Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
On a typical day, Daphnée Elisma will fire up her vaporizer and inhale roughly three grams of marijuana.
She can go through a quarter-pound of weed a month, spending about $500 in the process.
But Elisma, 41, isn't what you might call a burnout.
She's in her third year of law school at Université de Sherbrooke. Like more than 40,000 Canadians, Elisma is licensed to use medical marijuana. She says the drug helps manage her chronic pain and makes it possible for her to keep up with the demanding schedule of a full-time law student.
Elisma describes the pain in vivid terms.
It trickles down her flesh like "an army of ants." She also feels it under her skin, like a "constant stabbing" in her armpit. If she jots down notes with a pen for more than a few minutes, Elisma's says her arm goes limp.
It began two years ago, after doctors removed a cancerous tumour from Elisma's breast. She went into remission but developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome - which researchers believe is caused by damage to the central or peripheral nervous system.
What it meant for Elisma is that pain became a fixture in her life.
"I guess I was naive but I used to think it would go away," said Elisma. "I just thought, 'It won't always be like this.' But it will. This is my life now."
The path that led her to use medical marijuana was long and typical of the hurdles patients in Quebec face when trying to access a drug not recognized by the province's college of physicians.
Elisma went to Toronto recently to testify at the Task Force on Marijuana Legalization and Regulation - a government-appointed group that is recommending how to legalize and regulate access to cannabis. The federal task force has been working toward presenting its first report in Ottawa this week.
In the meantime, Elisma says her situation speaks to some of the current system's shortcomings.
***
Elisma's doctor didn't mince words when she broached the topic of medical cannabis.
"It was an unequivocal 'No,'" said Elisma. "She said she wasn't allowed."
In 2010, Elisma suffered a brain aneurysm. The surgery to repair the aneurysm left her with frequent and debilitating migraines, the kind that would sideline her from her job as a training coordinator at Health Canada.
"My vision would narrow; I became hypersensitive to light," she said. "I'd have to take time off work. It was bad."
Elisma's doctor prescribed codeine - an opiate-based painkiller that mimics the numbing effects of heroin.
The codeine left her in a fog and made it impossible to lead a normal, productive life. After ingesting the drug at her apartment one afternoon, Elisma says she felt a sort of paralysis coil itself around her neck.
"It was terrifying, I called an ambulance right away," she said.
In the end, Elisma's doctor said she'd had a bad reaction to the medication, and prescribed her a different set of painkillers. "What bothered me was how easy it had been to get a prescription for opiates, for something that you could overdose on and die," she said.
"This isn't a conspiracy theory here. It was much easier to get my hands on this highly addictive painkiller than it was to obtain a prescription for cannabis."
It took about two years, but Elisma found her way to the Polyclinique Médicale Populaire, on Ste-Catherine St. E., where a doctor was willing to write her a cannabis prescription.
"It may sound ridiculous, but weed changed my life," said Elisma. "Or, at least, it gave me my life back."
One of marijuana's main chemical components gives users a euphoric, relaxing feeling that counters the effects of chronic pain. The component, Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), helps dull Elisma's pain without putting her in a catatonic state.
Critics say Quebec's Collège des médecins has an overly conservative approach to regulating marijuana. But the physicians' college contends that there isn't nearly enough research around the plant's medicinal properties.
"The fact is we just don't know enough about it," said Caroline Langis, spokesperson for the college. "We don't know how it interacts with other drugs – and there could be a lot of risk there. We don't know enough about long-term side effects. There are just a lot of questions that need answering."
One advocate says the lack of research was, for years, a government-imposed obstacle.
"After the Conservative government came into power (in 2006), funding for cannabis research was gutted," said Erin Prosk, co-founder the Santé Cannabis clinic on Amherst St. in Montreal. "No research creates a huge barrier for physicians, and so you wind up with this (cannabis) treatment which is legal but unapproved.
"In other words, people have fought the laws in court and they've secured legal rights. But for years the government resisted regulating cannabis and, in doing so, created these gaps in the system. So what do people do when they can't get a prescription? They self-medicate, they go to a dealer, a compassion club, they operate in the margins."
In a document prepared by Canada's marijuana legalization task force, the federal government acknowledged that the few government studies on marijuana have focused on its negative effects.
Those aren't negligible: Frequent marijuana use has been linked to lung disease and increased risk in schizophrenia in those with a personal or family history of mental illness.
But the plant's medical benefits are also becoming widely accepted. Health Canada has outlined dozens of pharmaceutical uses for the drug. The list includes treating the symptoms of arthritis, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's disease.
Increasingly, marijuana is being used to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Veterans Affairs paid more than $12 million toward medical cannabis prescriptions in 2015.
Much of the expanding uses for the plant have to do with its other main component: cannabidiol (CBD). Research suggests CBD helps alleviate anxiety, nausea, inflammation and can act as an anti-depressant.
Prosk says the sidelining of medical studies has had a serious financial impact for patients. Because the drug remains legal but unapproved, there are no Canadian insurance policies that cover the cost of medical marijuana.
This leaves people like Elisma - who says her cannabis use costs roughly $5,000 a year - to foot an extraordinary financial burden.
***
Doctor Michael Dworkind slips out of the October rain and walks through the front door of Santé Cannabis in Montreal's Gay Village.
Between his jobs as a palliative-care physician and medical researcher, Dworkind is a sort of cannabis evangelist. He doesn't claim it's a wonder drug but Dworkind says medical marijuana can change the way doctors treat chronic pain.
People who come to the clinic are desperate. Many, like Elisma, have tried more conventional painkillers but can't handle the cumbersome side effects.
"They come here on heavy, heavy doses of opioids, and they're looking for another way forward," said Dworkind. "We try as best we can to improve their quality of life, to give them an alternative."
Because of the Collège des Médecins' restrictions, Dworkind can only prescribe cannabis once a patient has exhausted all other forms of treatment. Through its research and advocacy work, Santé Cannabis says it only knows of about 30 doctors who write medical marijuana prescriptions.
But that could change.
Last year, Quebec's physicians' college launched the world's first medical cannabis registry - a database that collects data from hundreds of patients who use the drug. More than 500 patients are enrolled in the registry, which tracks how they react to cannabis, what they're using it for and how the medicine interacts with other drugs.
Though it's still early in the process, Dworkind says the results are encouraging.
"We're seeing people lower their reliance on opioids by half," he said. "There's no understating how important that is."
The registry will track this data for 10 years, and the results of this research project could potentially overturn the physician college's stance on marijuana.
Dworkind contends there's a role for opioids in treating chronic pain but the drug comes with inherent risks. Studies show they are highly addictive, their side effects can be debilitating and, perhaps most importantly, patients can overdose on them and die.
Opioid overdoses can be lethal primarily because of how the chemicals interact with our brains.
The brainstem - which regulates breathing and blood circulation - is full of opioid receptors. This means that too much of the drug can overload the brain and stop a person's heart and kill them.
"You can't overdose and die from cannabis," Dworkind said. "There are no (cannabis) receptors in the brainstem, and that makes it far less dangerous than an opioid."
***
Even with her prescription to use medical marijuana, Elisma says there are hurdles built into the system.
For starters, she can only obtain her cannabis through mail order, in keeping with regulations outlined by Health Canada. While there's an element of convenience to home delivery, she's also entirely dependent on the postal system.
This became a problem last summer, when tens of thousands of parcels were delayed or lost throughout the country during a labour dispute between Canada Post workers and the federal government.
"Even with weed, pain is a part of my life," Elisma said. "But when I didn't get it in the mail, it's a lot worse. You cut back on your medicine, you try to manage but it's tough."
Though Elisma's condition can be overwhelming, she doesn't show her suffering. She carries herself with a quiet dignity, and is quick to smile. She insists on not being seen as a victim.
"I don't want pity or for people to feel sorry for me or anything like that," she says. "I just want a system that works for patients."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Make It Easier To Get Medical Marijuana, Users And Supporters Say
Author: Christopher Curtis
Contact: 1-514-987-2222
Photo Credit: Pierre Obendrauf
Website: Montreal Gazette
She can go through a quarter-pound of weed a month, spending about $500 in the process.
But Elisma, 41, isn't what you might call a burnout.
She's in her third year of law school at Université de Sherbrooke. Like more than 40,000 Canadians, Elisma is licensed to use medical marijuana. She says the drug helps manage her chronic pain and makes it possible for her to keep up with the demanding schedule of a full-time law student.
Elisma describes the pain in vivid terms.
It trickles down her flesh like "an army of ants." She also feels it under her skin, like a "constant stabbing" in her armpit. If she jots down notes with a pen for more than a few minutes, Elisma's says her arm goes limp.
It began two years ago, after doctors removed a cancerous tumour from Elisma's breast. She went into remission but developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome - which researchers believe is caused by damage to the central or peripheral nervous system.
What it meant for Elisma is that pain became a fixture in her life.
"I guess I was naive but I used to think it would go away," said Elisma. "I just thought, 'It won't always be like this.' But it will. This is my life now."
The path that led her to use medical marijuana was long and typical of the hurdles patients in Quebec face when trying to access a drug not recognized by the province's college of physicians.
Elisma went to Toronto recently to testify at the Task Force on Marijuana Legalization and Regulation - a government-appointed group that is recommending how to legalize and regulate access to cannabis. The federal task force has been working toward presenting its first report in Ottawa this week.
In the meantime, Elisma says her situation speaks to some of the current system's shortcomings.
***
Elisma's doctor didn't mince words when she broached the topic of medical cannabis.
"It was an unequivocal 'No,'" said Elisma. "She said she wasn't allowed."
In 2010, Elisma suffered a brain aneurysm. The surgery to repair the aneurysm left her with frequent and debilitating migraines, the kind that would sideline her from her job as a training coordinator at Health Canada.
"My vision would narrow; I became hypersensitive to light," she said. "I'd have to take time off work. It was bad."
Elisma's doctor prescribed codeine - an opiate-based painkiller that mimics the numbing effects of heroin.
The codeine left her in a fog and made it impossible to lead a normal, productive life. After ingesting the drug at her apartment one afternoon, Elisma says she felt a sort of paralysis coil itself around her neck.
"It was terrifying, I called an ambulance right away," she said.
In the end, Elisma's doctor said she'd had a bad reaction to the medication, and prescribed her a different set of painkillers. "What bothered me was how easy it had been to get a prescription for opiates, for something that you could overdose on and die," she said.
"This isn't a conspiracy theory here. It was much easier to get my hands on this highly addictive painkiller than it was to obtain a prescription for cannabis."
It took about two years, but Elisma found her way to the Polyclinique Médicale Populaire, on Ste-Catherine St. E., where a doctor was willing to write her a cannabis prescription.
"It may sound ridiculous, but weed changed my life," said Elisma. "Or, at least, it gave me my life back."
One of marijuana's main chemical components gives users a euphoric, relaxing feeling that counters the effects of chronic pain. The component, Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), helps dull Elisma's pain without putting her in a catatonic state.
Critics say Quebec's Collège des médecins has an overly conservative approach to regulating marijuana. But the physicians' college contends that there isn't nearly enough research around the plant's medicinal properties.
"The fact is we just don't know enough about it," said Caroline Langis, spokesperson for the college. "We don't know how it interacts with other drugs – and there could be a lot of risk there. We don't know enough about long-term side effects. There are just a lot of questions that need answering."
One advocate says the lack of research was, for years, a government-imposed obstacle.
"After the Conservative government came into power (in 2006), funding for cannabis research was gutted," said Erin Prosk, co-founder the Santé Cannabis clinic on Amherst St. in Montreal. "No research creates a huge barrier for physicians, and so you wind up with this (cannabis) treatment which is legal but unapproved.
"In other words, people have fought the laws in court and they've secured legal rights. But for years the government resisted regulating cannabis and, in doing so, created these gaps in the system. So what do people do when they can't get a prescription? They self-medicate, they go to a dealer, a compassion club, they operate in the margins."
In a document prepared by Canada's marijuana legalization task force, the federal government acknowledged that the few government studies on marijuana have focused on its negative effects.
Those aren't negligible: Frequent marijuana use has been linked to lung disease and increased risk in schizophrenia in those with a personal or family history of mental illness.
But the plant's medical benefits are also becoming widely accepted. Health Canada has outlined dozens of pharmaceutical uses for the drug. The list includes treating the symptoms of arthritis, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's disease.
Increasingly, marijuana is being used to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Veterans Affairs paid more than $12 million toward medical cannabis prescriptions in 2015.
Much of the expanding uses for the plant have to do with its other main component: cannabidiol (CBD). Research suggests CBD helps alleviate anxiety, nausea, inflammation and can act as an anti-depressant.
Prosk says the sidelining of medical studies has had a serious financial impact for patients. Because the drug remains legal but unapproved, there are no Canadian insurance policies that cover the cost of medical marijuana.
This leaves people like Elisma - who says her cannabis use costs roughly $5,000 a year - to foot an extraordinary financial burden.
***
Doctor Michael Dworkind slips out of the October rain and walks through the front door of Santé Cannabis in Montreal's Gay Village.
Between his jobs as a palliative-care physician and medical researcher, Dworkind is a sort of cannabis evangelist. He doesn't claim it's a wonder drug but Dworkind says medical marijuana can change the way doctors treat chronic pain.
People who come to the clinic are desperate. Many, like Elisma, have tried more conventional painkillers but can't handle the cumbersome side effects.
"They come here on heavy, heavy doses of opioids, and they're looking for another way forward," said Dworkind. "We try as best we can to improve their quality of life, to give them an alternative."
Because of the Collège des Médecins' restrictions, Dworkind can only prescribe cannabis once a patient has exhausted all other forms of treatment. Through its research and advocacy work, Santé Cannabis says it only knows of about 30 doctors who write medical marijuana prescriptions.
But that could change.
Last year, Quebec's physicians' college launched the world's first medical cannabis registry - a database that collects data from hundreds of patients who use the drug. More than 500 patients are enrolled in the registry, which tracks how they react to cannabis, what they're using it for and how the medicine interacts with other drugs.
Though it's still early in the process, Dworkind says the results are encouraging.
"We're seeing people lower their reliance on opioids by half," he said. "There's no understating how important that is."
The registry will track this data for 10 years, and the results of this research project could potentially overturn the physician college's stance on marijuana.
Dworkind contends there's a role for opioids in treating chronic pain but the drug comes with inherent risks. Studies show they are highly addictive, their side effects can be debilitating and, perhaps most importantly, patients can overdose on them and die.
Opioid overdoses can be lethal primarily because of how the chemicals interact with our brains.
The brainstem - which regulates breathing and blood circulation - is full of opioid receptors. This means that too much of the drug can overload the brain and stop a person's heart and kill them.
"You can't overdose and die from cannabis," Dworkind said. "There are no (cannabis) receptors in the brainstem, and that makes it far less dangerous than an opioid."
***
Even with her prescription to use medical marijuana, Elisma says there are hurdles built into the system.
For starters, she can only obtain her cannabis through mail order, in keeping with regulations outlined by Health Canada. While there's an element of convenience to home delivery, she's also entirely dependent on the postal system.
This became a problem last summer, when tens of thousands of parcels were delayed or lost throughout the country during a labour dispute between Canada Post workers and the federal government.
"Even with weed, pain is a part of my life," Elisma said. "But when I didn't get it in the mail, it's a lot worse. You cut back on your medicine, you try to manage but it's tough."
Though Elisma's condition can be overwhelming, she doesn't show her suffering. She carries herself with a quiet dignity, and is quick to smile. She insists on not being seen as a victim.
"I don't want pity or for people to feel sorry for me or anything like that," she says. "I just want a system that works for patients."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Make It Easier To Get Medical Marijuana, Users And Supporters Say
Author: Christopher Curtis
Contact: 1-514-987-2222
Photo Credit: Pierre Obendrauf
Website: Montreal Gazette