Reading the final report from the Task Force on Legalization and Regulation of Cannabis in Canada released late in 2016, I got the same feeling I get watching puppies open their eyes for the first time. New puppies and the task force recommendations are equally naive about marijuana.
The 105 page report has some good points, some not so good, and others downright ridiculous.
Editor’s Note: This article on discussing medicinal cannabis with healthcare professionals was originally published September 2, 2016 and is reposted here during the winter holidays for our focus on Medicinal Cannabis.
With the introduction of the new Accessing Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) released by Health Canada on August 24, 2016, accessing and growing medicinal cannabis is less challenging than ever before. But visiting the doctor is often already a very stressful experience, so discussing medicinal cannabis with your healthcare professional can be a daunting task. I hope this article will prepare you to speak with your doctor about medical cannabis.
With the introduction of the new Accessing Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) released by Health Canada on August 24, 2016, accessing and growing medical cannabis is less challenging than ever before. But visiting the doctor is often already a very stressful experience, so discussing medical cannabis with your healthcare professional can be a daunting task. I hope this article will prepare you to speak with your doctor about medical cannabis.
It was only six short months ago when good feelings were in abundance after the Conservatives’ sound trouncing at the hands of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. Thoughts were turned to what a legal cannabis market might look like. Yet here we are six months later and it’s starting to feel like the Liberal days of old.
Canadian Health Minister Rona Ambrose’s claim that normalizing medical marijuana use will put kids in ‘danger’ of recreational pot use is a slippery slope fallacy and it hides the real reason teenagers ignore the warnings of Health Canada.
In the fight between the Harper Conservative’s Health Canada and actual health experts, Minister Rona Ambrose claims the high road in a fight to ‘protect the children’ from pot while actually fighting to retain federal control over adult access to a useful, versatile drug. She doesn’t want pot use ‘normalized’ for kids.
While I agree that pot use among children and teens shouldn’t be encouraged, Ambrose’s claim that legitimate medical marijuana dispensaries would do so is inherently flawed.
On June 11, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled to uphold the BC Court of Appeal’s judgement in favour of Owen Smith: the right of Canadians to ingest medical marijuana includes the right to access cannabis derivatives. Medical marijuana patients are no longer limited to inhaling ‘dried marihuana’.
Ten weeks to the day that I met with a qualified doctor I had my pink papers in my hand and I thought I was invincible. But the law had other ideas.
Sending off packages of my home grown cannabis to friends and patients on a regular basis—I had my garden growing long before my papers were in my hand—I treated it like the plant it is. Until weeks later when I went to my local post office to pick up a package on April 15th, 2011 and was arrested for trafficking…of four grams of cannabis. Yes, four grams. Thankfully although many other packages went out that day only one was caught in the mail.