Health committee  I will. Thank you very much. I'll be speaking to it today. The notes will come to you shortly thereafter. I'm here representing the Canadian Medical Cannabis Council today. I also want to share that I am a research affiliate with the Centre for Addictions Research of British Col

Health committee  We're going to be submitting it by the end of the day, and I think we're going to make use of your translation services here to translate some of that.

Health committee  We're also going to be submitting a brand new publication from a study I've done called “Rationale for cannabis-based interventions in the opioid overdose crisis”—I'm happy to speak to that today if there are any questions regarding the use of cannabis and opioids—and another stu

Health committee  I think that is a part of the solution. Medical cannabis is already distributed online and there is no doubt that it will also end up being provided in pharmacies. It is very appropriate for it to be available in pharmacies. I am not necessarily talking about cannabis buds or flo

Health committee  I think this is a fine starting point in the absence of available data on how much individuals might use. I think this would cover a few days of use for perhaps someone who is travelling and wanting access to product of a certain quality out of a certain outlet. I think 30 grams

Health committee  Sure. We are currently limited, as with all prescription drugs in Canada, in terms of our branding. In fact, that branding is much more restrictive than we see for alcohol and tobacco as it stands right now—no advertising. You won't see a magazine ad or otherwise promoting Tilray

Health committee  I worry that it might be, and once again it's with the idea of maximizing the benefits of the step that we're taking here in Canada. I understand the cautionary approach, we're the first western nation to be moving towards this, but the evidence that we have out of the U.S., the

Health committee  I think that you're absolutely right. What we're supportive of are bans on lifestyle branding. We don't want to celebrate cannabis use. We don't want to see anyone being depicted taking any risks, doing anything overly athletic, etc., so that kind of lifestyle branding we would n

Health committee  Yes, about 50% of patients out there in Canada right now are using primarily non-smoke methods of ingestion. About 31% use vaporizers. That's the most common form of use right now. That's closely followed though by edibles, which make up just under 20%. I don't want you to pictur

Health committee  They would be. I think caps and oils would be legal. They would just not be consumed in the form of edibles. Caps, extracts, oils would be legal, but not with a strong concentration. We understand that those would be legal. They just wouldn't be mixed into a brownie, for example.

Health committee  First—and we've heard some messaging from the federal government—we hope this will give an opportunity to reconsider the taxation of medical cannabis. Right now medical cannabis patients pay provincial tax as well as federal tax. We feel that it's inconsistent with the current us

Health committee  How will they benefit? There are certain types and preparations of cannabis, and we've heard from our friend, Mr. Jones, about the benefits of high-CBD cannabis strains. CBD is not impairing; it's not something we would typically expect recreational users to be seeking out. If yo

Health committee  I just want to add to that: to be very specific, we test for biological impurities as well: yeasts, moulds, and heavy metal concentrations. Pesticide testing is also mandatory. I can say with tremendous confidence that the international community right now looks to Canada as the

Health committee  That's correct. No one on this committee would dare say that cannabis is completely without harms, to be clear, but the level of dependence on cannabis and the severity of that dependence is limited to about 9% of the population who use it on a regular basis, and the severity is

Health committee  I just want to differentiate. I'm sure Mr. Jones would agree with this. There's a difference between hemp oil, which you can buy at the store right now—it is a great health supplement filled with antioxidants, omega-3, -6, and -9 —and CBD oil, which is actually made from the flow