SmokeDog420
New Member
Ottawa, Ontario: Health Canada is considering a proposal to make medicinal marijuana available in pharmacies, according to published news reports in the Calgary Herald and the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine (IACM).
According to the reports, Health Canada is expected to make recommendations regarding the plan later this spring, and hopes to establish a pilot program later this year.
Under current law, qualified Canadian patients may legally possess and grow medicinal marijuana. Last year, Health Canada also began distributing government-grown pot to a handful of qualified patients.
Presently, only the Netherlands allows medicinal cannabis to be distributed in pharmacies.
NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre applauded the Canadian proposal. "If we are to hold cannabis up to the same standards of safety and efficacy that we hold other drugs, then a policy regulating it in pharmacies is long overdue," he said. "Patients should not have to go the black market and risk arrest to obtain the medicine they need. Clearly, a model that calls for marijuana to be legally regulated in pharmacies is a safer, efficient and more sensible alternative."
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre of the NORML Foundation at (202) 483-5500.
According to the reports, Health Canada is expected to make recommendations regarding the plan later this spring, and hopes to establish a pilot program later this year.
Under current law, qualified Canadian patients may legally possess and grow medicinal marijuana. Last year, Health Canada also began distributing government-grown pot to a handful of qualified patients.
Presently, only the Netherlands allows medicinal cannabis to be distributed in pharmacies.
NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre applauded the Canadian proposal. "If we are to hold cannabis up to the same standards of safety and efficacy that we hold other drugs, then a policy regulating it in pharmacies is long overdue," he said. "Patients should not have to go the black market and risk arrest to obtain the medicine they need. Clearly, a model that calls for marijuana to be legally regulated in pharmacies is a safer, efficient and more sensible alternative."
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre of the NORML Foundation at (202) 483-5500.
