News (Media Awareness Project) - Canada: Typical Patient: Male, And In BC |
| Title: | Canada: Typical Patient: Male, And In BC |
| Published On: | 2011-12-10 |
| Source: | Montreal Gazette (CN QU) |
| Fetched On: | 2011-12-11 06:00:38 |
TYPICAL PATIENT: MALE, AND IN B.C.
Health Canada Is Rewriting the Rules on Use of the Drug As Doctors'
Approval Varies Widely Across Country
He is 47 years old and, chances are, he lives somewhere on British
Columbia's Sunshine Coast.
Under Health Canada's medical marijuana program, he is approved to
legally consume up to five grams a day of the pot he grows himself at
home. Most likely, his general practitioner signed the forms he needed
to get the drug.
And on average, he is a "he" - men in the program outnumber women by a
ratio of about three to one.
As with a great number of medical marijuana patients, he uses the drug
to treat severe arthritis, although he may suffer from other conditions.
Data obtained by the Ottawa Citizen through the Access to Information
Act put this face to the typical medical marijuana patient for the
first time, 10 years after the federal government - under pressure
from a series of legal rulings - was forced to start allowing
seriously ill Canadians to apply to use the drug.
As Health Canada moves to overhaul the rules governing medical
marijuana, its own numbers show sharp disparities in the accessibility
and use of the drug across the country as patients scramble to find
doctors willing to prescribe.
Although all Canadians are supposed to have equal access to medical
marijuana, enrolment in the program varies greatly across the country.
Where you live and your doctor's attitude to marijuana will help
determine whether you receive approval from Health Canada to use the
drug to treat serious illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis or
AIDS.
The geographic patterns contained in Health Canada's data show that
people from British Columbia are far more likely to have a marijuana
authorization - about 33 people out of every 100,000, compared to five
per 100,000 in Manitoba.
Between 2001 and 2007, the V0N postal code zone, which spans British
Columbia's Sunshine Coast, Gulf Islands, part of Vancouver Island and
the area around Whistler ski resort, generated more applications under
the government's Marihuana (sic) Medical Access Regulations (MMAR)
program than any other.
By contrast, in some well-populated swaths of Manitoba such as
Steinbach and parts of Brandon, not a single person has applied to the
program.
Marijuana advocates say it is the approach of doctors in different
parts of the country, not patient needs, that determines who is
getting medical marijuana. They point to what they say are more
permissive attitudes toward marijuana in B.C. and better outreach by
cannabis advocates to the doctors who must ultimately decide whether
to sign a patient's application.
"British Columbia has a bit more laissez-faire attitude to marijuana
and a very good activist network informing doctors," says Matthew
Mernagh, 37, a Toronto marijuana user who this spring won a court
decision that effectively has toppled Canada's marijuana
prohibition.
After he was arrested for growing pot in his apartment in 2008,
Mernagh launched a constitutional challenge of Canada's drug laws.
Mernagh's case was based on a complaint common to many patients who
seek marijuana: the difficulty he had finding a doctor to sign
documents to let him legally use the drug - in his case, to treat
chronic pain and seizures caused by fibromyalgia and other conditions.
At trial, evidence was produced that suggested that less than one-half
of one per cent of Canadian doctors had signed the 33-page form for a
patient to apply to Health Canada's program.
"I find as a fact that the physicians of Canada have massively
boycotted the MMAR and their overwhelming refusal to participate in
the medicinal marijuana program completely undermines the
effectiveness of the program," wrote Justice Donald Taliano in his
April decision quashing the marijuana law.
The court agreed that the systemic refusal of doctors to approve
patients for marijuana was an infringement on their rights. Mernagh
was allowed to grow his own pot without Health Canada's approval, a
decision that - should it stand - effectively overrides Canada's
marijuana laws.
The court will hear the government's appeal of the decision in
March.
Mernagh might have had better luck with his doctor had he suffered
from cancer or even arthritis. Health Canada's data show that severe
arthritis is now the most common reason for applications to the
medical marijuana program. This trend is a relatively new one, as
Health Canada has been deluged over the past three years by
applications claiming severe arthritis as the medical reason.
But in the first years of the program, it was HIV/AIDS patients who
were at the vanguard. Cannabis is an effective appetite stimulant and
can help curb neuropathic pain and control nausea caused by the
illness and AIDS medications.
By the end of 2007, HIV/AIDS patients accounted for the largest share
of applications for the MMAR, even though there were far fewer people
living with the infection than with cancer.
Estimates put the number of HIV/ AIDS patients in Canada at about
60,000. By contrast, there are more than 177,000 new cancer patients
diagnosed in Canada every year.
With the high uptake among HIV/ AIDS patients, medical marijuana use
is higher in areas with large gay communities. Vancouver's West End
and Toronto's Church-Wellesley area can both make credible claims to
being the most predominantly gay neighbourhoods in Canada. They also
boast some of the highest percapita MMAR enrolment rates in the country.
Some doctors are willing to write referrals to a compassion club but
won't agree to sign the forms required for the Health Canada program.
The clubs offer a wider variety of marijuana strains that, advocates
say, give better treatment options, compared to the single strain sold
for $5 a gram plus GST by Health Canada.
[sidebar]
BY THE NUMBERS
Postmedia News
4,884 Number of Canadians authorized to possess marijuana (as of
January 2010)
10 Age of the youngest patient, a boy with epilepsy, living in
Quebec's Beauce region, authorized for 1 gram per day, referred by a
pediatrician.
90 Age of oldest patient, a man in downtown Vancouver with severe
arthritis, authorized to consume five grams daily, referred by a
general practitioner.
56 Largest allowed dosage, in grams per day. It was approved for a
45-year-old man with spinal cord injury and disease, living near
Kelowna, B.C.
Top medical reasons for marijuana applications, 2007-2011 Severe
arthritis 7,445
Other (Category 2)* 4,032
Chronic pain 2,194
Spinal cord injury 2,130
Spinal cord disease 1,583
Cancer 1,387
Multiple sclerosis 1,254
AIDS, HIV infection 1,130
Epilepsy 394
Hepatitis B or C 276
* Category 2 patients have debilitating symptoms of medical conditions
not covered by Category 1 for which conventional treatments are
considered ineffective.
These applications require an assessment by a specialist. Category 1
patients are authorized to possess marijuana to treat symptoms of
cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy seizures, spinal cord injury or disease,
and severe arthritis. They require approval by only one doctor.
Source: Ottawa Citizen analysis of Health Canada records released under the
Access to Information Act.
DECADE LATER, POT STILL IN LEGAL GREY ZONE
A decade after Canada legalized marijuana to help treat certain
conditions, Charlie Fidelman reports patients are still struggling to
find doctors willing to help. Page A4
SEARCHABLE DATABASE OF MEDICAL POT USE
Use our interactive map and a searchable database to find out where
medical marijuana is being used in Canada, and why. Plus, more stories
and videos at montrealgazette.com/ medicalmarijuana
Health Canada Is Rewriting the Rules on Use of the Drug As Doctors'
Approval Varies Widely Across Country
He is 47 years old and, chances are, he lives somewhere on British
Columbia's Sunshine Coast.
Under Health Canada's medical marijuana program, he is approved to
legally consume up to five grams a day of the pot he grows himself at
home. Most likely, his general practitioner signed the forms he needed
to get the drug.
And on average, he is a "he" - men in the program outnumber women by a
ratio of about three to one.
As with a great number of medical marijuana patients, he uses the drug
to treat severe arthritis, although he may suffer from other conditions.
Data obtained by the Ottawa Citizen through the Access to Information
Act put this face to the typical medical marijuana patient for the
first time, 10 years after the federal government - under pressure
from a series of legal rulings - was forced to start allowing
seriously ill Canadians to apply to use the drug.
As Health Canada moves to overhaul the rules governing medical
marijuana, its own numbers show sharp disparities in the accessibility
and use of the drug across the country as patients scramble to find
doctors willing to prescribe.
Although all Canadians are supposed to have equal access to medical
marijuana, enrolment in the program varies greatly across the country.
Where you live and your doctor's attitude to marijuana will help
determine whether you receive approval from Health Canada to use the
drug to treat serious illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis or
AIDS.
The geographic patterns contained in Health Canada's data show that
people from British Columbia are far more likely to have a marijuana
authorization - about 33 people out of every 100,000, compared to five
per 100,000 in Manitoba.
Between 2001 and 2007, the V0N postal code zone, which spans British
Columbia's Sunshine Coast, Gulf Islands, part of Vancouver Island and
the area around Whistler ski resort, generated more applications under
the government's Marihuana (sic) Medical Access Regulations (MMAR)
program than any other.
By contrast, in some well-populated swaths of Manitoba such as
Steinbach and parts of Brandon, not a single person has applied to the
program.
Marijuana advocates say it is the approach of doctors in different
parts of the country, not patient needs, that determines who is
getting medical marijuana. They point to what they say are more
permissive attitudes toward marijuana in B.C. and better outreach by
cannabis advocates to the doctors who must ultimately decide whether
to sign a patient's application.
"British Columbia has a bit more laissez-faire attitude to marijuana
and a very good activist network informing doctors," says Matthew
Mernagh, 37, a Toronto marijuana user who this spring won a court
decision that effectively has toppled Canada's marijuana
prohibition.
After he was arrested for growing pot in his apartment in 2008,
Mernagh launched a constitutional challenge of Canada's drug laws.
Mernagh's case was based on a complaint common to many patients who
seek marijuana: the difficulty he had finding a doctor to sign
documents to let him legally use the drug - in his case, to treat
chronic pain and seizures caused by fibromyalgia and other conditions.
At trial, evidence was produced that suggested that less than one-half
of one per cent of Canadian doctors had signed the 33-page form for a
patient to apply to Health Canada's program.
"I find as a fact that the physicians of Canada have massively
boycotted the MMAR and their overwhelming refusal to participate in
the medicinal marijuana program completely undermines the
effectiveness of the program," wrote Justice Donald Taliano in his
April decision quashing the marijuana law.
The court agreed that the systemic refusal of doctors to approve
patients for marijuana was an infringement on their rights. Mernagh
was allowed to grow his own pot without Health Canada's approval, a
decision that - should it stand - effectively overrides Canada's
marijuana laws.
The court will hear the government's appeal of the decision in
March.
Mernagh might have had better luck with his doctor had he suffered
from cancer or even arthritis. Health Canada's data show that severe
arthritis is now the most common reason for applications to the
medical marijuana program. This trend is a relatively new one, as
Health Canada has been deluged over the past three years by
applications claiming severe arthritis as the medical reason.
But in the first years of the program, it was HIV/AIDS patients who
were at the vanguard. Cannabis is an effective appetite stimulant and
can help curb neuropathic pain and control nausea caused by the
illness and AIDS medications.
By the end of 2007, HIV/AIDS patients accounted for the largest share
of applications for the MMAR, even though there were far fewer people
living with the infection than with cancer.
Estimates put the number of HIV/ AIDS patients in Canada at about
60,000. By contrast, there are more than 177,000 new cancer patients
diagnosed in Canada every year.
With the high uptake among HIV/ AIDS patients, medical marijuana use
is higher in areas with large gay communities. Vancouver's West End
and Toronto's Church-Wellesley area can both make credible claims to
being the most predominantly gay neighbourhoods in Canada. They also
boast some of the highest percapita MMAR enrolment rates in the country.
Some doctors are willing to write referrals to a compassion club but
won't agree to sign the forms required for the Health Canada program.
The clubs offer a wider variety of marijuana strains that, advocates
say, give better treatment options, compared to the single strain sold
for $5 a gram plus GST by Health Canada.
[sidebar]
BY THE NUMBERS
Postmedia News
4,884 Number of Canadians authorized to possess marijuana (as of
January 2010)
10 Age of the youngest patient, a boy with epilepsy, living in
Quebec's Beauce region, authorized for 1 gram per day, referred by a
pediatrician.
90 Age of oldest patient, a man in downtown Vancouver with severe
arthritis, authorized to consume five grams daily, referred by a
general practitioner.
56 Largest allowed dosage, in grams per day. It was approved for a
45-year-old man with spinal cord injury and disease, living near
Kelowna, B.C.
Top medical reasons for marijuana applications, 2007-2011 Severe
arthritis 7,445
Other (Category 2)* 4,032
Chronic pain 2,194
Spinal cord injury 2,130
Spinal cord disease 1,583
Cancer 1,387
Multiple sclerosis 1,254
AIDS, HIV infection 1,130
Epilepsy 394
Hepatitis B or C 276
* Category 2 patients have debilitating symptoms of medical conditions
not covered by Category 1 for which conventional treatments are
considered ineffective.
These applications require an assessment by a specialist. Category 1
patients are authorized to possess marijuana to treat symptoms of
cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy seizures, spinal cord injury or disease,
and severe arthritis. They require approval by only one doctor.
Source: Ottawa Citizen analysis of Health Canada records released under the
Access to Information Act.
DECADE LATER, POT STILL IN LEGAL GREY ZONE
A decade after Canada legalized marijuana to help treat certain
conditions, Charlie Fidelman reports patients are still struggling to
find doctors willing to help. Page A4
SEARCHABLE DATABASE OF MEDICAL POT USE
Use our interactive map and a searchable database to find out where
medical marijuana is being used in Canada, and why. Plus, more stories
and videos at montrealgazette.com/ medicalmarijuana
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