Pubdate: Thu, 17 Jul 2014
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Marie-Danielle Smith
Page: B2

SIX-YEAR-OLD MEDICAL POT USER RUNS AFOUL OF HEALTH CANADA

Boy takes extracted oil, in violation of new regulations

OTTAWA - Liam McKnight signed his medical marijuana licence when he
was just five years old.

The Ottawa boy suffers from Dravet syndrome, a rare and severe form of
epilepsy. It can cause nearly constant seizures that last three to
four minutes each. His condition led him to miss time during
kindergarten.

Liam had 67 seizures the day before starting cannabis oil treatment.
The first 10 days he used cannabis oil, he was seizure free, his
mother says.

"He had new words," Liam's mother Mandy said. "He was horseback
riding. He was in a boat. He went tubing. He was so happy. We had a
little glimpse of what life could be like."

Now six years old, Liam is registered to start Grade 1 in September,
with the help of an educational assistant and fulltime nurse.

On Wednesday, he was counting characters in a children's book from the
world of Teletubbies, and seemingly having a pretty good day. "I went
to the park," he said. "I read a book."

During the brief interview Wednesday, he suffered a small
seizure.

Even though Liam is licensed to use medical marijuana, taking it in
extracted oil form violates Health Canada's new Marihuana for Medical
Purposes Regulations, which came into effect April 1.

Under the regulations, the strains of marijuana that producers can
sell are no longer restricted, making it easier to find strains high
in CBD, the chemical that treats Liam's condition the best, but low in
THC, a psychoactive component associated with pain relief.

However, licensed producers can only sell dried marijuana. They can't
sell any derivative products, such as oils or foods made with marijuana.

The McKnights receive a boxed shipment of 150 grams of dried marijuana
from Bedrocan, one of 13 licensed marijuana producers in Canada, each
month. Turning it into the oil that Liam consumes - he takes about a
quarter of a cup each day - is not a straightforward task.

"Health Canada says Liam has to smoke it or he has to vaporize it,"
McKnight said. "Those are our two options - that's it. So although
they give him a licence, the form of delivery is ridiculous."

Instead, they ship the dry buds to the Montreal-based Medical
Cannabis Access Society, where it is processed and extracted into
coconut oil. Then it is shipped back to the family and McKnight sends
a sample of the batch to a laboratory in British Columbia that
analyzes the oil's CBD and THC content so she can give Liam precise
doses.

Technically, this process goes against Health Canada
regulations.

It is expensive too. Cannabis is $ 7.50 per gram. Extraction costs
money, shipping costs money and lab work costs money.

"Financially, it's draining," McKnight said. "If we were getting an
extraction from a licensed producer, it wouldn't cost nearly this
much. I don't even know how long we're going to be able to sustain
this."

Adam Greenblatt, the executive director of the cannabis access
society, said he believes that as many as 60 per cent or 70 per cent
of medical marijuana users would use derivative products if they could
legally buy them.

"There's a huge need for these derivative products," he said,
speculating there could even be special prescriptions for the products
were they standardized. "It's up to Health Canada to get with the times."

Isaac Oommen, who works at British Columbia's Compassion Club Society,
a cannabis advocacy organization, said that of their roughly 9,700
members, at least 30 per cent use derivative products such as edibles,
oils or tinctures.

About 60 per cent of incoming members are patients over the age of 65,
and among them, at least 80 per cent or 90 per cent are interested in
using those types of products, he said.

For McKnight, who runs a Facebook page to raise awareness about Liam's
condition, it's a matter of common sense.

"I really hope," she said, "that somebody at Health Canada or somebody
in this government just finally stands up and says, ' OK, this is
ridiculous. We need to help these kids.'"

Health Canada did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
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MAP posted-by: Matt