MARIJUANA DAZES DOCS

New Study Reveals Doctors' Knowledge Of Drug Comes Directly From
Patients

Physicians who approve the use of medicinal marijuana say their
clinical knowledge of the drug is hazy and they rely heavily on their
patients to help them craft treatment plans, according to in-depth
interviews with doctors conducted for Health Canada.

The doctors' knowledge of medical marijuana "had most often come
directly (in anecdotal form) from their patients' experience with the
drug," concludes the study of physician attitudes done by Montreal
firm Les Etudes de Marche Createc.

"This model obscures the boundary between physician and patient and
contravenes conventional medical practice which relies almost
exclusively on scientific evidence-based information.

"Many physicians expressed concern about this 'blurring' of boundary
between patient and doctor."

The study, for which interviews were done from March to June 2007,
drew from a pool of 917 doctors across the country who were at that
time treating patients with marijuana. The group was narrowed to 30
family doctors and specialists, with whom lengthy telephone interviews
were carried out. The survey was recently posted on a government website.

POSITIVE EFFECTS

Overall, the group did not view marijuana as a "high risk" drug. "The
majority agreed that the positive effects of marijuana for medical
purposes outweighed its negative effects; the harmful effects of
prescription drug abuse (namely narcotics) were considerably more of a
concern and physicians maintained that marihuana was not
physiologically addictive (unlike narcotics)," the study said.

But doctors still felt they needed to know much more about the drug,
which, outside of authorized medicinal uses, is illegal to own, grow
or sell in Canada.

Some doctors were not comfortable with government regulations
surrounding medicinal marijuana, but most found the red tape less of a
problem than "having to rely almost exclusively on their patient's
judgment and anecdotal experience regarding daily dosage."

Part of the problem for doctors who support a patient seeking access
to medical marijuana is that the vocabulary surrounding the drug is
fuzzy.

Terms such as "puff" and "joint" can't be quantified to measure dose,
even though Health Canada sets a daily maximum of five grams.
Physicians therefore turn to their "most experienced source of dosage
information: Their patients."

Individual doctors also said they feared that if it became known they
prescribed medical marijuana, they would receive an "influx of
unwanted patients" and might suffer some professional or social stigma
in the wider medical community.

SAFE TO DISPENSE

Among the doctors interviewed, the study also found that all thought
dried marijuana, supplied through Health Canada, could be safely and
effectively dispensed by pharmacists.

Health Canada has authorized the use of medicinal marijuana for severe
pain, nausea and muscle spasms among those with multiple sclerosis,
spinal cord injuries or disease, arthritis, cancer and HIV/AIDS, and
for seizures from epilepsy.

CANNABIS BY PRESCRIPTION

The numbers (as of October 2007)

- - 2,261 people have Health Canada's permission to "possess dried
marijuana" for medical reasons.

- - 1,256 physicians "support" these patients.

- - 1,581 people are permitted to cultivate and produce marijuana for
medical purposes.

Source: Health Canada