Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
A Canadian Cannabis Clinic is slated to open this fall in North Bay.
The city is one of several communities Bodystream Medical Marijuana Services is targeting for its expansion.
"We're in the process of trying to find a location, but we expect to be open within three months," said Brian Warner, co-owner of Bodystream Medical Marijuana Services.
Bodystream provides doctor assessments (via telemedicine) and facilitates the delivery of medical pot from licensed producers.
"We are not a dispensing clinic. We are a medical clinic that provides doctors' appointments," Warner said Monday. "Patients who qualify for the medicine will have it mailed directly to their doors."
Bodystream started in Barrie in 2012, and now has nine locations, including other Northern outlets in Sudbury, Kirkland Lake, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay. North Bay and Timmins will both get their own clinics in the early fall, the company said previously.
Warner stated any doctor can prescribe medical marijuana. It's not technically a specialty. But there are doctors who are willing to prescribe and who are trained in this area.
"We're trying to treat this like any other medication," Warner said during a presentation in Sudbury. "We're not trying to encourage the pot community. Even with our branding, you'll see there's no big marijuana leaf."
Warner said there are many reasons patients end up on the doorsteps of Bodystream.
He said family doctors could not be friendly toward cannabis or they're not educated about marijuana.
Warner said North Bay residents have to leave town to find a medical pot specialist and many made the trip to the Bodystream site in Barrie and most recently in Sudbury.
A Sudbury location opened three weeks ago.
Unlike some medical marijuana clinics, Bodystream does not charge an administrative fee, Warner stressed.
"There is no fee for our service and there shouldn't be one," he said.
The cost of an appointment is fully covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, so a patient need only have a valid OHIP card.
The medicine itself will cost the user, however. Warner said that can range "from $5 a gram to $15 a gram, with the average being $7 a gram for most licensed producers."
Those on limited incomes can qualify for a discount from some producers, he added.
The service is firm, however, about issuing prescriptions of three to six months - rather than a full year, as some clinics have done - and generally won't prescribe to anyone under the age of 25.
"In an effort to protect doctors, we try to follow the college guidelines," said Warner.
The easiest way for a patient to secure an appointment with Bodystream is through a referral from their physician, but if that isn't available the clinic can still work with the individual to gain the necessary documentation.
"We have a team of doctors, who are all basically specialists and family physicians, and we'll connect you using telemedicine," Warner said. "So it will be like a regular appointment, except on the other side of the desk, instead of the doctor physically sitting there, it's going to be a large monitor. But we will still have nurses and admin staff doing all the regular things."
That said, "we are not taking over primary care," he noted. "So you can't come in and talk about six other health problems."
Warner predicted legalization of marijuana is still three years away, but even when it becomes generally available it will be heavily taxed, "so there will always be a benefit to having a prescription and doing it through the medical system, as opposed to recreationally and self-medicating."
While there is still some skepticism among the public - and parts of the medical community - about cannabis, Warner said the substance's healing potential is hard to ignore.
"More and more, it's becoming acceptable," he said. "Everybody is getting on board. More studies are being funded, and you can't deny the anecdotal evidence."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical Cannabis Clinic To Open In City In Fall
Author: Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: North Bay Nugget
The city is one of several communities Bodystream Medical Marijuana Services is targeting for its expansion.
"We're in the process of trying to find a location, but we expect to be open within three months," said Brian Warner, co-owner of Bodystream Medical Marijuana Services.
Bodystream provides doctor assessments (via telemedicine) and facilitates the delivery of medical pot from licensed producers.
"We are not a dispensing clinic. We are a medical clinic that provides doctors' appointments," Warner said Monday. "Patients who qualify for the medicine will have it mailed directly to their doors."
Bodystream started in Barrie in 2012, and now has nine locations, including other Northern outlets in Sudbury, Kirkland Lake, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay. North Bay and Timmins will both get their own clinics in the early fall, the company said previously.
Warner stated any doctor can prescribe medical marijuana. It's not technically a specialty. But there are doctors who are willing to prescribe and who are trained in this area.
"We're trying to treat this like any other medication," Warner said during a presentation in Sudbury. "We're not trying to encourage the pot community. Even with our branding, you'll see there's no big marijuana leaf."
Warner said there are many reasons patients end up on the doorsteps of Bodystream.
He said family doctors could not be friendly toward cannabis or they're not educated about marijuana.
Warner said North Bay residents have to leave town to find a medical pot specialist and many made the trip to the Bodystream site in Barrie and most recently in Sudbury.
A Sudbury location opened three weeks ago.
Unlike some medical marijuana clinics, Bodystream does not charge an administrative fee, Warner stressed.
"There is no fee for our service and there shouldn't be one," he said.
The cost of an appointment is fully covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, so a patient need only have a valid OHIP card.
The medicine itself will cost the user, however. Warner said that can range "from $5 a gram to $15 a gram, with the average being $7 a gram for most licensed producers."
Those on limited incomes can qualify for a discount from some producers, he added.
The service is firm, however, about issuing prescriptions of three to six months - rather than a full year, as some clinics have done - and generally won't prescribe to anyone under the age of 25.
"In an effort to protect doctors, we try to follow the college guidelines," said Warner.
The easiest way for a patient to secure an appointment with Bodystream is through a referral from their physician, but if that isn't available the clinic can still work with the individual to gain the necessary documentation.
"We have a team of doctors, who are all basically specialists and family physicians, and we'll connect you using telemedicine," Warner said. "So it will be like a regular appointment, except on the other side of the desk, instead of the doctor physically sitting there, it's going to be a large monitor. But we will still have nurses and admin staff doing all the regular things."
That said, "we are not taking over primary care," he noted. "So you can't come in and talk about six other health problems."
Warner predicted legalization of marijuana is still three years away, but even when it becomes generally available it will be heavily taxed, "so there will always be a benefit to having a prescription and doing it through the medical system, as opposed to recreationally and self-medicating."
While there is still some skepticism among the public - and parts of the medical community - about cannabis, Warner said the substance's healing potential is hard to ignore.
"More and more, it's becoming acceptable," he said. "Everybody is getting on board. More studies are being funded, and you can't deny the anecdotal evidence."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical Cannabis Clinic To Open In City In Fall
Author: Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: North Bay Nugget
