« Rick Reimer of Pembroke – not stoned, but medicated | Main | Student remains center of controversy over marijuana speech »
Health Canada dosage debate continues
By Hempology | June 18, 2007
The Calgary Sun
17 Jun 2007
Canadian Press
DOSAGE DEBATE HAS POT USERS SMOKIN’ MAD
OTTAWA — Health Canada has been contacting doctors who prescribe medical marijuana for their government-approved patients, advising them to keep the dosages low.
Some users say that not only violates doctor-patient confidentiality, it’s also wrong for bureaucrats to make judgments about the medical needs of people they’ve never seen.
“A person’s medication should be between him and his doctor,” said Tony Adams, 60, a medical marijuana user in Victoria.
Adams, a licensed user who’s been smoking seven grams of marijuana daily, recently applied to Health Canada to increase the dose to 10 grams, with his doctor’s authorization.
Official approval from Ottawa is needed so Adam can legally grow the appropriate number of marijuana plants, set by Health Canada at five plants for each daily gram.
But a program official in Ottawa challenged Adams’ doctor in a telephone call, saying most patients need no more than five grams. Adams, who has severe arthritis and degenerative disc disease, later received a new licence for just five grams a day.
“I’m just really ( angry ) about the whole situation.”
Similarly, Alison Myrden in Burlington, Ont., says her doctor was challenged by Health Canada bureaucrats about her 20- to 28-gram daily dose.
“They asked to lower it more than once, and my doctor and I both refused,” said Myrden, 43, who has multiple sclerosis.
The department’s campaign to keep doses to five grams or less includes postings on its website referring to external surveys and studies indicating most medical users need one to three grams daily, “whether it is taken orally, or inhaled or a combination of both.”
A spokesman for the department said dosage decisions are always left to doctors.
“Occasionally, Health Canada contacts physicians to verify or clarify some of the information provided in the application,” Renee Bergeron said.
Topics: Articles | Comments Off
Comments are closed.