Pubdate: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network Inc. Contact: http://www.montrealgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Page: A24 CANNABIS CLINIC FILLS A NEED The opening of Montreal's first medical marijuana clinic staffed by doctors is a long overdue occurrence. The therapeutic benefits of cannabis have long been extolled by certain patients and practitioners, claims researchers are just starting to explore. Thanks to a court decision, Canadians who meet certain criteria have been able to obtain marijuana legally since 2001. And since April of 2014, Health Canada has been licensing pot producers, issuing permits to patients and allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana. But proper oversight of patients who rely on pot to treat pain or lessen symptoms is sorely lacking. About 12,000 Canadians have registered with Health Canada's medical marijuana program and receive their prescriptions from 22 registered producers through the mail. Often the dosage is determined in consultation with the licensed grower rather than a physician. Only 800 doctors have exercised the new prescription powers, suggesting a reticence in the medical community that is understandable given the questions that remain unanswered. At the same time, there are patients who have been self-medicating with illegally obtained marijuana who would be better off with a proper prescription and supervision. The Sante Cannabis clinic on Amherst St. is thus filling a void. It is to be staffed by up to five doctors, including a family practitioner with a quarter century of experience in palliative care. These physicians will help patients who have a diagnosed medical need determine the best strain of pot for their ailment, find the right dosage and even learn alternative methods of consumption. Quebec's medical establishment remains highly skeptical. The College des Medecins expressed reservations about the pot clinic operating in the absence of the protocols it has been drafting since spring. The College raises legitimate concerns about the use of marijuana in medicine, including a lack of clinical information on proper dosage, which conditions it is best suited to treat, potential interactions with other drugs and harmful side effects. These urgent questions will require further study. Now Health Minister Gaetan Barrette has panned pot's therapeutic use as "charlatanism." Even Health Canada's website bears a disclaimer in bold black lettering: "Dried marijuana is not an approved drug or medicine in Canada. The Government of Canada does not endorse the use of marijuana, but the courts have required reasonable access to a legal source of marijuana when authorized by a physician." While the College dithers, Barrette criticizes and Health Canada sends mixed messages, thousands of patients are left in the lurch. The new clinic may be winging it to a certain extent, but the doctors who run it seem to have experience with patients who use marijuana and have put protocols in place that they expect to mirror the College's forthcoming directives. They are also stepping up to do what many other physicians and the medical establishment won't. Marijuana possession without a medical exemption remains outlawed in Canada - in any amount - though enforcement is inconsistent. Almost two dozen U.S. states have legalized marijuana for recreational use while political debate rages here about legalization. The arrival of Montreal's first medical marijuana clinic is a reminder that many questions remain about the rightful place of cannabis in the world of pharmacology. But as long as it's a legal therapy that many patients are benefiting from, Sante Cannabis should be welcomed for its willingness to fill a crying clinical need. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt