The Canadian Medical Association wants to phase out the medicinal marijuana system now that recreational marijuana has been legalized.
The CMA claim that they want the system gone because some physicians find that a patient coming to them to ask about medicinal marijuana puts the physician in an awkward position. They feel as though they’re acting as a gatekeeper, which is not necessarily the case.
Marijuana has been used for a variety of reasons throughout history. One of the earliest mentions of marijuana was in Chinese medical transcripts in 2737 B.C.E. for its use as treatment of afflictions such as gout, malaria, and joint pain.
It arrived to the Americas in the 16th century and grew alongside tobacco, but only grew in popularity substantially in the early 20th century where it was used recreationally in bars and jazz clubs and medicinally in cases of labour pains or nausea. In 1923 marijuana was added to the confidential restricted list in the Canadian Narcotics Drug Act. Even so, in the 60’s the plant became a symbol of the social movement of that time. Marijuana was only legalized medicinally in 2013 which kickstarted the industry.
Many Canadians have found using marijuana medicinally has yielded fantastic results in their quality of life. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, Medicinal uses for marijuana nowadays usually include; reducing nausea, promoting appetite, reducing pain and inflammation, controlling epileptic seizures, and the treatment of some mental Illness like depression or insomnia.
“Recent animal studies have shown that marijuana extracts may help kill certain cancer cells and reduce the size of others” according to the National institute on Drug Abuse, “extracts from whole-plant marijuana can slow the growth of cancer cells from one of the most serious types of brain tumours.”
However, with the legalization of recreational marijuana in 2018, access to Marijuana has become both easier and harder for Canadians. One main reason it’s easier is because Marijuana can now be purchased online and be delivered within a few days. However it has also become harder because, in British Columbia, the sales and distribution of recreational marijuana is controlled by the BC Liquor Distribution Branch. The LDB only has one physical store in the province, and it’s in Kamloops. The only real solution for anyone who can’t get up to Kamloops is to buy online.
Buying online doesn’t sound like much of a hardship, however if a medicinal marijuana user has to purchase through the recreational markets, they could face some real issues. Not everyone is capable or comfortable ordering marijuana online. Seniors who use medicinal marijuana as treatment but are not online, as studied by the Pew Research Center, would have no access to the LDB website. Also, different forms of cannabis do different things with different treatments and if there is no medical professional prescribing dosage amounts or assessing potential dangers, that patient is at risk of underusing or overdosing.
“The medical profession, as a whole, has really struggled with the whole concept of medical cannabis. There's definitely some physicians who feel comfortable in that area but most don’t," argues Dr. Jeff Blackmer, vice-president of medical professionalism for the Canadian Medical Association.
A physicians discomfort is no excuse for denying someone a medical service when there are obvious benefits to using marijuana. Now that it is no longer necessary to see a physician in order to get marijuana at all, that discomfort should pass as patients would only see physicians when they are genuinely curious about health benefits and their personal well-being.
Rather than phasing out the medicinal marijuana system entirely, the medicinal and recreational systems need to work symbiotically in providing a product that works on a medically beneficial and recreationally enjoyable level. More medical research should be conducted to discover more potential uses of marijuana and physicians should continue advising their patients on the risks and benefits of using marijuana.
References:
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