Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor

Feds want medical marijuana suppliers to report doctor prescriptions

By The Canadian Press   

Features Clinical Patient Care

June 16, 2014 – The federal Health Department wants medical marijuana suppliers to provide provincial authorities with information on the doctors who prescribe the substance.

And they want them to issue semi-annual reports on the physicians who prescribe marijuana for their patients.

The reports would include the doctor's name and address, how much of the substance was prescribed and for how long.

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The proposed regulations were published Friday by the federal government.

The
provinces and territories “have identified the need to provide better
education and guidance for and monitoring of their members who provide
medical documents to their patients to support their access to marijuana
for medical purposes,” the notice states.

It says that better
monitoring of health-care practitioners who provide their patients with
the substance “would help support the integrity” of the new medical
marijuana system.

“We have consulted with health care licensing
bodies who expressed a need for the data on how doctors and nurses are
authorizing marijuana to their patients and in which quantities,” Health
Minister Rona Ambrose said in a statement.

“The proposed
regulatory amendments will further strengthen public health and safety
by ensuring appropriate oversight and monitoring.”

On April 1,
Health Canada radically altered the rules for medical marijuana, opening
its production up to the commercial sector, expanding it from a cottage
industry of thousands of loosely regulated growers.

As of late
last month, the department had received 858 applications from a variety
of firms wanting to be medical marijuana suppliers.

On Friday,
the department said in a statement that it does not endorse marijuana
use, but the courts have required reasonable access to it for medical
purposes.

“Marijuana is not an approved drug or medicine in
Canada and has not gone through the necessary rigorous scientific trials
for efficacy or safety,” it said.


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