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 »
Health Canada began two days of closed-door talks Wednesday about changes to the controversial medical marijuana law that has faced legal challenges and criticism for being ineffective.
But even as meetings get underway in Ottawa, there are concerns Health Canada is on the wrong track with a law that asks doctors to ignore a sworn obligation to protect patients’ health, while forcing patients to go to great lengths to obtain a drug that many say eases their pain.
Health Canada will hear from representatives of provincial and territorial ministries, medical associations, police forces, municipalities and users of medical marijuana.
Under the "Marihuana Medical Access Program," the obtaining of medical marijuana depends on doctors issuing an approval or "declaration" confirming that the cannabis will be smoked to ease pain, nausea or other symptoms associated with an illness. Read more »
A Kootenay woman says she plans to sue the RCMP for busting her licenced medical marijuana grow-op, after federal prosecutors confirmed she won't be facing any charges herself.
Velma Mullaney, 62, and her partner have licenses from Health Canada to grow 98 marijuana plants on her property between Nelson and Castlegar.
But she says in March police raided her place with guns drawn, kicked in doors and tore out her plants.
Mullaney told the officers the grow op was licenced but said officers refused to look at her permit or count the plants. Instead she was taken to jail and later released.
RCMP wanted her charged with cultivation, but on Monday the federal Crown prosecutors office said no charges would be laid. The office did not comment on why, but Mullaney says she now plans to sue. Read more »
After four months of prep, tomorrow, Monday, Jan. 17, the team of lawyer Paul Lewin and cannabis celebrity Matt Mernagh will present their argument Health Canada's medicinal marijuana program is an illusion for the majority of Canadians trying to access it.
The trial commences at 10 a.m. at St. Catharines ON courthouse and is scheduled for three weeks. Mernagh was charged with growing cannabis for personal consumption in The Garden City and again three months later when he moved to Toronto. Charges he doesn't deny. His Toronto charges were withdrawn, but for some reason the St. Catharines charge remained. Lewin will argue Mernagh had no choice but to grow his own marijuana to treat his medical condition. Their case will highlight plenty wrong with Health Canada's medicinal marijuana program and shortage of family physicians in parts of Ontario. Read more »
It's taking too long to make changes to licences for medical marijuana, with some waiting more than six months for a permit that's only good for a year, critics charge.
Health Canada gives out licences to people with debilitating illnesses and prescriptions from their doctors. Almost 5,000 Canadians have licences to carry weed to ease their chronic pain or help increase their appetites, and just over 3,500 have a licence to grow it.
But some patients say it's taking too long to get a license, to make changes or have it renewed. And they worry they risk being charged with possession or even having their homes raided by police while they wait. Read more »
It has been a stressful eight months for Jeff McKay as he waits for a Health Canada permit allowing him to possess and use an additional seven grams of marijuana to alleviate symptoms of HIV and Hepatitis C.
The 37-year-old Guelph man currently holds a Health Canada permit allowing him to possess three grams of marijuana per day, which he takes to improve his appetite that he says has been drastically affected by his HIV treatment.
“Everything is riding on the balance of possessing that card,” McKay said. Following a doctor’s appointment in February, with a recommendation that he increase his daily intake of marijuana, McKay sent out his Health Canada application. Read more »
Before heading into the courtroom Thursday, he admitted he's a little nervous but remarks afterwards it was like getting a needle as the judge remanded his case to Oct. 13.
The 47 year old had never been in trouble with the law until city police raided his apartment Sept. 1 and seized his marijuana plants.
A medicinal marijuana user, he had been licensed to grow his own marijuana for a year but his annual renewal hadn't come back in time from Health Canada. On that day, his crop became illegal but he was assured it would be fine. Read more »
A 73-year-old Nanaimo man was given a six-month conditional sentence and 10-year firearms ban on Tuesday after a fire at his East Wellington home led to the discovery of an illegal medical marijuana growing-operation and seizure of several guns.
Lawrence H. Grounds pleaded guilty to production of a controlled substance in court in Nanaimo on Tuesday.
Court heard that Grounds, who suffers from chronic shoulder and knee pain, had used the marijuana for medical use but was unlicensed to do so although he was in the process of completing related forms.
Court heard Grounds did not smoke marijuana but instead ingested the drug with his food. Read more »
Patients seeking to use medical marijuana are being forced to wait as long as six months by Health Canada because a backlog of permit applications, a B.C. doctor says.
Dr. Gwyllyn Goddard says patients are told that getting a permit to use medical marijuana should take about 60 days. Each year, however, they're waiting longer for Health Canada to approve their applications — from two months to three months, and now six months.
Because of the delays many patients ended up buying pot illegally while they wait for the official government permit, says Goddard. Read more »
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By David McKie, CBC News
A Kootenay woman says she plans to sue the RCMP for busting her licenced medical marijuana grow-op, after federal prosecutors confirmed she won't be facing any charges herself.
by Matt Mernagh, Cannabis Culture
By LAURA PAYTON, Toronto Sun
By. Thana Dharmarajah, Guelph Mercury
By. Joel Wiebe, MyKawartha
By. CBC News
