Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jan 2017
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.montrealgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Christopher Curtis
Page: A4

DOCTORS CHALLENGE MEDICINAL POT CHAIN

A new chain of Montreal-area medicinal marijuana clinics hasn't yet
opened, but its methods are already being challenged by Quebec's college
of physicians.

And while the man behind these clinics says he's complying with the rules
outlined by Health Canada's medicinal cannabis program, he also admits
that some of the doctors he works with are based out of province and will
prescribe the drug via Skype teleconference.

This practice is illegal, according to the College des medecins du Quebec.

"Doctors prescribing cannabis to a patient in Quebec have to be based in
Quebec. The rules are pretty clear about that," said Caroline Langis, a
spokesperson for the college. "A doctor needs to be a member of the
(physicians college) and abide by its rules. There's no getting around
that."

The clinics co-founder, Antonio Bramante, says Quebec's strict guidelines
around medicinal cannabis have forced his hand.

"It's so difficult in Quebec to see a doctor that they force the patients
to go out of province," said Bramante, the co-founder of the Natures
Decision clinic set to open in Ville Emard this week. "Because we have
such difficulty working with doctors in Quebec, in some cases it is a
doctor out of province."

For the past year, Bramante has made a business of connecting Montreal
patients to doctors who can prescribe them medicinal marijuana.

Bramante says he has about 200 clients and charges between $99 and $299 a
year to help find them a doctor who will prescribe them the drug under
Health Canada's medicinal cannabis program. Patients who can't afford the
fee are sometimes referred to a doctor free of charge, Bramante says.

This week, Bramante will open a clinic on de l'Eglise Ave. in Ville Emard,
and he says he will launch clinics in St-Laurent and on the South Shore
later this winter. The Ville Emard clinic is operating with a permit from
the city and only refers patients to producers licensed by the federal
government, Bramante said.

Bramante says he's simply trying to help those who suffer from chronic
pain to find an alternative to opiate-based painkillers like OxyContin.

"People overdose on those pills, they die from them," Bramante said. "We
just want to give them another option."

The clinics aren't Bramante's first venture into the marijuana business.

In 2010, Bramante was among those arrested when police raided a cannabis
dispensary in Lachine. Bramante, a former real-estate agent, says he
merely helped the dispensary's owners find a locale for their dispensary.

Crown prosecutors charged him with trafficking marijuana, but the case was
later withdrawn. Though he wasn't convicted of trafficking, Bramante lost
his real-estate licence because of the arrest.

"It was ridiculous. I had nothing to do with it," Bramante said. "As far
as I was concerned, I did my due diligence. It was legal as far as I could
see. I got the blessing from my director at the broker house and we went
ahead. I didn't just go off on a whim."

Since losing his licence, Bramante said he has been working as a
real-estate consultant and a business consultant with startups.

The Natures Decision clinics will not be storefront dispensaries, Bramante
said. He says there will be doctors on site and that he will only connect
patients with growers licensed through Health Canada.

"We're hoping to help patients access their medicine, that's all we want
to do," Bramante said. "I've done this for a year, but it's been under the
radar. I've driven patients to see doctors. Some of our patients are
elderly people in chronic pain. We're very compassionate and we're not
skirting the rules."

There are about 3,000 Quebecers licensed to use medicinal marijuana.

Doctors in the province can only prescribe cannabis once all other options
have been exhausted. In the rare cases a patient is licensed to use the
drug, they must submit to a research protocol that tracks how the cannabis
is interacting with other drugs.

"There's a whole system of doctor's follow-ups and supervision that these
clinics don't appear to be following," Langis said. "The rules are in
place for a reason."
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