Health Committee on May 8th, 2014

[Dr. Romina Mizrahi]

In the studies that have controlled for genetic status, it was shown that genetics play a role, but there are other studies that have not looked into this and have also shown that there is an association between cannabis use, particularly early and heavy, and increased risk for psychosis.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ben Lobb]

Okay, thank you very much.

The next up is Mr. Morin.

We're now into five-minute rounds. Go ahead, sir.

[Dany Morin, NDP, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you very much.

My question would be for the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada. It is related to the risks and harms associated with the use of medical marijuana.

Currently, in the federal program the types of patients who can get a prescription for medical marijuana are those with the following symptoms and conditions: severe pain and/or persistent muscle spasms from multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury or spinal cord disease; severe pain, cachexia, anorexia, weight loss, and/or severe nausea from cancer; severe pain, cachexia, anorexia, weight loss, and/or severe nausea from HIV/AIDS infection; and also severe pain from severe forms of arthritis or seizures from epilepsy. There's also another category for patients who have debilitating symptoms associated with a treatment of that medical condition.

Basically, for those patients with severe medical conditions, are the harms and risks associated with the use of medical marijuana worth the benefits that they get from using medical marijuana?

[Dr. Trevor Theman]

The simple answer from my perspective is that we don't know. Marijuana is not the first line of treatment for any condition of which I'm aware. So when you're potentially using it, say, for chronic pain or multiple sclerosis, it's going to be because the patient has tried and failed with other conventional, evidence-based therapies and has not found improvement.

We're not saying that you can't use it in those conditions. In fact, this is one of the small elements of the previous regulations that we had no particular difficulty with, the fact that Health Canada had identified a list of conditions in which marijuana might be of benefit. The fact is that the new regulations make no such requirement, and we're in fact being told by Health Canada that they never looked to see what was on the form. They never checked to see if the patient had a condition for which it was a so-called “approved condition”.

We don't oppose our members using it as a last-line treatment when other treatments have failed and when you look at their condition. That's why in palliative care it's never been an issue. We all know there it's a matter of comfort because death is inevitable. The challenge is just that it's wide open now.

[Dany Morin, NDP, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

I have a follow-up question regarding what you said. You said that we don't know much about the health risks. Do you think it would be appropriate for Health Canada to do studies on the medical use of marijuana, because they do have a program that makes it legal to possess medical marijuana?

[Dr. Trevor Theman]

Yes, absolutely. The need for scientific evidence is overwhelming.

[Dany Morin, NDP, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

My next question is for Bernard Le Foll.

You talked about a number of risks associated with the use of marijuana. The medical marijuana program, which was in place until March 31, 2014, allowed people to grow their own marijuana at home. They could have four plants in the winter—

[David Wilks, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

A point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ben Lobb]

Mr. Morin, we have a point of order.

[David Wilks, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The bells are ringing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ben Lobb]

All right. We'll just wait for a second here.

There's a vote in the House at 10:35. We'll seek the committee's opinion here, but I guess we will probably have to say that this is the conclusion of our meeting today.

Does anybody else have any thoughts on that? There's not much else we can do.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ben Lobb]

I apologize to our witnesses, both by teleconference and video conference. There's a vote in the House in about 30 minutes. By the time we vote and get back, our committee will have wrapped up. So this will be the conclusion of our meeting. I do apologize.

All of the information you provided will be recorded in the blues and will be valuable for our study. If you have any follow-up thoughts or anything else you want to contribute to the study coming out of the meeting today, please forward it to us.

Again, we do apologize. This is may be the first time in a couple of months that this has happened. That's the way it is here in Ottawa. We thank you for your time.

At this point in time, the meeting has concluded.