New medical marijuana law leaves some users in the lurch

New federal regulations on medical marijuana come into effect today making it so that users can no longer grow their own and have to instead get a doctors prescription to buy marijuana from licensed producers.

But the new rules are confusing. Initially, users who also grew their own marijuana were told they needed to dismantle their growing operations and destroy their plants.

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However, a Federal Court ruling on March 21 changed the legal landscape, at least temporarily, and users licensed for personal production as of Sept. 30, 2013, will be able to keep growing their pot at home pending a future trial.

Quebec's application of the rules

Today, Quebecs College des mdecins announced guidelines on how to apply the new law in the province.

Dr. Charles Bernard, the president of the college, said it was important to provide people seeking medical marijuana with the legal access to it. The college, in partnership with Quebec and other Canadian researchers, is conducting research into the effectiveness of using the drug to manage pain and certain illnesses.

I'm stocking up now because I don't have a choice. I'm sick and I could end up in the hospital again.- Derek Isaac, medical marijuana user

The college still maintains that marijuana use for medical purposes is not recognized by the medical profession.

In order to comply with the new rules, the non-profit Medical Cannabis Access Society dispensary closed yesterday but not before a flurry of last-minute customers showed up to acquire what could be their last stockpiles of medical marijuana.

The dispensary sold marijuana to people with doctors prescriptions as well as individuals without prescriptions who were deemed to need the drug for medical purposes.

Dispensary clients stock up

CBC Montreals Shawn Apel visited the dispensary on its last day and met Derek Isaac, who went there to pick up marijuana he uses to help with seizures.

I'm stocking up now because I don't have a choice. I'm sick and I could end up in the hospital again, Isaac said.

We werent really selling ourselves for investment dollars, but yet weve seen numerous requests to invest in our company.- Marc Wayne, president of Bedrocan Canada

Another client, Yuri Drozd, uses medical marijuana to help with his Asperger's and anxiety problems.

I dont have an actual prescription to register with a licensed producer. I cant register with a licensed producer because my doctor doesnt want to fill up the form he wants a recommendation from another physician. He wont endorse my use from himself only, Drozd said.

Adam Greenblatt runs the dispensary, which was housed in a nondescript building on St-Jacques Street West with no signage. Hes concerned about where his clients will go for their medical marijuana.

Its not a happy day. Its a bittersweet, melancholic kind of day, Greenblatt said the day before stopping operations.

Medical marijuana a big business

People could go to one of the new producers, a number of which are operated by big-budget companies. Bedrocan, a Dutch company with Canadian operations out of Toronto, offers different strains of marijuana on a website that is not dissimilar to the look of pharmaceutical companies websites.

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Bedrocan Canada president Marc Wayne said the new federal regulations have attracted speculators and could mean big business for him and other companies.

We werent really selling ourselves for investment dollars, but yet weve seen numerous requests to invest in our company, Wayne said.

Affinor, a junior mining company in Quebec, also just announced its intention to diversify into medical marijuana in March.

Ethical grey zone?

But while the business side of medical marijuana may appear to be booming, some doctors are uncomfortable with prescribing a product that does not yet have established medical purposes.

Dr. Mark Ware, an associate professor of family medicine atMcGillUniversity and a researcher into the use of cannabis in pain management, said the standardization of medical marijuana is a good thing. However, he fears some patients will not be able to find doctors who will prescribe the drug, and also that mixing medicine and business in this regard may make for some ethical grey zones.

I worry, because there will be enterprising companies and even physicians who set up businesses online and consulting arrangements to try to meet that need, and who may or may not bepractisinggood standard of medical practice in providing those, Ware said.

In the meantime, people likeDrozdare caught in the lurch as the law shifts.

Ive been quite stressed out, the fact this dispensary is closing today. This is my last day when I can stock up supply. I dont know when exactly Ill be registered with alicensedproducer, so I dont know when Ill have supply coming in, he said.

So its kind of troublesome.