Number of Canadians with pot prescriptions now almost 130K

TORONTO — The number of Canadians registered to purchase medical marijuana from licensed producers has exploded since the federal commercial-access program was introduced almost four years ago, reaching nearly 130,000 by the end of last year, the most recent Heath Canada figures show.

As of Dec. 31, 129,876 Canadians had signed up with the country’s cannabis producers, a 32 per cent jump from the 98,460 registered at the end of September and a whopping 1,544 per cent increase from the 7,900 granted access to medicinal cannabis in mid-2014.

But the surge in demand has many wondering if all these patients have a legitimate medical need for the drug. Or are some people using the system to acquire recreational pot before it is legalized, as the Liberal government has promised to do this spring?

Dr. John Goodhew, a family practitioner in Toronto who supports the use of therapeutic cannabis for specific conditions, said he’s seen a definite uptick in patients seeking prescriptions.

Because Goodhew has become known as one of a minority of doctors who will prescribe medical marijuana, he has patients from all over Ontario contacting him.

“So patients will frequently call me and I’m not able to help them because I only consider marijuana as a therapeutic agent for people in my practice, people that I know, people whose medical histories I’m familiar with,”

Because part of pain relief is if it relieves pain and it also makes you feel good, it’s kind of a mixed blessing that way. Dr. John Goodhew

he said Thursday.

“And this is really the only responsible way to do it. Unfortunately it leaves other people kind of in the lurch.”

Goodhew said he prescribes cannabis for such ailments as pain, weight loss from conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, nausea and hepatitis C.

But increasingly patients are asking for it because of osteoarthritis, a painful condition that’s on the rise as the population ages.

“Things like anxiety and depression where there really isn’t good data that it works ... I won’t prescribe it,” he said.

“And other people will come in and just ask (for a prescription) and I’ll say ‘What is the medical condition?’ and they’ll say ‘Can’t you just make something up?’ And I’m like, ‘No, it doesn’t work that way.”’

Goodhew attributes such behaviour to the “Trudeau effect,” a slackening of concern as people anticipate that Ottawa will soon decriminalize recreational marijuana. But he acknowledges it can be difficult for physicians to determine which patients have a genuine need for the drug and which ones want it just to get high.

“I think there are probably a minority that are strictly medical and there’s a minority that are strictly recreational and with most people it’s probably a combination.

“Because part of pain relief is if it relieves pain and it also makes you feel good, it’s kind of a mixed blessing that way.”

Dr. Jeff Blackmer, vice-president of medical professionalism for the Canadian Medical Association, said the spike in the number of people registered to purchase medical cannabis could be a reflection of doctors becoming more comfortable with prescribing the drug, coupled with growing patient demand.

And he agreed that while some people seek a prescription for authentic health reasons, others likely simply want it for its euphoric effects.

While doctors aren’t prohibited from prescribing cannabis, the CMA opposes its use medicinally because of a lack of scientific evidence proving the drug is effective in treating specific conditions.

In the meantime, Blackmer said doctors are waiting to see if and when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government will legalize and regulate the sale of recreational pot.

“We would like to see just one system,” he said. “So if marijuana is legalized for recreational use, we feel very strongly that that makes the ‘question’ around use of medical marijuana essentially moot, because it would be something that’s available to everyone for any reason, and you wouldn’t need to go through physicians and you wouldn’t need to get special dispensation.”