Decision intensifies medical marijuana concerns

Dr. Rao Tadepalli of the Yukon Medical Association says physicians already have concerns with Canada’s medical marijuana program.

Dr. Rao Tadepalli of the Yukon Medical Association says physicians already have concerns with Canada’s medical marijuana program.

With Ottawa planning to back out of its involvement administering the program, the concern is even greater, the association’s president said in a recent interview.

Tadepalli said doctors are reluctant to prescribe marijuana because of a very large gap in the evidence required to support its appropriateness for different illnesses and ailments.

The president of the Canadian Medical Association said the very same thing in her recent statement following Health Canada’s announcement it will privatize the program, he said.

Most doctors, said Tadepalli, will not prescribe pot.

In the rare cases that they do, it’s mostly for patients with multiple sclerosis.

Even then, there’s a degree of discomfort because of the lack of science about its effect and potential drawbacks, he said.

He said most medical marijuana patients prefer smoking it over the nasal spray available, which itself is a health care concern.

Marijuana, said Tadepalli, does alter the thought process and human behaviour, but there’s nothing definitive about when it should be prescribed, for how long or the potential for adverse effects.

He said most doctors prefer to rely on drugs that have been tested and approved under guidelines established by the Food and Drug Act.

There is, for instance, little or no control over the quality or strength of marijuana a patient is consuming, he pointed out.

“We are not happy the federal government is not doing its due diligence in administering this.”

Dr. Anna Reid, the president of the Canadian association and an emergency room physician in Yellowknife, said recently:

“We strongly believe that the same safety and evidence standards applied to pharmaceutical health products should be applied to medical marijuana.”

Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Dec. 16 that Ottawa will be revamping the medical marijuana program for safety and financial reasons, and to make it more difficult to cheat the system.

Canadians are subsidizing the cost of marijuana for approved patients, fire chiefs across the country are concerned about the number of house fires caused by home growing operations and law enforcement officials have expressed real concern, Aglukkaq said.

She announced Health Canada will be stepping away from hands-on administration of the program and transferring it to the private sector.

As of March 31, 2014, Health Canada will no longer supply patients with marijuana, nor will it monitor the consumption by approved patients.

Health Canada is seeking parties interested in growing and supplying marijuana, and monitoring quantities purchased by approved patients.

The move to the private sector will make it illegal for patients to grow their own pot, as of March 31, 2014, according to the minister’s announcement.

Private parties interested will have to grow the marijuana in a stand-alone, secure facility – not in a home, Health Canada announced during the Dec. 15-16 weekend.

The location will have to be equipped with electronic monitoring, operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Currently, approved patients can grow their own pot in their home, buy it from Health Canada, or designate an individual to grow it for them, Health Canada spokesman Stephane Shank explained.

He said Health Canada’s policy stipulates how much an individual is permitted to grow and have in his or her possession, according to the level of use prescribed by a doctor.

Under the Health Canada chart, for example, patients prescribed with a consumption level of one gram per day can grow four plants indoors during the winter, or one plant outdoors in the summer, though care must be taken to ensure it’s not stolen.

They can possess up to 30 grams (an ounce) at one time, and have up to .375 kilograms (eight tenths of a pound) in storage.

A patient approved for five grams of daily consumption can possess up to 150 grams (five ounces).

When asked if that meant patients could hang out at the beach with up to five ounces on pot on them, Shank said the Criminal Code section regarding possession of illegal drugs for the purpose of trafficking still applies,

The police, he emphasized, still have discretion.

Shank said Health Canada has already received expressions of interest from the private sector regarding the production and distribution of medical marijuana.

In addition to growing and supplying pot, suppliers will be required to monitor consumption of individual patients, just as Health Canada does not, Shank explained.

He said the private suppliers will also be required to test for the levels of THC, mold and 28 minerals, in keeping with the current practice.

The federal minister said Health Canada spends millions of dollars subsidizing the supply of marijuana every year, as it sells its pot for $5 a gram, or substantially lower than the average price of marijuana on the street.

Ottawa also covers the cost of shipping.

Shank said in the fiscal 2011-12 year, Health Canada supplied 750 kilograms of marijuana produced by Prairie Plants Systems, its sole supplier.

Figures provided by Health Canada show that for the three-year contract ending this March 31, the federal government paid Prairie Plants $16.8 million, an average of $5.6 million per year.

In the fiscal year 2011-2012, it took in $1.7 million, resulting in a total subsidy of $3.9 million.

While Health Canada has not tabulated how much pot is produced privately by patients growing their own, it has said a majority of program participants have indicated Health Canada is not their preferred source of medical marijuana.

Shank said there are 39 individuals living in the three territories who are approved for the use of medical marijuana. He declined to provide numbers specifically for the Yukon for privacy reasons.

When the program was first authorized in 2002, there were under 500 approved patients, according to federal statistics.

Today, there are more than 26,000.

Health Canada is currently open for expressions of interest from individuals or companies interested in becoming a supplier, and is prepared to authorize testing of marijuana and growing conditions to advance the business plan.