Medical marijuana

Canadian Network for Respiratory Care, Caledon, Ontario Correspondence: Ms Andrea White Markham, 16983 Highway 62, Eldorado, Ontario K0K 1Y0. Telephone 647-202-9803, e-mail [email protected] The current issue the Journal includes an article describing the use of vaporizers for medical marijuana. As respiratory therapists (RTs), we must be aware of the science behind the use of these devices and substances, including their benefits and harms. Presently, there has not been an application to Health Canada for the approval of dried cannabis for medical purposes under the Food and Drugs Act (1). This is the standard process for approval of a therapeutic drug. Because this submission has not been made, the use of cannabis/marijuana as a therapeutic treatment has not been vetted through the review, regulations and standards associated with Health Canada’s approval process. This process would usually include clinical testing, quality control, guidelines for dosage, route of administration, contraindications and reporting/monitoring of adverse reactions (2,3). In Canada, marijuana is currently regulated under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) (4). The CDSA prohibits the production, possession and sale of marijuana as a controlled substance, rendering these actions a criminal act. Marijuana is also regulated through an international treaty, the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (5), to which Canada is a signatory. This treaty requires that scheduled substances, such as marijuana, be limited to use for medical and scientific research purposes. There are three such forms of marijuana-based pharmaceutical drugs approved by Health Canada for use in Canada: two of these are synthetic drugs in pill form; and one is an oral spray derived from plant extracts. Health Canada introduced the Marihuana (sic) for Medicinal Purposes Regulations (MMPRs) to cover client access to only the dried cannabis plant and not any of the oil, resins, extracts or tinctures (6). MMPRs grant access to cannabis as a medical therapy for Canadians with grave or debilitating illness when conventional treatments are inappropriate or fail to provide adequate relief. The regulation defines a process in which medical practitioners and nurse practitioners are responsible for providing a medical document prescribing marijuana that clients can use to access marijuana from a licensed supplier. Cannabinoids are chemicals found in the cannabis plant – a few account for most of the known actions of cannabis on cognitive and body functions. These active cannabionoids may be natural derivatives or synthetic preparations.