Pubdate: Fri, 08 Aug 2014
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2014 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact: http://www.leaderpost.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
Website: http://www.leaderpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Sharon Kirkey
Page: B10

MEDICAL POT HUGE ISSUE: INCOMING CMA HEAD

While there "may well be" legitimate uses for medical marijuana, 
doctors have been thrust into an "untenable" position by being made 
the sole gatekeepers to legal pot, says the incoming head of the 
Canadian Medical Association.

"We have Health Canada telling us that marijuana is not a medicine, 
we have our malpractice insurance company telling us to be very 
cautious because nobody is taking responsibility for the safety of 
it," says Queen's University cardiologist Dr. Chris Simpson, who 
assumes the helm Canada's most powerful doctors' lobby at the CMA's 
annual general meeting in Ottawa later this month.

Simpson said that while he has heard "many compelling anecdotes" that 
marijuana can help patients with hard to treat seizures, HIV and 
other conditions, "we have people out there saying marijuana can cure 
cancer, which seems quite improbable."

"Somewhere in between those two extremes is the truth, and I think we 
need to find the truth, and the way to do that is with the 
appropriate research.

"We need to just back up, take a deep breath and talk about the 
facts," he said. "Let's figure out what the appropriate role for 
marijuana is, if there is one."

The controversy over medicinal pot will be high on the agenda at the 
annual doctors' meeting, dubbed the "parliament of Canadian 
medicine." Other issues to be tackled at the Aug. 17-20 meeting 
include medical professionalism and end-of-life, including the highly 
charged debate over euthanasia.

Simpson said the CMA's focus this year will be on pushing for federal 
strategies for seniors' care and dementia, including tax incentives 
and respite and community care to provide support to families looking 
after relatives with the memory-robbing disease.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom