MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Colleagues
For the times they
are a-changin’
-Dylan
A
Marc Gabel, MD
College President
s I expect you have heard,
the federal government
has significantly changed
the legislative framework regarding
access to marijuana for medical purposes. The major change is that the
responsibility for decisions of access
have now been shifted to physicians.
Because the College’s current
policy is based on the old legislative
regime, it is now outdated. Therefore, we have developed a draft policy that reflects the new framework;
one intended to guide physicians as
they provide the best care possible to
patients. Council has approved it as
ready to go out for consultation and
we ask that you consider its applicability and usefulness.
As discussed in previous issues
of Dialogue, the new regulations
– entitled Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR)
– mark a significant departure from
the previous legislative regime. The
new regulations seek to treat dried
marijuana as much as possible like
other prescribed drugs, and give
physicians the primary responsibility to authorize patient use of dried
marijuana for medical purposes. No
other form of marijuana is authorized, and patients can no longer
grow or assign to someone else to
grow their personal supply (pending
an appeal of a court decision that allows those previous to the change to
continue to grow their own).
In a submission to Health Canada, we articulated several serious
concerns with these regulations.
We pointed out that the evidence
supporting the safety, efficacy and
quality of dried marijuana does not
appear to meet the standard that
is normally required for a drug to
be approved for prescription in
Canada. We also argued that there is
little data regarding the potency and
composition of specific strains of
dried marijuana, making appropriate dosages difficult for physicians to
specify. These concerns were echoed
by other regulatory colleges, the
Canadian Medical Association and
the College of Family Physicians of
Canada in their submissions.
It really would have been useful
and meaningful if the government
had at least entered into a dialogue
around these issues, but that is not
the case.
So, despite our concerns, the
regulations remain in place. We have
crafted a draft policy that we believe
will serve and protect the public and
provide useful guidance to those
physicians who prescribe dried marijuana for medical purposes.
We begin by recognizing that
while the evidence on the safety and
efficacy of dried marijuana is not
conclusive, many physicians and
researchers have voiced support for
DIALOGUE • Issue 3, 2014
5