cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana To Sell for $5 Per Gram
Medical Marijuana To Sell for $5 Per Gram
Posted by CN Staff on August 05, 2003 at 20:08:01 PT
By Barbara Sibbald
Source: CMAJ
There is no question physicians will play a crucial role in implementing Canada's new interim policy for providing medical marijuana, but many questions remain about how they will do it. Under the interim policy, announced July 9, the 582 Canadian patients who have met requirements of the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) will be allowed to buy 30 marijuana seeds for $20, and then grow them for medical purposes.
They will also be able to buy dried marijuana for $5 per gram, or about $140 an ounce. (Black-market marijuana costs $300 to $750 an ounce, according to the RCMP.) Health Canada currently has 370 kg of marijuana with a THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content of 10% ready for distribution. Physician approval is required before patients can receive it. The seeds and marijuana will be provided by Prairie Plant Systems Inc. in Flin Flon, Man., which is under contract with Health Canada to produce marijuana for clinical trials. The marijuana will be sent to participating physicians for distribution purposes; only doctors who have signed a patient's MMAR form will be asked to do this. Cindy Cripps-Prawak, director of the Office of Cannabis Medical Access, said MDs "are acting as an intermediary for Health Canada" in the distribution. She said the amount provided "will be based on the dosage recommended by the physician," and this could be as much as 4.2 g per day (about 6 cigarettes). There are no clinical guidelines. Setting the exact dosage is a "challenge Health Canada and doctors share," Cripps-Prawak added. For health reasons, patients will be encouraged to use the drug as a tea or in baked goods instead of smoking it. Ottawa was forced to put an interim policy in place after the Ontario Superior Court ruled that the federal regulations were unconstitutional because they did not provide a distribution method. The court gave the government 6 months to act. If it had not, the 582 exemptions allowing medicinal use of the drug would have become invalid. Although Ottawa tried to put a positive spin on the policy, CMA President Dana Hanson was less than impressed. "Our unease over use of medical marijuana has been ignored in this new policy," he said. However, Hanson also acknowledged that despite physicians' displeasure over their unsought role in the medical marijuana debate, they must continue to participate in it. "The government needs to get it right, so we continue to be willing to work with them," he said. — Barbara Sibbald, CMAJ Source: Canadian Medical Association Journal (Canada)Author: Barbara SibbaldPublished: August 5, 2003Copyright: 2003 Canadian Medical AssociationWebsite: http://www.cmaj.ca/Contact pubs cma.caDL: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/169/3/222Related Articles & Web Site:Canadians for Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccess.ca/Ottawa MDs Won't Handle Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16842.shtmlMedicinal Marijuana Use Divides Physicianshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16837.shtmlMDs Balk At Dispensing Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16830.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by Marc Paquette on August 07, 2003 at 15:35:18 PT:
Mrs Anne McLellan...Minister of HELL Canada
MedPot.net Article
Mrs Anne McLellan.. Minister of "HELL" (Health) CANADA!Now, not only that doctors and specialists across Canada were told by the Canadian Medical Association not to get involved in signing medical marijuana applications at Health Canada, and instead of supplying the sick and dying that has medical marijuana exemptions by July 9, 2003 as ordered by Justice Lederman's Superior Court of Ontario decision on last January 9, Minister Anne McLellan offered access at a catch 22 form with plenty of unfair and intolerable conditions that NO other sick people in this country has to go trough!. She also wants us to sign a promise that we would be supplied by them only and get this oath signed with our physician at a lawyer's office or a commissioner of oath. Who will pay for this? Not them, of course. More financial hardship from them...this is intolerable.Every time they send us Exemptees more forms, like the 59 page form to apply for our medical marijuana...it's a costly adventure in time, as it can take weeks or months for appointments, and most doctors and specialists will charge some fees to file those forms. All of this abuse creates financial hardship on a group of people which lives mostly on disability pensions. They make us run all the time and it gets pretty costly on our physical and mental conditions...and travelling expenses. Doctors were also warned by Canadian medical associations not to get involved in distributing marijuana to authorized Exemptees. What a waste of our tax dollars all of this ("HELL") Health Canada nightmare! What a waste of lives too! All that stress that could be avoided if it wouldn't be of that Prohibition!Also, if you read about Health Canada's real official intentions for both supplying marijuana for research and also for supplying some of Canada's sickest people which has a medical marijuana exemption, there is nothing in the official 2000-116 Health Canada's document and press release that the marijuana was supposed to be sold to anyone. This is ALL our tax dollars in order to bring relief to the sick and dying Canadians.Shame on you Anne McLellan! One day, you may also be very sick and your liver (or) stomach will completely be intolerant to all pharmaceutical chemical medications, just like the situation that I'm victim of and so many Canadians are.Also, since I have an old Section 56 marijuana exemption, my grower which is not needed to be identified, grows the best organic and the highest potency of marijuana I ever smoked for our cost price of around $14 per ounce, including electricity for the grow lights, Peters fertilizers and everything. Now..you want to sell us marijuana which was not supposed to be sold first place, and at $150 per ounce too! WHAT A BUNCH OF CROOKS! This is over 1000 percent of profit! At those prices, it's about or just slightly under than street prices. They are also offering a lesser quality of marijuana than the best offered on the black market, and it also contains chemical contaminants. The sick and dying needs the best and strongest qualities of marijuana because there is less smoked. They have added stems and leaves to make their marijuana less potent...the more fibres smoked...the more dangerous for your lungs! They are also putting too much responsabilities on doctors and specialists by making THEM responsible! All responsabilities should be the patient's ONLY.Like I said so well on CTV when I was at the Medpot Rally protest on Parliament Hill on July 9, 2003: "It's a FARCE!"..a very bad and distasteful one! I want OUT of this before they kill me with their STRESS!Marc Paquette, Federal Medpot Exemptee at Health Canada since March 24, 2000 and at his 11th exemption since! Come and visit us at www.medpot.net as I own the site.
http://www.medpot.net
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on August 06, 2003 at 17:22:08 PT
E-Mail Corrected Now
Thanks aolbites!
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on August 06, 2003 at 15:35:23 PT
aolbites
Thank you. I've been trying to change the email in the article but sometimes it's harder then others. I don't know why the contact information was what it was but thank you for the correct one.
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Comment #11 posted by Virgil on August 06, 2003 at 11:31:12 PT
Continuing comment 10
The May 16th ruling is one path. The Crown is arguing that prohibition is still not dead if it is upheld.The January 9th ruling that let the unconstitutional MMAR have a second chance if something was introduced was met with the interim report. It is hard to figure out of course, but it should be this court that rules if the interim report is constitutional. Any garbage meets the requirements of the stay. The evaluation has to come and say, that did not cut it. You did not meet the requirements of the stay and it is over. But there have been 2 stays already and if the interim report is declared unconstitutional, how could they give another stay? Of course there is the May 16th path that will have to be overruled to continue prohibition. Until that decision is reversed there are no possession laws if not cannabis laws in Ontario. And since drug charges are prosecuted by the Federal Crown many say there are no cannabis laws in Canada.
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Comment #10 posted by Virgil on August 06, 2003 at 11:19:38 PT
P.S. - comment 9
On July 31, 2000 the Ontario Supreme Court declared the possession laws unconstitutional and gave the government a year to correct it. So on the last day of the year, the government submitted the MMAR. This met the requirements of doing something and if they had not then the possession or whatever laws on cannabis would have been dead from July 31, 2000.Now the courts had to evaluate the MMAR. There are two paths. One went the way of a January 9th ruling that said yes they are bad but you have another 6 months to fix them. The deadline for this path came on the day the government introduced the interim plan which would again meet the requirements of the stay until it is evaluated by the courts. The other was the May 16th decision of a different path that basically said "yes, the MMAR is unconstitutional and that is it. No more time and no laws as of now." It is that path that is the most promising.
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Comment #9 posted by Virgil on August 06, 2003 at 11:03:21 PT
Deafened by silence
I cannot get over how there is no discussion out of the court cases heard last week by the Ontario Supreme Court. John Turmel has put up a third segment on his transcripts that come from an audio tape using his boombox- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MedPot/message/956There were four cases being heard over two days and it is just too confusing to make much sense of it without an overview. He refers to the first two cases heard as using Rogin and Lederman who were the judges. Lederman gave the 6 month stay on the Superior Court level and that seems to be the primary difference-http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/15/thread15157.shtml Rogin was the Judge that upheld Phillips (he made the January 2nd ruling that there were known laws against cannabis in Ontario) on May 16th on the Superior Court level that made the ruling binding in all of Ontario- http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread16326.shtml In JCT's words: The Rogin case doesn't undercut Lederman. It agrees that the MMAR didn't comply for a different reason. It only undercuts Lederman's giving them 6 months extra. Nothing else.The third case is transcripted in medpot message 956. He refers to JP and this may mean Judge Phillips. Now the January 2nd ruling that through out a possession charge and fired things up was by a Judge Phillips - http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread15099.shtml The second Ontario Judge to throw out a possession charge on January 9th was a Judge Moore- http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread15165.shtmlThe fourth case heard is Turmel that challenges the CDSA itself and it would be poetic justice if the Turmel would be the one to abolish the prohibition on happy grass.So one case is the Jan 2nd ruling by Phillips and the May 16th ruling in Superior Court that upheld that ruling by Rogin. The Lederman ruling said the July 31 introduction of the MMAR on Jan. 9th said it was no good and gave them 6 months to correct it. And the fourth case is Turmel's who is out for the jugular of prohibition.The Crown makes sense in what they are saying as the introduction of anything to meet the stay seems sufficient. If they introduce garbage that is good enough to meet the stay. They also argue that just because medical rules fall does not mean prohibition falls under section 4. We must have been deafened by silence because I still do not here anything. The simpliest thing to do is wait for a ruling or another pot-tv show I guess.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on August 06, 2003 at 10:10:06 PT
Thanks Dark Star
I didn't know they were going to have to give up the right to grow their own. That's terrible.
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Comment #7 posted by Dark Star on August 06, 2003 at 09:58:54 PT
Canada
The Canadian program is being criticized by the exemptees in strong terms. The amounts offered will not meet current needs, there is no provision for trying different strains, and anyone seeking delivery must sign a statement that they will give up their cultivation permits. It is a fool's bargain to give up a known quantity for an unknown where your health is concerned.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on August 06, 2003 at 09:05:14 PT
afterburner
I know what you mean about this article and nothing on people getting any Cannabis from Flin Flon. Why is there so much silence in the news in Canada and the U.S.?
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Comment #5 posted by afterburner on August 06, 2003 at 08:58:50 PT:
Why Is This Article Written in the Future Tense?
It has been nearly one month since this so-called interim policy was announced. Why is there no reporting of the actual delivery of Flin Flon medical cannabis to the exemptees? Has anyone actually received it? Why the news blackout on the effectiveness of this program? The Canadian Supreme Court deliberating over the access regulations AND the unconstitutionality of CDSA's cannabis prohibition cannot be favourably impressed by silence on the issue of government compliance with the Ontario Superior Court ruling.ego transcendence follows ego destruction, Safe Access Now!
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Comment #4 posted by aolbites on August 06, 2003 at 08:18:27 PT
Submitting letters to the editor
Submitting letters to the editor
[Updated July 3, 2001]Letters may be submitted via our Web site or by mail, courier, email (pubs cma.ca) or fax. They should be no more than 250 words long and must be signed by all authors. A signed copy of letters submitted by email must be sent subsequently to CMAJ by fax or regular mail. Letters written in response to an article published in CMAJ must be submitted within 2 months of the article's publication date. CMAJ corresponds only with the authors of accepted letters. Letters are subject to editing and abridgement.
http://www.cmaj.ca/misc/lettersinfo.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on August 05, 2003 at 22:44:02 PT
EJ That is Odd
I checked the information on Mapincs source page and that was the address provided. I wonder why?
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on August 05, 2003 at 22:29:01 PT
Remote editing?
I was sending them a letter and I noticed that the Canadian Medical Association Journal feedback address is at standford.edu, which is in California. Hmmm. A Canadian medical journal edited in California?
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Comment #1 posted by 312 on August 05, 2003 at 22:22:44 PT
Update on UK Green party arrest
UK: Jailed Green calls for cannabis cafesThe Guardian OnlineMonday 04 Aug 2003---The Green party's drug spokesman, Shane Collins, today called for creation of cannabis cafes in the UK after he was released from prison on appeal after marijuana plants were found in his house.Mr Collins, a former election candidate for the party and long-time campaigner for drugs law reform, had been sentenced to six weeks imprisonment for the possession and cultivation of 19 cannabis plants in his Brixton flat.But today he was released on appeal following five days incarceration in Brixton jail.He said: "We need legal and regulated cannabis cafes to separate cannabis supply from crack and smack, which are the real problem drugs in society.""If the government won't allow cannabis cafe, the only alternatives are street purchase or home cultivation, neither of which is ideal."And he hit out at the waste of resources involved in his prosecution, telling reporters: "I'm relieved that the crown court has overruled a fairly extreme magistrates' court, but I'm frustrated that 19 small plants have caused 6 court appearances, 5 days in prison and at least 8 police
officers' time, as well as a large waste of taxpayers' money."Jenny Jones, the Green party's deputy mayor of London, said: "This is ludicrous when we're on the point of changing the law. It's even worse when the UK has its highest prison population ever. The criminal justice system
is under huge pressure, yet we're being heavy-handed on victimless crime."Mr Collins, who organised this year's 20,000 strong Legalise Cannabis festival in south London, is hoping to stand as a green party candidate for next year's London assembly elections.
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