SUBMISSION OF THE BEYOND PROHIBITION FOUNDATION IN RESPONSE TO PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS TO HEALTH CANADA’S MARIHUANA MEDICAL ACCESS PROGRAM
INTRODUCTION
The Beyond Prohibition Foundation was established in 2010 to advocate for the repeal of cannabis prohibition and its replacement with a system of regulated production and distribution. It operates the website www.whyprohibition.ca, Canada's largest dedicated drug policy reform website and host to more than 30,000 members. The Foundation's mission includes advocacy on behalf of safe access to medicinal cannabis and cannabis byproducts for those obtaining therapeutic and medicinal benefit.
This submission responds to Health Canada's consultation document titled "Proposed Improvements to Health Canada's Marihuana Medical Access Program" (the "Consultation Document"). In the Consultation Document, Health Canada foreshadows significant changes to Canada's medical cannabis policies. The Foundation welcomes Health Canada's tacit acknowledgement that the current Marihuana Medical Access Regulation (MMAR) system is deeply flawed and in need of significant reform. That reform is necessary in two primary areas: (1) the need to improve access to the legal protections afforded by the legislative and regulatory scheme; and (2) the need to provide consumers with safe access to an effective supply of medicinal cannabis and cannabis byproducts. This submission lays out the Foundation's view of the proposed changes and offers suggestions for making necessary improvements to the federal program.
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I am deeply concerned about the response by Health Canada to the various court decisions declaring its existing medical marijuana program unconstitutional. The proposals that have been brought forward fail to deal with the myriad of problems in the program. Specifically, I take issue with the following proposals:
Physician as “Gatekeeper”:
R v Mernagh found that physicians in Canada have effectively boycotted the existing medical marijuana program, and therefore the program itself was unconstitutional. Health Canada's response does nothing to address this boycott beyond the promise of making information accessible to physicians. Any changes to the Health Canada medical marijuana program must abide by the findings in R v Mernagh and meaningfully expand the “Gatekeeper” role beyond physicians, preferably to include Naturopaths, Nurse Practitioners, Doctors of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacists.
Personal and Designated Production:
Individuals have spent thousands of dollars and often years of time setting up production facilities and finding appropriate marijuana cultivars (strains) for their condition. Court cases including Sfetkopolous, Beren and Hitzig have found that denying production licenses on arbitrary grounds violates a patient's constitutional rights to access medical marijuana. Read more »
The Missoulian reports that medical marijuana providers who were raided by the feds last year in Montana are receiving sentences somewhere between what they deserve (not time at all) and what federal law prescribes (five to 40 years in prison). Since compliance with state law is no defense in federal court, their convictions would be pretty much assured if they went to trial, where they would not even be permitted to say why they were growing or distributing marijuana. Hence all of them so far have opted for plea agreements, under which prosecutors and judges are letting them serve much less time than they would if convicted of drug offenses carrying mandatory minimum sentences: Read more »
My father turns 70 this year. He still lives in my birthplace, Nampa, Idaho. He has some medical issues that include severe nerve damage to his feet and lower legs, leaving him with chronic neuropathic pain he treats with a regimen of many opioid painkillers. Read more »
A proposal to legalize medical marijuana dispensary-like operations appears to have died in Olympia.
Its demise ends yet another effort to clearly define the legal status of the storefront operations ubiquitous in Seattle and Tacoma.
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, said she had enough votes in the state Senate to pass the proposal, but it did not survive the deadline for bills to advance because of time constraints in the short session and because of opposition from some Republican lawmakers and a handful of cities. Read more »
Activists upset by what they see as the Obama administration's increasingly aggressive posture toward the medical-marijuana industry hope to fight back during this year's presidential campaign. Read more »
Nearly a week after Gov. Jack Markell put the brakes on implementing Delaware’s medical marijuana law, the sponsor of the legislation is urging him to reconsider.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, state Sen. Margaret Rose Henry said the regulation-writing and licensing of dispensaries should continue, despite veiled threats of prosecution against state workers by U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III.
“I urge the Governor to allow the regulatory process to continue while the discussion continues in search of a solution to what has become a national issue,” Henry said. Read more »
Back when he was running for president in 2008, Barack Obama insisted that medical marijuana was an issue best left to state and local governments. "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," he vowed, promising an end to the Bush administration's high-profile raids on providers of medical pot, which is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia. Read more »
Calgary officials are asking to be kept in the loop about medical marijuana being grown in the city.
A motion passed by council last week asks Health Canada to disclose the locations of licensed growing operations.
Currently, neither city police nor city safety regulators are told where legal grow-ops are located.
Stephane Lessard, director of Health Canada's Bureau of Medical Cannabis, said sharing the information is easier said than done.
"We have to follow the law. And in this case, the applicable legislation is the privacy act, and also under the terms of the regulations which underpin our medical marijuana program.” Read more »
Delaware's legalization of medical marijuana has fizzled in the wake of legal opinions that growers, distributors and state employees could be prosecuted under federal drug laws.
Gov. Jack Markell has suspended the regulation-writing and licensing process for medical marijuana dispensaries -- effectively killing the program -- and criticized the federal government for sending mixed signals on law enforcement, The News Journal has learned. Read more »
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The Missoulian reports that medical marijuana providers who were raided by the feds last year in Montana are receiving sentences somewhere between what they deserve (not time at all) and what federal law prescribes (five to 40 years in prison). Since compliance with state law is no defense in federal court, their convictions would be pretty much assured if they went to trial, where they would not even be permitted to say why they were growing or distributing marijuana. Hence all of them so far have opted for plea agreements, under which prosecutors and judges are letting them serve much less time than they would if convicted of drug offenses carrying mandatory minimum sentences: 
My father turns 70 this year. He still lives in my birthplace, Nampa, Idaho. He has some medical issues that include severe nerve damage to his feet and lower legs, leaving him with chronic neuropathic pain he treats with a regimen of many opioid painkillers. 
A proposal to legalize medical marijuana dispensary-like operations appears to have died in Olympia.
Activists upset by what they see as the Obama administration's increasingly aggressive posture toward the medical-marijuana industry hope to fight back during this year's presidential campaign. 
Nearly a week after Gov. Jack Markell put the brakes on implementing Delaware’s medical marijuana law, the sponsor of the legislation is urging him to reconsider.
Back when he was running for president in 2008, Barack Obama insisted that medical marijuana was an issue best left to state and local governments. "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," he vowed, promising an end to the Bush administration's high-profile raids on providers of medical pot, which is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia. 
Calgary officials are asking to be kept in the loop about medical marijuana being grown in the city.
