{"id":62914,"date":"2015-10-15T22:07:20","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T03:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=62914"},"modified":"2015-10-15T22:07:20","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T03:07:20","slug":"b-c-doctors-criticize-canadas-strict-medical-marijuana-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/10\/15\/b-c-doctors-criticize-canadas-strict-medical-marijuana-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. doctors criticize Canada’s strict medical marijuana rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER – The Canadian Medical Association and the federal government apply a far more rigid standard to prescribing marijuana, resulting in negative or even deadly consequences, say experts from the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV\/AIDS.<\/span><\/p>\n

Medical marijuana is held to a different standard than other prescription drugs despite research suggesting it has therapeutic benefits, say three experts from the centre in a commentary publish Friday in the Journal of the Canadian Public Health Association.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to prescription marijuana, patients’ needs should be considered above political considerations,\u201d Dr. Julio Montaner, one of the authors, said in a news release. \u201cThere could be great harm in ignoring the medical uses of marijuana.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The government and the Canadian Medical Association are being overly cautious, co-author Dr. Thomas Kerr said in an interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just not how we deliver medical care and why we’re doing it in the case of cannibals is beyond me,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several recent studies have shown prescription cannabis can have therapeutic benefits, but the Canadian Medical Association and others have failed to acknowledge the research, resulting in a position that isn’t based on evidence, Kerr’s commentary said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other studies have shown prescribing cannabis may lead to a reduction in overdoses and deaths association with prescription opioid.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis can’t be taken too lightly because Canada, like the U.S., is in the midst of an epidemic of prescription opioid abuse and related overdose deaths,\u201d Kerr said.<\/span><\/p>\n

While marijuana is not association with an elevated risk of mortality, prescription opioid contribute to nearly half of all overdose deaths, a leading cause of accident related mortality, the article points out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under Canada’s current medical marijuana laws, patients must obtain prescription cannabis from federally licensed producers, generally through the mail. There are currently 26 licensed producers listed on Health Canada’s website.<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea of sending prescription drugs through the mail is odd, Kerr said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would never do that in the case of treating someone with diabetes,\u201d he said. \u201cReally, people should have access to experts who can counsel them on appropriate dosing, potential side effects and their management and who can also provide other options and clinical follow-up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The caution towards cannabis comes because it is illegal and because the federal government \u201chas been making up the science on the fly,\u201d Kerr said, pointing to the example of Stephen Harper saying that marijuana is \u201cinfinitely worse\u201d than tobacco.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s unfortunate that the federal government has really failed to deliver an effective medical-cannabis program and it’s unfortunate that they’ve also misrepresented the science in this area,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kerr said government and other interested agencies should consider implementing a system where cannabis is legalized, and both medical and recreational use are regulated using evidence-based discussions and approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kerr is co-director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV\/AIDS’s Urban Health Research Initiative. His co-authors are Montaner, director of the centre and Stephanie Lake, a research assistant at the centre.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER – The Canadian Medical Association and the federal government apply a far more rigid standard to prescribing marijuana, resulting …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":62915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[128],"class_list":["post-62914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-upload","mauthors-gemma-karstens-smith","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}