New CEO to educate patients on cannabis

A former Health Canada manager who helped Canadians navigate the sometimes hazy world of medical marijuana access has been appointed CEO of an emerging company that educates patients on its use.

Gulwant Bajwa, 53, has taken on the lead role at National Access Cannabis (NAC), an alternative treatment care centre that first opened in Victoria with new locations slated to open across the country this year. The company will open its first Ottawa location in Hintonburg in June.

During Bajwa’s four years working with Health Canada’s medical marijuana program, he investigated its impact on patients suffering with ailments such as fibromyalgia, arthritis and cancer.

“I heard dozens of powerful accounts from patients who reported that they could finally sleep again — medical cannabis was the only thing that gave them the pain relief they needed,” said Bajwa, who is himself a cancer survivor.

While Bajwa wants the public to understand the benefits of medical marijuana use for certain people, he also wants to emphasize one point: National Access Cannabis is not a dispensary, but rather a health and education centre.

He stresses treatment is not as simple as smoking a joint and feeling symptoms melt away. He says if the cannabis is not accessed through a licensed producer, which guarantees organic product, the user may expose themselves to pesticides that may aggravate rather than relieve certain symptoms. And, like a pharmacy, NAC tracks patient medications to ensure they use the correct dose and strain of cannabis that will complement, rather than adversely affect, their treatment program.