New Health Canada Regulations Authorize Cannabis Sales In Ph

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New Health Canada Regulations Authorize Cannabis Sales In Pharmacies

October 28, 2004 - Ottawa, ON, Canada


Ottawa, Ontario: Regulations announced by Health Canada this week "provide limited authority for a pharmacy-based distribution system for dried marijuana that is produced by a [government] licensed dealer."

The new regulations, first proposed in March, encourage federal authorities to develop a protocol to allow for pharmacies to provide medical cannabis to qualified patients. The proposed plan is modeled after a one-year-old Dutch program that authorizes the sale and distribution of government-approved pot by prescription in licensed pharmacies.

"Involving pharmacists in the distribution system could enhance the identification and mitigation of risks to the authorized person, particularly when marijuana is combined with other drug therapies the authorized person may be using," the regulations state. "Stakeholders have expressed strong support for the conduct of a pilot project to assess the feasibility of distributing marijuana for medical purposes through a pharmacy-based system. This alternative provides the authority to enable such a pilot project to take place."

NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said that a regulated distribution program is appropriate. "If we are to hold cannabis up to the same standards of safety and efficacy that we hold other drugs, then Health Canada should implement a policy so patients may obtain it legally without subjecting themselves to the risks inherent to the black market."

Under Canadian law, authorized patients may grow cannabis for medical purposes, or purchase government-grown marijuana from Health Canada. However, of the 781 Canadians licensed with Health Canada to use medical marijuana legally, fewer than 100 have opted to acquire federal pot because of its alleged poor quality. As a result, half of the country's qualified patients obtain medicinal cannabis from patient cooperatives, so-called "compassion clubs," which cultivate and provide medical-grade pot to patients at a minimal cost.

In an October 2003 Ontario Court of Appeals ruling, Health Canada was ordered to immediately amend its regulations to allow for the licensing of such cooperatives, though the agency has yet to do so. Health Canada made no mention of the role "compassion clubs" play in the distribution of medicinal cannabis in its amended regulations, causing some Canadian patients to question the agency's motives.

"The latest set of amendments includes a plan to eventually phase outthe option of personal [cannabis] production in favor of the pharmacy-based distribution of the government's own poor quality and potentially unsafe product," said Philippe Lucas of Cannabis for Safe Access. "Health Canada continues to implement policies designed to entrench its monopoly on [marijuana] production and to placate police demands, rather than addressing the real and immediate needs and concerns of medical users."