Pubdate: Thu, 20 Oct 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: S1

MEDICAL POT USERS ASK OTTAWA TO CUT COSTS, UPDATE STATUS

Medical cannabis patients are urging the federal government to make
marijuana more affordable by encouraging insurers to cover it and
dropping the sales tax once it is legalized.

Earlier this week, 15 patients from across Canada spoke with four
members of the government's legalization task force about how medical
cannabis helps them with a variety of ailments. They told the panel
that the cost of medical marijuana often causes financial hardship,
according to event facilitator Hilary Black, founder of Vancouver's
oldest dispensary and current director of patient services at licensed
commercial grower Bedrocan.

The event was sponsored by the Arthritis Society, Canadians for Fair
Access to Medical Marijuana and the Canadian AIDS Society, and
attended by patients from different backgrounds, including a police
officer, a veteran, and a woman whose epileptic son uses cannabis,
said Ms. Black.

The nine-member task force, led by former justice minister Anne
McLellan, must submit its final report next month and so far has met
youth and experts in relevant fields such as health care, substance
abuse, criminal justice, law enforcement, economics and the legal and
illegal production of cannabis. But it hadn't yet talked directly with
patients until Tuesday, Ms. Black said.

Those patients overwhelmingly want Ottawa to remove the sales tax on
marijuana and to declare it a medicine so insurers are more inclined
to offer coverage. Health Canada has not approved marijuana as a medicine.

Before being marketed, any drug must be issued a unique number by
Health Canada that identifies its manufacturer, product name, active
ingredients, strength, pharmaceutical form and route of
administration.

"I don't think it's realistic for a herb that has many active
ingredients in it to be able to check the boxes of getting a drug
identification number," she said. "We're recommending that they give
cannabis its own directorate and find a way to give it its own
approval status."

Currently, only veterans, some first responders and a small number of
private citizens get their medical marijuana covered by health
insurance providers.

Jonathan Zaid, head of the patient advocacy group Canadians for Fair
Access to Medical Marijuana, said the cost of cannabis was
consistently stressed by patients at Tuesday's roundtable, which
included Ms. McLellan.

"Very few patients are able to afford their medicine," said Mr. Zaid,
a part-time undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo's
knowledge integration program.

Mr. Zaid made headlines last year when his private insurer agreed to
cover his medical cannabis as part of his health plan, which is
administrated by the university's student union. Mr. Zaid suffers from
a rare neurological condition that gives him a daily persistent headache.

Before Sun Life Financial Inc. began covering his drug, he was paying
about $800 a month for buds bought from Canada's legal mail-order
system. Now, with 80 per cent of his drug covered, he spends about
$150 to $200 a month.

"It's not the most inexpensive medication [now], but lots of the other
medications I was on before are just as much money," he said.

Both Ms. Black and Mr. Zaid said marijuana patients want Ottawa to
ensure that they have reliable access to the drug under any new system
that governs recreational and medical sales.

Health Canada tweaked its medical marijuana system this summer to
allow for personal production in response to a Federal Court ruling
earlier this year that a ban on home-grown marijuana violated a
patient's Charter right to life, liberty and security of the person
and ordered the federal government to make the drug more accessible
and affordable.

Under the new regime, which took effect on Aug. 24, patients who
consume a gram a day - about the average prescription, according to
Health Canada - can expect to be allowed to grow about two plants
outdoors or five indoors (the two environments produce different
yields). The licensed producers will remain the sole legal source of
seeds and plants.

The groups that organized Tuesday's meeting say they want patients to
be able to buy their medicine through the mail as well as in person
through pharmacies or dispensaries.
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MAP posted-by: Matt