VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
http://www.thewhig.com/2016/03/08/cannabis-clinic-set-to-open
Kingston's first medical marijuana clinic is set to open in about a month.
The Canadian Cannabis Clinic will be opening its 12th Ontario location around mid-April. Officials are close to signing a lease for space in a building on upper Princess Street.
"We're advancing and spreading out across Ontario because there's a demand for it," said Ronan Levy, the Canadian Cannabis Clinic director and general counsel, in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
Levy said cannabis-specialized clinics are important to have in a community because many doctors in Canada do not feel comfortable prescribing cannabis.
"Most often, this hesitation results from just a lack of understanding of how it is used, how to dose, how to titrate because cannabis medicine is not covered in medical school and because it does not fit into the paradigm of dosing, testing, etc., of most traditional pharmaceutical products." he said. "As a result, many doctors have patients that they simply can't assist in this respect."
Levy added that many doctors now refer those patients to the Canadian Cannabis Clinic.
Since the first 10 clinics were opened over the past 18 months in the Greater Toronto Area and in south and southwestern Ontario, they have received more than 10,000 patient referrals from 2,800 physicians in the province.
The Kingston clinic should have three or four employees, including a receptionist, a nurse, an international medical graduate and a doctor. If a doctor is not present, one can be contacted through Telemedicine Ontario.
The clinic will take referrals from other local doctors. People can't walk into the clinic without being referred, Levy said.
Patients attending the clinics will be assessed, their medical history will be taken, and a physical will be performed. Afterwards, the patient will receive a medical document that will enable them to purchase the medical marijuana from a Health Canada-licensed producer.
Levy said there are 29 producers across Canada and each of them have five to 15 strains of cannabis for sale, so it's important to find the right strain for the patient's particular ailment. There will be an educator on site to help the patient choose the proper marijuana and the frequency of taking it. They'll also be shown how to use a vapourizer, which is the recommended way of taking the cannabis, instead of smoking it, Levy said.
"It's better for your lungs, not smoking it," he said. "You're not inhaling the burnt plant matter and the chemicals that go with that."
Vaporizers work by heating the marijuana past the boiling point of the active compounds but before burning the plant matter.
Levy said a variety of conditions can be treated with medical marijuana, including chronic pain and neuropathic pain, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, anxiety, depression, migraine headaches, patients with spasticity, irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's disease, cancer-related pain, chemotherapy side effects, epilepsy and insomnia.
But Levy said medical cannabis is not appropriate for everyone and will not treat every condition.
"Only patients suffering from certain chronic conditions who have not found relief from conventional treatment options should consider cannabis," he said.
Referrals are covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, but the marijuana is not, said Levy, who added that very few insurance companies cover the cost of cannabis.
The clinic is not a dispensary, which is illegal, said Levy, and it does not have any marijuana on site.
"We are clearly a medical clinic," Levy said. "By and large, most of our patients find cannabis to be effective in treating their symptoms."
[email protected]
Kingston's first medical marijuana clinic is set to open in about a month.
The Canadian Cannabis Clinic will be opening its 12th Ontario location around mid-April. Officials are close to signing a lease for space in a building on upper Princess Street.
"We're advancing and spreading out across Ontario because there's a demand for it," said Ronan Levy, the Canadian Cannabis Clinic director and general counsel, in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
Levy said cannabis-specialized clinics are important to have in a community because many doctors in Canada do not feel comfortable prescribing cannabis.
"Most often, this hesitation results from just a lack of understanding of how it is used, how to dose, how to titrate because cannabis medicine is not covered in medical school and because it does not fit into the paradigm of dosing, testing, etc., of most traditional pharmaceutical products." he said. "As a result, many doctors have patients that they simply can't assist in this respect."
Levy added that many doctors now refer those patients to the Canadian Cannabis Clinic.
Since the first 10 clinics were opened over the past 18 months in the Greater Toronto Area and in south and southwestern Ontario, they have received more than 10,000 patient referrals from 2,800 physicians in the province.
The Kingston clinic should have three or four employees, including a receptionist, a nurse, an international medical graduate and a doctor. If a doctor is not present, one can be contacted through Telemedicine Ontario.
The clinic will take referrals from other local doctors. People can't walk into the clinic without being referred, Levy said.
Patients attending the clinics will be assessed, their medical history will be taken, and a physical will be performed. Afterwards, the patient will receive a medical document that will enable them to purchase the medical marijuana from a Health Canada-licensed producer.
Levy said there are 29 producers across Canada and each of them have five to 15 strains of cannabis for sale, so it's important to find the right strain for the patient's particular ailment. There will be an educator on site to help the patient choose the proper marijuana and the frequency of taking it. They'll also be shown how to use a vapourizer, which is the recommended way of taking the cannabis, instead of smoking it, Levy said.
"It's better for your lungs, not smoking it," he said. "You're not inhaling the burnt plant matter and the chemicals that go with that."
Vaporizers work by heating the marijuana past the boiling point of the active compounds but before burning the plant matter.
Levy said a variety of conditions can be treated with medical marijuana, including chronic pain and neuropathic pain, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, anxiety, depression, migraine headaches, patients with spasticity, irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's disease, cancer-related pain, chemotherapy side effects, epilepsy and insomnia.
But Levy said medical cannabis is not appropriate for everyone and will not treat every condition.
"Only patients suffering from certain chronic conditions who have not found relief from conventional treatment options should consider cannabis," he said.
Referrals are covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, but the marijuana is not, said Levy, who added that very few insurance companies cover the cost of cannabis.
The clinic is not a dispensary, which is illegal, said Levy, and it does not have any marijuana on site.
"We are clearly a medical clinic," Levy said. "By and large, most of our patients find cannabis to be effective in treating their symptoms."
[email protected]
