Pubdate: Fri, 23 May 2014
Source: Metro (Ottawa, CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Metro
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Ottawa
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4032
Author: Trevor Greenway

PUT THAT IN YOUR SKYPE AND SMOKE IT

Medical marijuana. Ottawa clinic offers patients a 'telemedical' link
to pot-prescribing doctors over the 'net

An Ottawa-based medical marijuana licensing clinic is reaching out to
patients as far as the Yukon by facilitating doctor visits through
Skype.

Robert Callaghan, patient navigator for Medical Marijuana Services
(MMS), says telemedicine allows his company to link up remote patients
with pot-prescribing doctors. Most physicians in Canada are still
hesitant to prescribe the drug to patients he says.

"It is extremely hard to find a doctor," said Callaghan. "Our service
reaches people. We are going to process thousands of patients over the
next five years."

MMS opened last year and used to set up weekend clinics in the city.
They would see a dozen or so patients over a few days and charge them
$500 for a consultation with a doctor who could prescribe them pot.
Today, the company is charging $300 and are now consulting with dozens
of patients daily.

By 11 a.m. Thursday, Callaghan said six new applications had filtered
into his inbox. He said the fees go to processing, marketing and the
marijuana education they offer patients.

While some might assume it would be easy to fake an illness over a
Skype meeting with a doctor, Callaghan said the process for screening
patients is "very in-depth."

Patients are required to submit government-issued I.D., disclose their
medical history and answer an intense questionnaire prior to getting a
doctor's appointment.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons told Metro it is "concerned"
about the recent changes to the medical marijuana access program,
which now make doctors the gatekeepers of the drug. College
spokesperson Prithi Yelaja said there is just too little marijuana
research for doctors to reference when prescribing it to patients.

"The challenge for physicians is that for a variety of reasons,
medical marijuana does not lend itself to a 'prescription,'" said Yelaja.

"There are no standardized requirements for marijuana, so unlike other
drugs, physicians would have no way of knowing the potency of the
marijuana, making it difficult for them to specify the dose patients
should take."

Yelaja said that the college's telemedicine policy is "currently under
review," but added that Ontario doctors who treat patients outside the
province via Skype should also comply with the licensing requirements
of, "any province, territory, country," they are practicing in. She
added that the College still maintains jurisdiction over Ontario
doctors regardless of where they practice.
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MAP posted-by: Matt