Scintilate's Musings

After the Harper government implemented the new Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), it became a crime in Canada to grow cannabis for personal medicinal use, as allowed under the previous regulations.  In a short period of time, after the MMPR came into existence, court cases were heard. The most significant Supreme Court Cases since the inception of the new MMPR were Smith v. Canada and Allard et al v. Canad a. In both decisions, the Supreme Court found that the MMPR violates our Charter of Rights. The emerging cannabis industry in Canada was sold to "big corporations", by Health Canada, as an emerging multi-billion dollar industry . It seems Health Canada assumed we, as patients, are all ignorant, docile and would just do as we are told regardless of incomprehensible legislation.  Health Canada states that they protect Canadians health (assuming, of course, we are individually unable to make intelligent personal health care decisions ourselves) at ...

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), "medicines today are expected to be of known composition and quality. Even in cases where marijuana can provide relief of symptoms, the crude plant mixture does not meet this modern expectation. The future of medical marijuana lies in classical pharmacological drug development, and indeed there has been a resurgence of scientific, as well as public, interest in the therapeutic applications of cannabinoids."   Further -  "Current scientific accomplishments have propelled interest in developing new drugs that can treat more effectively or more safely the constellation of symptoms for which cannabinoids might have therapeutic benefit  Through the process of what is referred to as “rational drug design,” scientists manipulate the chemical structures of known cannabinoids to design better therapeutic agents." Under the Controlled Substances Act, cannabis is a schedule 1 drug and participating co...