Canadian government threatens Med patients

Glad for you all in Canada... :clap:

I have a rule about the Gov... Don't ever play by there rules and I'll never get burned...
Never Tell them shit never ask them for shit... Never ask them if I can do shit... Just shit and do what I want...lol... you start trying to do it there way your already fucked... I'm free and wild.. not some "can I do it please kind of person".. :thumbdown:
 
Congrats to my Canadian brethren.

I got some good news yesterday too. After writing to Congressmen and Senators over merging our medical bill with our recreational bill, they took our growing rights away. In the letters I explained a few facts 1) it was a peoples bill. They had no right to alter it without our input. 2) if the new law states you can only grow 3 plants, how does someone who grows one crop a year get meds for that entire year? I cant afford to go to the state liquor control board to get some nor do I have any desire. 3) how do you legally merge two bills into one? You must make a third bill that encompasses both the previous. Just got a few replies back that SB5887 died in legislature.
It doesn't happen often, but sometimes contacting your reps works.

Again, congrats Canada.
 
Medical marijuana users can grow at home, for now

Health Canada's new rules to take effect April 1 prohibit medical pot users from growing at home

CBC News Posted: Mar 21, 2014 10:01 AM PT Last Updated: Mar 21, 2014 1:24 PM PT

A Federal Court judge issued an injunction Friday that will allow medical marijuana users who have a personal production licence to continue to grow their own plants at home, despite the April 1st introduction of Health Canada's new Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR).

(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)

A Federal Court judge in Vancouver has granted a last-minute reprieve for medical marijuana users who say they need to be able to grow their own pot at home.

On Friday morning, the judge granted an injunction allowing those who have a personal production licence to grow medical marijuana to continue for now, pending the outcome of a trial to be held at a later date.

Those with an authorization to possess medical marijuana will also be allowed to continue to do so under the injunction, though they will only be permitted to hold up to 150 grams.

Under Health Canada's new rules, patients growing cannabis at home must send notification to Health Canada by April 30 stating that they've stopped production and destroyed their plants, or law enforcement will be notified.

Without the injunction, Health Canada's new laws, which go into effect April 1, would end the home production of medical marijuana.

Instead, all those using medical marijuana would have to purchase it from large-scale commercial facilities that are being set up around the country.

Patients have voiced concern about the cost and the quality of the product they will be able to obtain under the new system.

Abbotsford, B.C., lawyer John Conroy was in court this week seeking the interim injunction for growers.

Conroy alleges that Health Canada's pronouncements are a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Earlier this week, Conroy argued that the new rules create an intractable dilemma for patients.

"If the patient can't afford the medicine at the prices under the program that's being produced, then they're placed in a position where they have to choose between their liberty and their health," Conroy said.

Without the injunction, patients would have to destroy their plants before April 1 and send notification to Health Canada by April 30 stating that they've stopped production and destroyed their plants, or law enforcement would be notified.

The federal government argued in its statement of defence that grow-ops in houses lead to safety problems, such as fire hazards and mould.

The government also argued that home-based grow-ops put people at risk of home invasions — meaning attempted robberies like the one this past weekend at a licensed medical marijuana grow-op in Langley, B.C.
 
Tories' medical marijuana plan goes up in smoke

The Canadian Press March 21, 2014

Tories' medical marijuana plan goes up in smoke

A court injunction will allow licensed medical marijuana users to continue growing their own plants.

The Conservative government's plan to move medical marijuana plants out of patients' basements and into commercial facilities was dealt a significant setback Friday after a Federal Court judge ruled anyone already licensed to grow the drug may continue to do so.

Judge Michael Manson issued an injunction exempting patients who legally possess or grow medical marijuana under the current rules, either for themselves or someone else, from new regulations that would have made the practice illegal.

A group of patients behind a constitutional challenge asked for an injunction to preserve the status quo until their legal case goes to trial.

The federal government announced its plans to overhaul the production of medical pot last year, arguing the current system had grown out of control and was rife with problems.

The new regulations restrict medical marijuana production to commercial growers, though the court injunction does not affect the new licensing system.

The plaintiffs argued the updated regulations violate their right to access important medicine, because marijuana is expected to be more expensive under the new system. They also said they won't have as much control over which strains of the drug they use.

"This group will be irreparably harmed by the effects of the (new regulations)," Manson wrote.

"I find that the nature of the irreparable harm that the applicants will suffer under the (updated regulations) constitutes a 'clear case,' which outweighs the public interest in wholly maintaining the enacted regulations."
 
Medical marijuana users can continue to grow their own pot: court

A Federal Court has granted an application to allow patients who use medical marijuana to continue to grow their own pot.

James Keller, The Canadian Press

Published Friday, March 21, 2014 3:31PM EDT
Last Updated Friday, March 21, 2014 6:54PM EDT

VANCOUVER -- The Conservative government's plan to move medical marijuana plants out of patients' basements and into commercial facilities was dealt a significant setback Friday, after a Federal Court judge ruled anyone already licensed to grow the drug may continue to do so.

Judge Michael Manson issued an injunction exempting patients who are licensed to possess or grow medical marijuana under the current rules, either for themselves or someone else, from new regulations that would have made the practice illegal.

A group of patients behind a constitutional challenge asked for an injunction to preserve the status quo until their legal case goes to trial.
Related Stories

The federal government announced its plans to overhaul the production of medical pot last year, arguing the current system had grown out of control and was rife with problems ranging from unsafe grow-ops to infiltration by criminals.

The new regulations restrict medical marijuana production to commercial growers, though the court injunction does not affect the new licensing system.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued the updated regulations violate their right to access important medicine, because marijuana is expected to initially be more expensive under the new system. They also complained they won't have as much control over which strains of the drug they use.

The judge concluded some patients will not be able to afford marijuana if prices increase as expected.

"This group will be irreparably harmed by the effects of the (new regulations)," wrote Manson.

"I find that the nature of the irreparable harm that the applicants will suffer under the (updated regulations) constitutes a 'clear case,' which outweighs the public interest in wholly maintaining the enacted regulations."

Under the terms of the injunction, patients who were licensed to grow marijuana as of Sept. 30 of last year can continue to do so. The ruling also applies to anyone approved since that date.

Patients will be restricted to possessing 150 grams of dried marijuana, which is a limit set by the new regulations, the decision says.

Health Canada had warned that any patients licensed to grow pot who didn't confirm they had destroyed their plants would be reported to the police.

A written statement, Health Canada said the department was reviewing the decision and considering its options.

"Health Canada is committed to the implementation of the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations in order to provide Canadians reasonable access to dried marijuana for medical purposes, while protecting public safety," said the statement, which also repeated many of the government's arguments in favour of the changes.

"It is also important for Canadians to remember that marijuana is not an approved drug or medicine in Canada."

John Conroy, the lawyer representing the patients, said they clearly have a right to access medical marijuana that they can afford.

"Economic access to the medicine is a factor, and not coming up with a scheme that covers everybody is not a viable exemption," Conroy said in an interview.

Conroy said it's not clear how the ruling affects new patients who need medical marijuana but aren't already approved. They may be forced to turn to the new commercial market, he said.

Canada first regulated medical marijuana in 2001, a year after an Ontario court concluded the law at the time violated the rights of sick people who used pot to alleviate their symptoms.

The number of people authorized to possess -- and often grow -- marijuana has increased to 37,000 this year from fewer than 100 in 2001. The federal government says the current licences translate to about 3.5 million plants.

In a hearing earlier this week, a government lawyer said the law is designed to protect the public from the dangers of home grow-ops. The government also argued there is no constitutional right to cheap medicine.

Neil Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., said the court judgment is a significant rebuke of the government's policies around medical marijuana.

"It's pretty clear that the way in which the government has gone about this has really very little to do with science or medicine," said Boyd.

"The people who are growing to suit their own needs have very legitimate concerns about what expenses might be involved in this new system and what the different strains will be, and that doesn't seem to be a big part of what the government is encouraging."

While the injunction application didn't specifically target the new commercial licensing regime, the government argued that allowing some patients to continue growing their own pot would prevent the fledgling medical marijuana industry from fully developing.

The Federal Court ruling acknowledges that the injunction could affect the commercial market, but it says the impact will be short-lived and won't have a major impact.

A trial on the constitutional argument has not been scheduled, though it is expected to take place within nine to twelve months.
 
Court Ruling Won't Sway Health Canada On 'Narcotic' Marijuana

Posted: 03/21/2014 7:46 pm EDT | Updated: 03/21/2014 9:59 pm EDT

Health Canada isn't backing down after a federal court ruled against the government's efforts to ban medical marijuana users from growing their own pot.

In the wake of Friday's court decision, the federal department which runs the medical pot program said it will "review the ruling and consider its options," but indicated it wants to maintain its current approach.

"While the Courts have said there must be reasonable access to marijuana for medical purposes, Health Canada’s goal is to treat dried marijuana as much as possible like other narcotic drugs used for medical purposes," a spokesperson told HuffPost Canada in an email.

The Federal Court ruling is a small victory for patients and a potential setback to the Conservative government’s plans to turn cannabis into a regulated billion-dollar industry.

Judge Michael Manson said patients would be “irreparably harmed” by new medical marijuana regulations banning home grow operations starting April 1.

"I find that the nature of the irreparable harm that the applicants will suffer under the (updated regulations) constitutes a 'clear case', which outweighs the public interest in wholly maintaining the enacted regulations,” Manson said in a written statement released Friday.

The ruling means patients who already hold a Health Canada-issued authorization to possess are exempt from the new rules forbidding them to grow their own supply and allows them to possess up to 150 grams of marijuana.

The department warned patients in a blunt press release earlier this month that they would have to destroy all of their plants and provide a letter to confirm they had done so, or their names would be handed over to police. The court's ruling appears to have made this policy unenforceable.

John Conroy, the lawyer representing the patients’ coalition, argues the new legislation is unconstitutional because it forces them to choose between liberty (which they could lose if they continue to grow their own) and their health (if they cannot afford their regular doses under the new system, their health could deteriorate).

“Let’s not take away the right of the patients to be able to produce for themselves at less cost and to have quality control over what they do,” he said.

“If we’re in a position where people can access this medicine without having to suffer the way many, many Canadians do in relation to other types of drugs that they can’t afford or that aren’t covered by various plans, then I think that’s a victory for all patients.”

The government agency last year announced plans to repeal the Marihuana Medical Access Program (yes, the government still spells it with an “h”), which it has said jeopardizes public safety because of mould and fire risk from grow-ops. The government also believes the program is susceptible to criminal abuse by those who resell their products on the black market.

Starting April 1, the system was to be replaced with the more tightly controlled Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations, under which Canadian medical marijuana patients will be required to get their doses from one of a handful of licensed producers. Their prices will range from $4 to $12 a gram.

However, some of Canada’s 40,000 medical marijuana patients argue that they will be unable to afford their medicine once they are forced to buy from large-scale suppliers because they can grow it themselves at a fraction of the price — for as little as $1 a gram.

An overhaul of the medical marijuana system is now on ice at least until a trial date can be set, which is expected to happen within the next year.

“Upholding their constitutional rights pending trial is significant as far as we’re concerned,” Conroy said. “But trial still involves additional evidence and additional issues so we’ll just have to see what happens at that time.”

Some 13 companies have been granted licences to grow and sell marijuana on a commercial scale, many of them just within the past few months.

The new licensed producers had been scrambling to meet the April 1 deadline, when they expected demand for their product to spike. Many producers are still new and their plants have yet to mature, leaving their product scarce. The injunction does not affect the new licensing system.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that patients who have doctor’s approval must have reasonable access to a legal supply of marijuana.

Still, Health Canada makes it clear that it does not endorse medical marijuana, and doctors have been reluctant to prescribe it, saying they have yet to see conclusive studies that show benefits outweighing its potential harm.

Canada first regulated medical marijuana in 2001, but only after the government was forced to do so by the courts. A year earlier, an Ontario court concluded the law at the time violated the rights of sick people who used pot to alleviate their symptoms.

The number of people authorized to possess — and often grow — marijuana has increased to 37,000 this year from fewer than 100 in 2001. The federal government says the current licences translate to about 3.5 million plants.

In this week's court hearing, a government lawyer said there is no constitutional right to cheap medicine, and he argued there was no scientific evidence to show specific strains of marijuana are better suited to particular illnesses or patients.

The patients' lawyer suggested the government had offered little concrete evidence that the medical marijuana system actually poses as many risks as it claims.

While the injunction application didn't specifically target the new commercial licensing regime, the government argued that allowing some patients to continue growing their own pot would prevent the fledgling medical marijuana industry from fully developing.

The Federal Court ruling notes the potential for the injunction to affect the commercial market, but Manson writes the impact will be short-lived and won't have a major impact on the government's ability to implement its regulations.

A trial has not been scheduled, though Manson's judgment states a trial is expected within nine to twelve months.

— With files from The Canadian Press and Daniel Tencer
 
i wonder if justin will let us grow.... he wants to legalize and tax it but that doesnt mean he gonna let us grow in at home....
 
Very happy for all my grower friends who are keeping on for now!!

Peace


"It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves."
Robert Louis Stevenson
 
i read some where that most public officials have been bribed. i wonder if this will end in a bribe///:sick3:
 
so i got an email today. apparently health canada is trying to appeal the courts decision.... :barf:
 
Doc prescribes pot over Skype as chill settles over medical community

Metro News Ottawa


June 4, 2014 Updated: June 4, 2014 | 6:03 pm



Doc prescribes pot over Skype as chill settles over medical community



trevorgreenway.jpg

By Trevor Greenway


djs0660174085_high.jpg

Justin Tang Sandy Daviau tends to a cannabis plant at his outdoor garden in south-west Quebec
on Oct. 8, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang


Canadian doctors who prescribe medical marijuana are feeling a chill, as health officials apply pressure on them to not prescribe a drug they know little about.

A doctor in Toronto was willing to go on the record with Metro to talk about the stigma surrounding medical pot and the benefits patients derive from the drug. But when he heard several colleagues are being scrutinized by the College of Physicians and Surgeons, he backed out.

“Patients’ doctors do not want to prescribe and they think that the college has said that you cannot prescribe,” said the doctor, who we agreed to keep anonymous.

“It’s uncomfortable and there is a stigma behind it.”

The physician has started seeing patients via Skype — who are connected with him through a private firm for a $300 fee — as more and more patients are finding it tough to find a doctor willing to sign off on a pot prescription. He says telemedicine is sufficient for such consultations and the patients provide him and the firm government issued identification and their medical records.

“I just don’t sit there and openly sign prescriptions for somebody. I see them, assess them, get some information from them about what treatments they have had,” he said, adding his patients are not “stoners,” but business people, lawyers, even other doctors.

“If it’s a young kid who wants to do it just to make it legal, I don’t see those kind of people,” The doctor told Metro. “But if it’s someone with cancer that can’t eat, that has no appetite, that is nauseous all the time and they find that when they take this it gets rid of their nausea and they can eat— if you are that patient’s physician, how can you not prescribe it, I just don’t understand.”

He said the problem is the fact there is no scientific data for doctors to reference when considering prescribing pot to patients with multiple sclerosis, cancer and various chronic pain conditions.

“Physicians receive no training,” he said. “The average physician would have no idea how to prescribe it. They don’t know what a gram is, or three grams, they don’t know.”

Sandy Daviau, spent more than a decade looking for a doctor to prescribe the drug for his multiple sclerosis. He said with the recent changes to Health Canada’s medical pot program, which makes doctors the ultimate gatekeepers of the drug, more and more patients are finding it hard to access the drug.

“It’s worse than before,” said Daviau, whose initial physician Dr. Rob Kamermans was ordered to close his Coe Hill clinic and was charged with fraud, forgery and money laundering after he signed off on 4,000 pot prescriptions over the course of a year.

It’s stories like these that have doctors worried they will get nabbed for trying to help patients “There is a clampdown going on right now. There is a political war going on out there behind the scenes and we are the pawns right now. It’s wrong, but they are doing it.”

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario told Metro the federal pot program changes provide “significant concern,” as doctors are expected to prescribe a drug that has no clinical studies linked to it.

In Quebec, the college is deeply concerned with doctors prescribing pot, especially though telemedicine or Skype consultations, which is actually illegal in the province.

Spokesperson Dr. Yves Robert said that all forms of E-health are under review right now.

“The basic principle here, considering cannabis or not, is the fact that prescribing is a medical act that requires an appropriate evaluation of the patient’s condition and that can’t be done if you do not see the patient,” he said. Currently, doctors registered in Quebec are forbidden from using telemedicine, but doctors from elsewhere can still see Quebec patients via Skype. That will soon change, he says.

“We are working right now to update this data and probably in the future, physicians who prescribes to a patient in Quebec will have to be registered in Quebec.”
 
New medical marijuana rules put Elliot Lake man out of joint

CBC News - Sudbury (ON)


New medical marijuana rules put Elliot Lake man out of joint



CBC News Posted: Jun 03, 2014 12:45 PM ET Last Updated: Jun 03, 2014 12:45 PM ET


cannabis-smoking.jpg

An Elliot Lake man is upset about new legislation governing access to medical marijuana.
(CBC)


An Elliot Lake man who says he's been turned down by every doctor in the city says new rules for medical marijuana are making it unnecessarily hard for those legitimate users trying to access the drug.

Since April, patients must now obtain prescriptions for medical marijuana from doctors, rather than Health Canada — and Gavin Harrington, who said he lives with arthritis and has chronic pain, said he's been turned down for a prescription by every doctor in town.
The president-elect of the Canadian Medical Association said most doctors aren't comfortable prescribing medical marijuana.

“It's not a stand that we take on a moral, or ethical, or prudish sort of ground,” Chris Simpson said.

“It's simply on a scientific basis that we're urging caution.”

Harrington said he's frustrated he's being prevented from accessing marijuana legally.

“You know, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm 53 and I’m trying to access [medical marijuana by] going through the proper channel.”

But Simpson reiterated the CMA recommends doctors don't prescribe marijuana, because they're concerned about the lack of evidence that it works.

"Now doctors have been thrust into the role of [having to authorize or deny] a substance which we don't have any sense as to the safety or efficacy,” he said.

In the meantime, Harrington said he wants Health Canada to provide a list of doctors who are willing to write a prescription.
 
The new laws are destined to fail. I wonder I Harper plans on using us to fill up the jails.
 
And the are recommended you see them to a pain management clinic where thy will try alternatives before signing your forms. It's a huge joke cause it took me over a year to be get into the pain clinic. They called me three weeks ago. I almost spit my drink out. Sorry doctors I already paid a lawyer 4 grand. I wasn't going. To wait around forever. And if I listened I woulda never got my license to grow since they are no longer issuing the production licenses any more.
 
He said the problem is the fact there is no scientific data for doctors to reference when considering prescribing pot to patients with multiple sclerosis, cancer and various chronic pain conditions.

“Physicians receive no training,” he said. “The average physician would have no idea how to prescribe it. They don’t know what a gram is, or three grams, they don’t know.”
Click to expand...
Both lies! There is scientific data if you research Europe and even the U.S. now.
As for them not knowing what a gram is, is ridiculous! How do you think they prescribe drugs for you? They use your bodies weight in kilograms to determine how many grams or milligrams of medication to administer. Had they said they don't know the effects of a gram verses three, I might be able to understand.

You do realize you keep posting up "lame stream media" articles. None of them cite statistics or proof, just opinion.
 
Medical marijuana companies find creative ways to stand out

The Globe and Mail



Medical marijuana companies find creative ways to stand out


Jacob Serebrin

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Jun. 09 2014, 5:00 AM EDT

Last updated Friday, Jun. 06 2014, 10:52 AM EDT


ajw202-Marijuana+Industry+2+(1).JPG

Chuck Rifici of Tweed Inc. looks out over the floor of the former Hershey's chocolate
factory, Friday September 27, 2013 in Smiths Falls, Ont.
(Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)


When Chuck Rifici and his business partners set out to promote their startup, they didn’t buy advertising. Instead, they took the company public.

It was an unconventional move, but Mr. Rifici’s company isn’t exactly a conventional one.

Tweed Marijuana is one of Canada’s new batch of legal medical marijuana growers and while these companies sell directly to consumers, they’re banned from advertising.

“A lot of typical marketing and adverting are non-starters for us,” says Mr. Rifici, whose company grows marijuana at a former chocolate factory outside of Ottawa. “We’re working with a controlled substance.”

On April 1, the federal government opened-up what it calls a “free market” for medical marijuana. Under the new rules, anyone can apply for a license to grow medical marijuana and sell it directly to patients. It’s a big change from the old system, when legal users were allowed to grow their own, have a designated person grow it for them or buy it from Health Canada’s single designated supplier, Prairie Plant Systems.

The new rules have also made access to medical marijuana easier. Patients used to require the approval of two doctors and specific permission from Health Canada. Now, it only takes a simple prescription-like document from a physician.

But while access may be easier, medical marijuana is now considered a narcotic and governed by some of the same rules that apply to drugs like morphine. Those rules ban promoting narcotics to anyone but a doctor.

“They really didn’t want anyone to go out there and say ‘this is why our product is better,” says Anton Mattadeen, chief strategy officer at MediJean, one of over 800 companies that have applied to enter the medicinal marijuana market. The company currently has a license to grow marijuana for research and development but not to sell it, though that’s in the works.

While Canada’s marijuana growers may be able to advertise, there’s nothing preventing them from talking about the issues around marijuana and its use as medicine.

That’s the approach that MediJean has taken: organizing debates that put doctors, patients and police officers in the same room in an effort to “create value for the brand through an open conversation with all stakeholder groups,” says Mr. Mattadeen.

While many of these groups already have stances on the issue, Mr. Mattadeen all of their options are “in silos.” By bringing the focus back to patients, he thinks the company can win people over.

“I think quite quickly in this debate people forget that there is an actual patient and that patient is suffering,” Mr. Mattadeen says. That may help the company reach one group that’s essential for its long-term success: doctors.

“A lot of doctors are still on the fence,” says Mr. Mattadeen.

Speaking the same language as doctors is a big focus for the company, even down to its online presence. “One of the reasons we created the site like we did was to make doctors feel comfortable,” says Mr. Mattadeen.

That’s the way it looks to Lea Prevel Katsanis, a marketing professor at Concordia University, who worked in the pharmaceutical industry before going into academia. She says the company’s website reminded her of “traditional, big pharma.”

While Mr. Mattadeen says MediJean looked at the way pharmaceuticals have generally been promoted, it isn’t exactly what the company is going for.

“We didn’t need to emulate big pharma, we can have a much more intimate conversation,” says Mr. Mattadeen. Still, science is front and centre throughout the company’s branding.

“We have created a state of the art lab,” Mr. Mattadeen says. Instead of cloning, MediJean uses tissue culturing, a process where cells are grown separately from the plant. This will give much tighter control over the medical ingredients in its products.

“The biggest problem for the patient is consistency,” says Mr. Mattadeen. “The old program couldn’t guarantee the right strain.”

That means patients can be tested and given a strain specifically tailored to their symptoms.

Ms. Katsanis says this sounds a lot like what doctors are interested in. “This is huge for oncologists, they’re already using personalized medicine,” she says.

The company is also planning to conduct an “anonymized, ongoing study with our patients,” Mr. Mattadeen says.

If the study shows positive results that will be appealing to doctors. “The real issue is giving credibility to medical marijuana,” says Ms. Katsanis. “As a marketer who marketed drugs to physicians, you have to have clinical evidence.”

With growing concern about the over-prescription of opiates, the timing might be right for medical marijuana to win over the medical community, Ms. Katsanis says. “Patients and physicians are seeking better ways to manage pain,” she says and that means there’s a huge market for prescription drug substitutes.

While reaching doctors is important, it’s not the only factor for medical marijuana marketers. For Tweed, which began shipping its product to customers on May 5, timing was everything. “Being part of the first cohort” was key, Mr. Rifici says. “We know there’s more competition coming.”

So far, Health Canada has only licensed 13 companies to begin distributing. But with around 400 more waiting in the wings, that number is set to grow. And being in the market early might be even more important for medical marijuana than for other new products, patients can’t change which distributor they buy from without going back to their doctor.

“It’s the ones who get the patients first who are going to be the winners,” says Ms. Katsanis, “it’s very much a first-mover market.”

But there’s no first-mover advantage if your customers don’t know you exist. “If customers can’t remember your name, you’ve already lost,” says Mr. Rifici.

That’s why Tweed went public. Counting on the visibility that would come with being the first medical marijuana grower traded on a North American stock exchange. As part of “the process of going public, you have to build the whole business to be transparent,” he says. It’s a strategy that has the company issuing press releases on a regular basis in an effort to stay in the media.

While the company wasn’t looking to raise money when it decided to go public, that’s changed. In late April Tweed completed a private placement that saw it raise over $15-million to accelerate its expansion plans.

It’s a telling example of just how fast the industry is moving. After all, the rules that went into effect on April 1 were only announced last June.

That’s what drew Mr. Rifici to medical marijuana in the first place. “It was the opportunity to build something new fast,” he says. “It’s very rare that there’s this large a shift. Where there’s a strong demand, where the market is there, but the supply chain is completely changed.”

Despite the tough regulations, both Mr. Rifici and Mr. Mattadeen say they think Health Canada has done a good job.

“They’ve created a framework that leads the world,” says Mr. Mattadeen. “It’s an uncomfortable topic for the government but they’ve dealt with it.”

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New Rules Will Force Pot Producers To Turn Over Patient Info

Huffington Post Canada


Sunny Freeman

New Rules Will Force Pot Producers To Turn Over Patient Info


Posted: 06/13/2014


Health Canada is rolling out new regulations that would require medical marijuana companies to provide information about their patients and the doctors who prescribe the drug to medical colleges.

The proposed amendments to the newly enacted “Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations” would allow provincial regulators, most of whom have been vocal in their opposition to members prescribing marijuana, “to more effectively monitor the practices of their members.”

Health Canada estimates the changes will come at a cost to the industry of nearly $3 million over the next decade.

The new rules would require licensed producers to provide information about doctors who authorize the use of medical marijuana including their names, addresses and licence numbers when requested by a provincial medical licensing body.

Companies would be compelled to provide patient information such as the quantity of dried marijuana prescribed, the period of use and basic patient information.

Unlike the physician information, the patient information would be provided to medical colleges on a regular basis: semi-annually.

Health Canada officials had previously been responsible for deciding who had legal access to medical marijuana. But the federal agency changed the system on April 1, and now a medical document (doctors shy from the word “prescription”) from a doctor is needed to get medical pot.

The new program is under intense scrutiny from regulatory colleges across the country, and physicians who authorize the use of marijuana are going to be screened far more closely than they have been. Medical colleges have the ability to revoke doctors’ licences.

The new rules would also allow for a transition period for colleges to retroactively request the information back to when the companies were registered and before the regulations were updated.

Another amendment would require licensed producers to keep records of the information provided to the licensing bodies.

Health Canada estimates the new rules will cost the fledgling industry some $423,461 per year due to additional paperwork, with costs decreasing over time. The agency calculated the data based on the assumption that 50 licenced producers will operate in the market, even though it has received more than 600 applications.

The agency has never said whether there will be be a cap on the number of entrants allowed into the market, nor why it chose the number 50 for its analysis. It has approved licences for some 20 companies already.

Until now, licensed producers were required to make the patient and doctor information available to Health Canada but not the colleges that oversee and investigate physicians’ conduct.

There will be a consultation period for the proposed amendments before they become law. Health Canada said it has had initial consultations with a select group of licensed producers who have indicated “they would regard this as a positive opportunity.”

The agency said existing provincial monitoring systems do not provide oversight for doctors and nurses who authorize medical marijuana.

“Despite the efforts that have been made, there is less information and fewer other resources about marihuana for medical purposes available to healthcare professionals than would typically be available for an approved prescription narcotic,” it said.

Health Canada has since doled out a handful of production licences and has received hundreds more applications from entrepreneurs looking to cash in on the industry, which the government believes could be worth $1.3 billion and grow from 40,000 to 400,000 users in the next decade.
 
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