Pubdate: Thu, 18 Dec 2014
Source: Metro (Calgary, CN AB)
Copyright: 2014 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Calgary
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4471
Author: Jeremy Nolais

WEED REFERRAL SERVICE SEES 'EXPLODING' DEMAND FOR DRUG

Bud Business Booms. Patients Offered Fast-Track Marijuana Prescriptions

"Weed helped me because it heightens my mood, saving me from the 
harsh reality."

Kimberly Baird says that, at one point, she was swallowing 180 pills 
a day. The 31-year-old suffers from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Her left hand and left ankle are both paralyzed; she relies on a 
wheelchair to get around. The pain comes in waves but it's 
debilitating when it hits - Metro's first visit to her Inglewood home 
had to be cancelled last-minute because Baird couldn't get to the door.

Over the phone, her voice quivers; at one point she lost the ability 
to speak for a full year because the nerves in her neck became paralyzed.

The meds hardly help, and Baird said each set comes with "evil side 
effects." She becomes "foggy headed" performing simple tasks like 
washing the dishes. "It was like I was losing my mind. I could hardly 
function," she said. There's just one pain reliever she actually 
trusts:marijuana.

"Weed helped me because it heightens my mood, saving me from the 
harsh reality," Baird said. "As of now, I can't eat unless I smoke 
marijuana.... It has gained me control of sensory issues.... The pain 
is so intense I couldn't feel the normal signal your body sends when 
you have to go to the bathroom."

But physicians willing to prescribe marijuana are virtually 
non-existent in Alberta, forcing most to venture to B.C. or meet with 
a willing doctor in another province online. Neither option really 
proved feasible for Baird, but then she learned of the newly launched 
Cannapply Medical Services. For a fee of $250, the two-man team, both 
prescribed medicinal marijuana users themselves, will venture

Multiple sclerosis sufferer Kimberly Baird to a prospective patient's 
home and provide him or her with a full briefing on marijuana - how 
to get a prescription, how to smoke it, what effects the various 
strains have and so on.

"We're basically holding their hand through the entire process.... 
Once we go through the education, if they don't have the necessary 
family records (for marijuana approval), we can definitely refer them 
to a family doctor that's accepting new patients to do further 
investigation," said Kyle Wilson, Cannapply's founder.

"Or I've got a group of psychologists on board willing to help with 
specialty reports for depression, ADHD and high anxiety," added 
Wilson. He was part of the team that launched Calgary's only 
marijuana-prescribing clinic, Oasis, earlier this year. When Metro 
caught up with Oasis in September, 150 patients had been licensed for 
marijuana use. Since then, Wilson said the number has shot up to 400. 
He said Cannapply provides patients with a fast-track approach that 
keeps them from sitting on a wait list or spending hours in the 
clinic undergoing various screenings to determine whether they're a 
proper candidate.

Wilson has eyes on quintupling his "compassion crew" to 10 staff in 
2015, allowing them to meet what he says is a surging demand. "It's 
exploding," he said. "We haven't even touched on the marketing we can 
do.... My personal belief is there's 15,000-20,000 people in Calgary 
alone that can qualify."

For more information about Cannapply Medical Services, head to 
www.cannapply.mdom.mobi
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom