health canada

By BRYAN TAIT, Daily Gleaner

 

In what could be a first in New Brunswick, a Hainesville man is fighting a drug possession charge on the basis of a medical certificate.

 

Todd Terrance LeClair was charged with possessing marijuana after a police search of his residence Oct. 19.

 

But LeClair is arguing he's been allowed to possess the narcotic after receiving a doctor's prescription on March 1, 2009.

 

On trial for the possession charge Friday, LeClair said he'd received his medical marijuana licence on Jan. 13.

 

That licence permitted him to store 1,500 grams in his home and carry 120 grams on his person.

 

By Monisha Martins - Maple Ridge News

 

Two people who grow medical marijuana in a house in Pitt Meadows are vowing to fight the city as it amends a bylaw to shut their operation down.

 

In a cul-de-sac at the end of a quiet residential street, the pair have just harvested a third crop of 98 plants for a woman who suffers from leukemia.

 

She uses marijuana to control pain by turning it into a tea and blending it with spaghetti sauce.

 

“We are willing to fight,” said Shannon Rowe, who has a Designated-Person Production Licence from Health Canada – a permit that allows her to grow legal pot.

 

She is growing for her uncle Gerald, who has a spinal injury.

 

CBC News

 

Canada's first International Medical Marijuana Expo in Toronto hopes to attract people suffering from health problems who are "sick and tired of taking pharmaceutical drugs that have adverse side-effects," says the event's organizer.

 

The event, which is being held in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this weekend, is labelled as "the first expo promoting the respectable and responsible use of marijuana as medicine."

 

The expo's website says it will feature a number of vendors who are selling products "who specialize in the medicinal use and production of high-quality medical marijuana."

 

By Niamh Scallan, The Tyee

 

A provincial civil liberties group is calling on the federal government to relax its grip on medical marijuana distribution.

 

"It’s so critical that we take away this double bind that seriously ill patients are in, where they have to choose between breaking the law and getting their medicines," B.C. Civil Liberties Association’s policy director Micheal Vonn said. "This situation is not one that is constitutional or in keeping with human rights."

 

The rights advocacy group submitted a request to Health Canada on July 9 asking that medical marijuana pharmacies and compassion clubs be authorized under the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations.

 

By. Noor Javed, HealthZone

 

Arbi Kevorkian has always made sure his weed is legal.

 

Every summer for the past four years, Kevorkian has sent off the renewal form to Health Canada two months before his medical marijuana licence expires in July.

 

The licence always arrived back in time for his next prescription refill, allowing Kevorkian to use the otherwise illegal substance without fear of being arrested or charged. But this year, nearly four months after he sent in his renewal form in March, he still hasn’t received a response from Health Canada and has no clue when it might come.

 

By Stephen Thomson, Georgia Straight

 

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association wants so-called compassion clubs that sell marijuana for medical use to be sanctioned under federal regulations.

 

A submission sent to Health Canada today (July 8) calls for changes to the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations.

 

At present, approved patients can purchase dried marijuana or seeds from Health Canada. A designated grower can also apply for a licence to produce pot for up to two people.

 

By Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix

 

The celebration over a new contract with Health Canada worth nearly $17 million didn't last long at Prairie Plant Systems Inc. (PPS) last week.

 

Now, the Saskatoon company -- the only federally licensed medical marijuana producer in Canada -- must get to work hiring new staff and expanding its secret growing facility to accommodate the contract.

 

It's a project the biotechnology company is happy to have, the company's president and CEO Brent Zettl said Wednesday.

 

"We envision this as just a continuation of our business plan along with becoming a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals using plants," Zettl said.

 

By Martin Patriquin, Macleans

 

For the past six years, Sophie Andronas’s routine has included smoking two grams of marijuana a day to alleviate the twitches, spasms and pain associated with multiple sclerosis. And though a permit from Health Canada means she is one of 3,439 Canadians allowed to grow and possess marijuana, Andronas has relied on the Montreal Compassion Centre for both product and plants.

 

That was until police shut down the centre, along with four other Quebec marijuana dispensaries, in early June: not only had she lost a source of medicine, but she realized that buying from the centre technically meant she could be charged with trafficking or possession. By law, medical marijuana users must procure their weed from Health Canada, and not from the handful of illegal compassion clubs across the country.

 

By Cassandra Kyle, Canada.com

 

SASKATOON - A reputation of any kind, even for a business, is hard to shake.

 

And when your company is the only federally licensed medical marijuana producer in Canada, that's the first thing people think of when they hear the company's name, says Brent Zettl, the company's president and CEO.

 

But providing cannabis to patients authorized by Health Canada isn't the Saskatoon-based company's only focus, even if sales of the CanniMed herbal treatment account for between 60 and 65 per cent of its revenue, Zettl says.

 

Statement from Health Canada

 

OTTAWA - Health Canada would like to provide information regarding the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) as they relate to organizations such as "compassion clubs" or "cannabis dispensaries".

 

Under the MMAR, Health Canada does not licence organizations such as "compassion clubs" or "cannabis dispensaries" to possess, produce, or distribute marihuana for medical purposes. Under the MMAR, only individuals can be authorized by Health Canada to possess and/or be licensed to produce marihuana for medical purposes. As well, Health Canada is the only organization that can legally supply marihuana seeds and dried marihuana for medical purposes to such individuals.