IF POT IS PRESCRIBED, IT NEEDS TO BE FUNDED

A recent decision by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court must have sent
shockwaves through every province in the country.

The Nova Scotia court ordered the provincial government to pick up
the tab for the medical marijuana smoked by a chronically ill woman on welfare.

Some provinces do pay for the marijuana prescribed to patients under
workers' compensation claims and since 2008 the federal government
has also paid for the marijuana consumed by a handful of military
veterans receiving disability benefits.

However, before the recent ruling, no province has covered the cost
of doctor-prescribed marijuana for people on social assistance.

If provincial governments cover the cost of other prescribed
medications, why shouldn't they pay for medicinal marijuana?

Recently, about 200 people attended a seminar about medicinal
marijuana at Vancouver Island University.

There they heard from people who use marijuana to relieve the
symptoms of various ailments.

Mik Mann, who is afflicted with spinal arthritis, insisted to those
in attendance that courts in Canada have ruled that the medical use
of marijuana is legal.

The Nova Scotia court ruled that since Parliament has made marijuana
legal for medical purposes, and since the drug is "essential" for
some peoples' quality of life, its costs should be covered by the
province in the same way that prescription drugs are covered for
people on income assistance.

Mann is among approximately 4,000 Canadians who are licensed by
Health Canada to legally use and posses marijuana. The majority of
them suffer chronic illnesses that make it difficult for them to work.

As a result, many can't afford the hundreds of dollars it costs every
month to buy the marijuana their doctors say would help them. Since
they can't work, their Employment Insurance claims quickly run out
and many end up on welfare.

Once on welfare, provincial governments do pay for other prescribed
drugs. Some of those drugs, proponents of marijuana argue, do much
more harm to people than pot.

People who rely on medicinal marijuana, like many who attended the
recent seminar at VIU, say they suffer fewer side-effects from pot
than other medications. Some people told the Daily News that
medicinal pot allows them to function, perhaps not work, but at least
they are able to get out of their beds and go to the lavatory.

Convincing a doctor to prescribe medical marijuana is not easy but
once a patient does they should be able to receive the medicine the
doctor has prescribed.

Expect to see other provinces join Nova Scotia's appeal of this
recent decision. Not because they are opposed to the use of medicinal
marijuana but because they fear increasing the amount of money
provincial governments will have to pay to cover the cost of its use.

Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter has said what worries him about
the decision is not having to pay for medicinal marijuana, but that
the court's ruling may result in the cash-strapped province having to
pay for a host of other medications, or expensive alternative
treatments, not currently covered.

It's a legitimate concern but any prescription drug can end up being
sold on the street illegally and nobody says governments shouldn't
pay for drugs like percocet.

If it's a medicine and prescribed by a doctor, it should be paid for
by those unable to pay for it.