to grow marijuana
for approved patients and for patients to grow their own. Who they
were growing for, and how much they were able to grow, was spelled out
in the licence.

Having a licence meant you could not be charged for possession or for
growing. But, of course, some growers grew more than their allotment
and sold on the black market. Some growers were robbed. Police had a
hard time monitoring the legal grow-ops. The system was rife with loopholes.

So as of April 1, the system is changing. The government is getting
out of the producing end of it and will be the regulator.

Production is now in the hands of private industry. About a dozen
large-scale producers have been approved to grow marijuana for medical
patients and more are expected to jump on board.

Patients no longer have to fit a medical criteria and there are no
more licences for them. Now, all you need is a doctor's prescription
that links the patient with a producer.

And just like at the pharmacy, the patient arranges shipment and
payment and the producer supplies the prescribed amount.

What protects the patient from arrest, is the label. It says how much
and over what time frame the patient can legally be in possession of
marijuana.

Don't have a label - you can be charged. All that was to take effect
April 1st. So Health Canada has told growers approved under the old
system to destroy their crops, dismantle their operations, and send a
letter saying they have, so police can be informed.

However, the producers are just getting up and running and don't have
any product yet.

And given the restrictions of horticulture, it will be several weeks
before they will. Health Canada has acknowledged there may be a gap in
supply for patients.

In the meantime, a group has challenged the changes in court and as of
last week there's been a reprieve. Until the case is heard, and that
isn't expected for the next six months to a year, the old licences
stand.

Patients are to continue to link with approved producers and work
their way into the new system, but those who grow their own, or who
supply individual patients, can continue to do so for now.

This government has never supported the idea of medical marijuana. It
was only through the courts that Health Canada was forced to approve
its use in medical cases and that happened in 2001.

So it's not surprising the government's transition plan would include
a gap in service. Thank goodness for those groups and individuals
willing to take on the system in the courts.

It's at this point that the debate usually turns to legalizing
marijuana altogether, but in my opinion, that only diverts from the
urgency and arguments of these medical patients.

I know some. I know they have exhausted the pharmaceutical options
that doctors are much more comfortable prescribing - the ones with
side effects of liver or heart or kidney damage. The ones that numb
the brain but don't really touch the pain.

If there isn't scientific evidence supporting the use of marijuana in
treating chronic pain, arthritis, cancer, AIDS and other conditions,
it's only because the research hasn't been done.

Most of the studies have focused on the harmful effects of smoking it
and haven't tunnelled into how different varieties can improve
appetite and mobility for so many people. Or the benefits of ingesting
it or applying a topical balm.

It's unfortunate that it has taken another court challenge to allow
reason to prevail as the system changes over. For once the lengthy,
slow court system is working to advantage. At least in the next few
months there will be overlap instead of gaps in medicine.

May the courts be with you.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D