Medical Marijuana - The Basics

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This July Toronto played host to a three-day expo designed to promote the use of medical marijuana and hemp and educate the public on responsible use. Meanwhile, recent news stories about raids on compassion clubs - organizations designed to distribute marijuana for medical purposes - in places like Montreal and Quebec City have many readers unclear about the actual status of medical marijuana in our country.

For almost ten years, Canadians suffering from grave or debilitating illnesses where conventional treatments are inappropriate or inadequate have been allowed to apply for access to marijuana as part of their treatment. Currently eligible individuals include those who are receiving compassionate, end-of-life care (palliative treatment), those that suffer severe pain or persistent muscle spasms from MS, spinal cord injuries or disease, individuals suffering severe pain or weight loss from cancer or HIV/AIDS, individuals suffering severe pain from arthritis, and those suffering seizures from epilepsy. Other individuals may also be eligible to apply for access to medical marijuana if they suffer debilitating symptoms from their condition and the symptoms cannot be effectively treated or managed with conventional methods.

Applicants must provide basic background information about themselves and their condition. The application must be accompanied by a medical declaration in support of the application completed by a medical practitioner. Applicants must also submit passport-sized photographs that will be used on identification cards issued once the application process is complete and approved. The photo identification can be used to establish that the individual is authorized to possess marijuana for medical purposes.

Applicants may choose to access medical marijuana in one of three ways. Individuals may choose to grow their own supply of marijuana for medical purposes, they may designate another individual to grow the marijuana for them, or they may choose to access it through Health Canada. Marijuana produced for Health Canada is highly standardized and controlled and is available in seed form for those individuals that choose to grow their own marijuana. Either the seeds or marijuana in its dried form may be purchased from Health Canada. All individuals wishing to produce medical marijuana must obtain a licence from Health Canada.

The compassion clubs mentioned at the outset of this article were targeted because although the clients of these clubs generally were authorized to access medical marijuana, under the regulatory scheme there are only three options for legally obtaining it - under a license to grow it themselves, obtaining it from an individual designated by the applicant and licensed by Health Canada, or from Health Canada. It is pretty clear that these types of organizations fall outside of the regulatory scheme for medical marijuana.

What perhaps is less clear is the position of the medical community on the entire issue of medical marijuana and the role that the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations play in all of this. In order to more fully understand this, we need to go back some ten years to an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that effectively ordered the federal government to make regulations regarding the use of medical marijuana.

The court case of Parker v R held that the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act was unconstitutional insofar as a total prohibition against the possession of marijuana went. In essence the court ruled that the defendant's rights were violated when he was forced to choose between his health and imprisonment. The federal government was given one year to put something in place that would allow eligible individuals access to marijuana for medical purposes. The result was the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations, overseen by Health Canada. The problem is that at this time the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations has not yet assessed medical marijuana regarding safety, efficacy or quality yet all drugs sold in Canada are to be vetted under the Act.

While the medical community waits for sufficient scientific support for the use of medical marijuana they appear to be proceeding with caution. In the meantime it may be sometimes difficult for individuals to obtain the necessary medical support for their application for access to medical marijuana even though the regulatory scheme is in place.