Pubdate: Tue, 03 Feb 2015
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Page: A8

THE NOT-SO-FREE MARKET IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA

In 2013, Health Canada announced a change that it said would allow a
"free market" in medical marijuana to flourish: It transferred
responsibility for production from small growers to large commercial
operations - and when the change came into effect in April, investors
flocked to the new start-ups. (Some jokingly referred to a "dot-bong
bubble.") But while numerous companies are now competing in the
industry, it had become clear the new market is anything but free.

As the Financial Post reported on Saturday, Bedrocan Cannabis Corp. -
whose parent company has years of experience producing medical
marijuana for the Dutch government - is set to open a 50,000-square
foot grow op in Toronto. It will join 14 other companies that are
licensed to grow and distribute, and eight licensed only to grow.

These 23 firms were the lucky ones: Health Canada initially received
over 1,000 applications for medical marijuana licenses, but chose to
grant them only to a small percentage of them. And even the lucky 23
are finding it hard to distinguish themselves from the competition,
thanks to draconian restrictions that prevent them from doing any
direct marketing of their products.

In November, Health Canada sent letters to 20 licensed producers
informing them that some of the information on their websites and
social media accounts was in violation of the advertising ban. This
included pictures of the products, links to other websites that
promote the products and information about what strains can best treat
different diseases.

It is understandable that pharmaceutical companies would be prohibited
from making false or misleading claims about their products. It is
also true that medical marijuana companies have to abide by the same
rules as many other drug manufacturers. But a medical cannabis
prescription is different than one for, say, OxyContin or Tylenol 3:
In the latter case, a doctor will know which drug is best for treating
certain symptoms; medical marijuana patients, on the other hand, are
given a general prescription and must discover for themselves which
strains can best treat their disease.

The website for Quebec-based Hydropothecary Inc., for example, lists
its products as "Good Morning," "Midday," "After Dinner" and
"Bedtime." This presumably tells patients which strains will give them
energy and which will put them to sleep, but it does not tell them
which will be better for treating glaucoma and which ones cancer
patients should be taking to improve their appetite. It would be like
walking into a pharmacy and not being told that Aspirin is for
headaches and Reactine is for allergies.

"Rather than saying this product will be good for helping you sleep,
you get companies saying this is 'Purple Head Explosion'," Chris
Parry, a consultant to the medical marijuana industry, told the Post.
"I don't know how that helps anybody."

Indeed, for a free market to function properly, there needs to be a
free flow of information between consumers and producers. We are
talking about patients who have been told by a doctor that they could
benefit from medical cannabis, and growers who have passed Health
Canada's rigorous licensing process. As such, there is no good reason
not to allow them to communicate with one another - especially
considering the government intended to set up a marketplace that would
produce lower prices and better quality medicine.
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MAP posted-by: Matt