Pubdate: Fri, 13 May 2016 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2016 The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Author: Mike Hager Page: A5 VETERANS' POT-PRESCRIPTION RATES RAISE FLAGS Health Officials Are Looking into the Practice of Some Former-Soldiers' Groups Getting Kickbacks From Medical-Marijuana Producers The recent explosion in the number of veterans being reimbursed for medical marijuana, flagged by the Auditor-General in a critical report, is being fuelled by groups in the Atlantic provinces connecting former soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder with licensed growers hungry for patients. The practice has raised flags at Health Canada, where officials have looked into efforts by some veterans groups to leverage kickbacks from medical producers in exchange for providing them with patients. Veterans are part of the only publicly funded plan in the country for medical marijuana. Groups that represent them offer a small but lucrative patient base for Canada's two dozen licensed producers, which are fighting for their share of a competitive market while facing pressure from an illegal dispensary sector rapidly spreading east from Vancouver. Auditor-General Michael Ferguson, in a report last week, found the number of veterans with pot prescriptions has increased 11 times to more than 1,300 registered patients since Ottawa overhauled its previous home-growing regime just over two years ago. These former soldiers are covered for up to 10 grams a day, three times more cannabis than the average Canadian patient is authorized to use, and Veterans Affairs Canada said it reimburses them for anywhere from $6 to $14 a gram. The average price paid by patients of the system is $8.14 a gram, according to official data from last December. Veterans Affairs paid out $12.1 million for these prescriptions from April to December of last year and, by the end of this fiscal year, they could make up a third of all drug payouts for veterans. The department, which announced an ongoing review of the ballooning costs earlier this year, has accepted the Auditor-General's recommendations to create stricter controls on the program. Buried in the Auditor-General's report was the fact that 53 per cent of the more than 1,300 veterans that got prescriptions last year did so from just four doctors. The report did not specify where those doctors practise. Veterans in Atlantic Canada represent about 15 per cent of all former soldiers, but nearly two-thirds of veterans using medical marijuana live in the Eastern provinces. This trend has been fuelled in large part by groups such as New Brunswick-based Marijuana For Trauma (MFT), co-founded by veteran Fabian Henry. Mr. Henry said he has organized hundreds of former soldiers suffering from PTSD to get reimbursed for their medical pot, and has no problem asking licensed producers to share a cut of sales or a set fee for referring such patients. His non-profit group will continue raising funds this way, he said, in order to offer its more than 500 members other holistic therapies not covered by the government, such as hyperbaric oxygen treatments, cannabis education, cooking classes, peer support and spousal programs. "MFT has set up a program for healing the body, mind and soul," Mr. Henry said via e-mail. "Until there is a system to provide a ... holistic healing option for treatment, we will continue as we are." There are few guidelines that cover the relationship between patients, doctors, clinics specializing in pot prescriptions and growers, which, unlike traditional drug companies, sell their products directly to consumers. Health Canada does not approve marijuana as a drug or medicine, but is compelled to regulate it by the courts, which have consistently ruled that Canadians must have reasonable access to medical marijuana. After Mr. Henry told The Globe and Mail last June that his group routinely asks licensed producers to share a cut of sales or a set fee for referring patients, Health Canada said it was "actively looking into the issue" of whether such kickbacks present a conflict of interest for the growers. The agency issued a bulletin to the producers warning them to "take care to avoid any situation that could compromise the health and safety of patients; for example, giving or offering inappropriate direct or indirect payments or inducements to any individual or organization." Despite Mr. Henry's public comments, department spokesman Sean Upton said in a statement e-mailed last week that Health Canada "did not have any reason to find that any licensed producers were not in compliance with the regulations." "If Health Canada became aware of a licensed producer engaged in the practice of paying for referrals, the department would investigate and take the appropriate compliance and enforcement action, if warranted," Mr. Upton wrote. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom