In the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, an op-ed was published that was written by Dr. Melanie Kelly and Elizabeth Cairns.
The two co-authors are urging that the federal government keep recreational marijuana and medicinal marijuana separate from one another when they country legalizes the drug.
Kelly, a professor of pharmacology and ophthalmology at Dalhousie University, and Cairns, a PhD candidate studying pharmacology and neuroscience, are in agreement with the Liberal government’s recommendation that the task force on marijuana legalization keep them separated.
Cairns explained, “Patients] are potentially looking for a totally different product and there’s no guarantee with a market that’s recreationally driven that that product will be maintained and sold.”
“With recreational cannabis, what you’re looking for is intoxication — that is not necessarily the case for medicinal cannabis,” said Cairns.
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) compared to the task force has recommended that just one stream once marijuana be legalized.
According to Dr. Granger Avery, president of the CMA, “We accept that [people] say they have benefited from using cannabis, but there’s no or very little research behind that.”
“Until we have research and the real information behind it, we’re not in favour of endorsing it for medical intervention.”
Canada is set to legalize the plant for recreational use by July 1st, 2018.
