Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON) Copyright: 2014 Metroland Media Group Ltd. Contact: http://www.therecord.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225 Author: Gary Askin Note: Gary Askin, of Waterloo, is a recently retired police officer who is now a licensed private investigator. DO WE REALLY KNOW IF MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS SAFE? In April, Canadians will have a new way of accessing marijuana. The new regulations can be found on the Health Canada website under the marijuana for medical purposes regulations. But is medicinal marijuana actually safe to use? Did it pass through Health Canada's time-consuming, arduous approval process that every other drug has to before it's released to Canadians? Clinical trials? How about pharmacology, toxicology or microbiology testing? This seemed like a simple question, so I started my search on the Health Canada website. There, I found three companies listed as licensed marijuana producers. Cannimed Ltd., Mettrum Ltd. and a group called the Peace Naturals Project have been granted Health Canada approval to produce and sell marijuana to Canadians. I checked their websites to see if they could assure me their medical marijuana is safe for consumption. It's interesting that both Cannimed and the Peace Naturals websites both address marijuana safety in their frequently asked questions (FAQ) section. Unfortunately, neither answers their own questions. Both responses are eerily similar and discuss testing for ingredients and contaminants, and a recall process, "in the unlikely event of a problem." Wait a minute, what? What kind of problem? They don't elaborate. Mettrum doesn't have a FAQ page on its website but states it will be offering a marijuana product that will meet or exceed 17 per cent levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the active ingredient that makes you high. You heard that right, 17 per cent THC. Is that safe? Further investigation led to more frustration, but ultimately I stumbled upon this posting on the Health Canada website: "Cannabis (marijuana) is not an approved therapeutic product and the provision of this information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes, or of cannabis generally, by Health Canada. Cannabis has not been authorized through the standard Health Canada drug approval process because the available scientific evidence does not establish the safety and efficacy of cannabis to the extent required by the Food and Drug Regulations for marketed drugs in Canada." There it was. The answer no one at Health Canada could give me. It appears they don't even know if medical marijuana is safe - or effective. This was a simple question. The answer was, they just don't know. We have all heard stories of groundbreaking medications being developed and used in other countries that Canadians can't access as they haven't been studied and approved. Why is marijuana the exception and why did our government overlook all the protective rules and processes designed to ensure our safety, just to fast track this drug into our hands and potentially expose us to risk? Health Canada never approved medical marijuana for use and yet with no scientific evidence of safety or efficacy, it's available for consumption anyway. When I pick up my cholesterol medication, the pharmacist briefs me on dosages, contraindications, how and when to take it and just in case I'm not listening, he staples three more pages of information to my little pill bag. That's not the case with medical marijuana. With a prescription it will arrive on your doorstep. No briefing, no information on clinical trials or potential addiction. No idea what will happen when you consume it. No one knows the long-term effects of smoking such potent marijuana as it just hasn't been around that long. Unfortunately, if someone has an adverse medical reaction to the 17 per cent THC levels of our government-sponsored marijuana, it won't be because of a missed, minuscule detail or a minor flaw in the system. It will be because, this is exactly how the system has been designed. Gary Askin, of Waterloo, is a recently retired police officer who is now a licensed private investigator. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D