Pubdate: Sat, 13 Jun 2015
Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/5NyOACet
Website: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531
Author: Don Plant
Page: A1
Referenced: (R. v. Smith): http://mapinc.org/url/d2dzMbjW

LEGALIZING EDIBLE POT NOT ENOUGH, SAYS EXPERT

Prof who wrote major study on medical cannabis says Ottawa must give
licensed producers right to sell pot products

Stephen Harper's tough-on-crime government must write new legislation
that opens a legal supply of marijuana-medicated cookies, oils and
teas to patients, say Okanagan supporters of the cannabis industry.

Because Thursday's Supreme Court of Canada ruling allows Canadians to
possess and consume extracts and derivatives of marijuana, Ottawa must
give licensed pot producers the right to provide those edibles, said
Zach Walsh, an assistant professor of psychology at UBC Okanagan who
wrote a major study on medical cannabis.

"If (the ruling) recognizes this is a medical need or right for
Canadians, then they have to have a safe way to get it. Otherwise it's
a meaningless right," he said Friday.

"We've had a number of decades now of senseless prohibitions and
needless hardships for Canadians who tend to benefit from the
medicine. I'm glad to see some common sense."

Until Thursday, federal legislation required that medical weed could
only be produced, sold, possessed and consumed in its dried form by
smoking or using a vaporizer. Many patients don't want to inhale
smoke, so the option of having edibles or concentrates allows for
better treatment, Walsh said.

"It's not going to mean people are consuming any more. . . . It's the
same substance administered in a potentially healthier way."

The high court's decision is a watershed moment for medical-marijuana
dispensaries, which sell cannabis to authorized patients under a grey
area of Canadian law.

Customers have been buying oils and a non-psychoactive extract called
CBD caps at Black Crow THC Dispensary in Vernon for more than a year.
The ruling makes legal another option for their medicine, said owner
Bob Jaenicke.

"We have a lot of people who come in here - senior citizens - and
they're treating their cancer with oil. . . . Now they're not going to
be criminals."

Health Minister Rona Ambrose said she's "outraged" by Thursday's
decision. Despite recent court rulings in favour of marijuana use, her
government asserts cannabis has never been proven safe or effective as
a medicine.

"Marijuana has never gone through the regulatory approval process at
Health Canada, which requires rigorous safety reviews and clinical
trials with scientific evidence," she said Thursday in Ottawa.

Ambrose said rulings that permit medical-marijuana use give Canadians
the impression the drug is effective, when it's not. The latest
decision normalizes a drug when there's no clinical evidence that it
is a medicine.

Ingesting cannabis is a more effective way to medicate, and many
patients prefer to put it on a cracker than smoke it, said Jaenicke.
People take it for pain relief or to relieve their nausea after taking
chemo medication. Others, like three-year-old Kyla Williams, who
suffered hundreds of seizures a day in Summerland, have improved their
quality of life by ingesting CBD caps.

Customers at Black Crow, which also operates a store in West Kelowna,
are thrilled, Jaenicke said.

"They're saying it's about time. . . . Now we can sell it to our
customers without fear of prosecution."

Still, the legal waters are muddy for licensed pot producers. It's
unclear whether they can produce edible forms of medical weed or give
their patients recipes. It's also uncertain whether authorized users
can convert dried bud into edibles and extracts themselves.

Walsh believes they can.

"Whether you're pro or against medical cannabis, there's no reason why
you can't bake it into an oil and eat it."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt