Pubdate: Mon, 27 Jun 2016
Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2016 The Calgary Sun
Contact: http://www.calgarysun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.calgarysun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/67
Author: Salmaan Farooqui
Page: 4

CAUTION URGED ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

There's still plenty up in the air when it comes to dispensing medical
marijuana, a Saskatchewan pharmacist told colleagues gathered in
Calgary Sunday for their annual conference.

Amy Wiebe, pharmacy manager at the Saskatoon City Hospital, said she
held biases about medical pot in the past.

"There's so much stigma attached to it, and I had a pretty big bias
against it," Wiebe said. "But the more I learned, the more I was like,
'OK maybe there is something to this.' "

Speaking to the Canadian Pharmacists Association in Calgary, Wiebe
said while the benefits of properly prescribed medical marijuana is
clear, there are many aspects of treatment that have to be fine tuned.

Her speech, which called marijuana a 'moving target,' focused on how
marijuana and the political and medical landscape itself is changing.

In 2001, there were about 500 medical marijuana users, and Wiebe said
some estimates set the figure at 70,000 users now.

Meanwhile, the federal government next year is to introduce
legislation to legalized cannabis in Canada.

Wiebe noted the potency of the drug has changed as well over the
decades. In the 1960s, the potency of THC, the main component of
marijuana that causes euphoric effects, was about 1-2%, while now
there are strains available with around 25% potency.

Now, Wiebe said, the main challenge physicians face is to find the
perfect sweet spot of how large prescription doses should be. She said
her advice on that is to "start slow, go slow," using low doses at
first and incrementally increasing to find the right sweet spot.

"We know that sometimes there's a fine line between what's going to
work … versus what's going to cause somebody to have negative effects
that'll outweigh the benefits," she said.

Wiebe said most of cannabis' negative effects are short-term ones that
wear off as patients come down from the drug.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt