Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jul 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Mike Hager
Page: S1

AUSTRALIAN FAMILY PINS HEALTH HOPES ON CANNABIS

Bobby Fulton is a cannabis-oil evangelist. The Australian woman 
uprooted her family two weeks ago to spend the summer in Victoria so 
her two daughters suffering a rare degenerative lung disease could 
get a steady, legal supply of the drug.

The family of seven has been given free accommodation in Victoria and 
free cannabis by a local marijuana advocate and says it is now taking 
advantage of last month's Supreme Court ruling ensuring a patient's 
right to consume cannabis derivatives, which Ms. Fulton credits with 
extending her daughters' lives.

Back in their Australian hometown, located just south of Adelaide, 
12-year-old Tabetha and Georgia-Grace, 8, used corticosteroids to 
manage the inflammation for years, but those drugs have caused 
serious side effects such as osteoporosis, weight gain and damage to 
the liver and kidneys, Ms. Fulton said.

Both need to be hooked up to a constant supply of oxygen to manage 
the inflammation of their lungs that makes them feel as if "it's like 
they're walking up a very, very steep hill," Ms. Fulton said.

After her elder daughter collapsed last October from toxic levels of 
the steroids, the family tried cannabis oil.

Within two weeks, Tabetha's heart had returned to its normal size and 
a month after consuming cannabis oil on a daily basis she needed 
oxygen only at night, her mother said.

But using cannabis oil in Tabetha's situation was still illegal in 
their state, so they are spending six weeks in Victoria to treat both 
daughters with a millilitre of sunflower oil infused with THC each morning.

"Our main objective is, of course, to extend our daughters' lives," 
Ms. Fulton said.

Ms. Fulton said she makes the oil herself by cooking dried marijuana 
at a heat low enough to extract the medicinal, not psychoactive, 
ingredients from the drug. Alex Abellan, the founder of the National 
Access Cannabis chain of clinics, said the two girls are on a 
six-month medical visa and were able to get medical marijuana 
prescriptions mailed to his home, where he is letting the Fultons 
stay, through the federally licensed system.

So far, 11 of Canada's 25 licensed commercial-scale pot growers have 
applied to Health Canada to sell cannabis oils, but they must pass 
inspections of their new production facilities before they receive an 
official exemption to sell the new products.

Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada released a unanimous decision 
that said patients had the right to consume the drug in ways other 
than smoking, such as oils, cookies and tinctures. The court said 
Health Canada's system subjected sick people to the risk of cancer 
and bronchial infections and could prevent them from choosing a more 
effective treatment.

At the time, federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose said she was 
outraged by the ruling, but Health Canada announced last week that it 
would allow licensed producers to sell the oil. The producers have 
been mailing dried marijuana to registered patients since the medical 
marijuana system was overhauled last year.

Producers will not be able to sell seeds or any plant material that 
can be used to propagate marijuana.

Brent Zettl, CEO of licensed producer Prairie Plant Systems, 
estimated that every one of the licensed commercial growers will 
eventually seek Health Canada's approval to cultivate and sell 
cannabis oil, a process that will be "just like a brand new 
application, almost." He said producers will want to capitalize on 
the high consumer demand for oils, especially from parents of sick 
children and seniors who are against smoking dried cannabis, which 
activates more of the plant's psychoactive properties.

Mr. Zettl, whose company was the first grower licensed under Health 
Canada's new regime, said the addition of oils could give the 
industry a much-needed boost in sales. He said Canada's network of 
large growers are supplying only about half the roughly 42,000 
patients that were registered under the old federal system, which 
allowed small-scale licensed producers to grow at home. Health Canada 
couldn't confirm these numbers Thursday.

"Everyone's hurting," he said of the licensed producers.

By offering oils, producers also hope to bridge the "large 
disconnect" with the country's medical establishment, he said. 
Doctors are the gatekeepers to the medical marijuana system, but the 
majority have resisted prescribing the drug because of a dearth of 
clinical evidence and a fear over improper dosing.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom