THEVOICE | a te, PAU y TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2022 | EDITOR CLAIRE WILSON Specialinvestigation T NI DISPENISARY OPEN DAILY Valid LO Required | 19+ | Membership Not Required 604-255-1844 | CannabisDispensary.ca Sign Up for Mail Order sk Sign up online at CannabisDispensary.ca ye Place order anytime and select Express Post sé Wait for your order to arrive by mail to your door You could qualify for medical > Are you a medical patient, senior or veteran ; membership. Inquire within today! a = A woman walks past The Medical Cannabis Dispensary, which is famous in Vancouver for catering to a specifically medical clientele. CLAIRE WILSON PHOTO Prescribed pot users forgotten Recreational cannabis system does not cater to all, advocates say = By CLAIRE WILSON edical cannabis users are experiencing difficulties obtain- ing the products they need in a legal industry designed to serve recreational users. According to Dana Larsen, cannabis activist and founder of The Medical Cannabis Dispensary, medical patients that need cannabis have been shunted aside. “It was the medical movement and medical users and activists that got us to legalization, and they kind of have been forgotten post-legaliza- tion,” Larsen said. The Cannabis Act is the legal framework under which cannabis is produced, distributed and sold in Canada. However, it is a recreational system that puts medical users at a disadvantage due to regulations like limits on potency. Mark Haden, an adjunct profes- sor at the University of B.C. and expert on cannabis, says the public needs to understand the benefits of a medical cannabis system that would include medically oriented research and health coverage. “If somebody walks into a doctor's office and says I have chronic pain, the physician might just say opiates, but ifit’s medicalized and physicians are involved, they may understand that maybe the best treatment for them is cannabis,” Haden said. Larsen says that many medical patients fall under the category of heavy users. This means that they need a higher dosage of THC, the psychoactive chemical in canna- bis, that is heavily regulated under cannabis laws and can come at a cost. “They might make sense for a first-time user who is trying to be cautious and doesn’t want to have too strong of a psychoactive effect,” he said. In addition, the products available at legal cannabis stores don't cater to some medical users. “There’s some things like cannabis suppositories that, you know, most people don’t want to use,” Larsen said. “But for some medical users, those are a crucial part of their treat- ment and those kinds of products are very difficult to get under legaliza- tion and not really available.” Another main reason that medi- cal users find it difficult to success- fully use medical cannabis is the packaging. Legal products are sold in government regulated childproof packaging, but for patients with arthritis or other motor issues, this can be a nightmare. “If you've got, you know, arthri- tis or hand issues or you're older or have problems, just trying to get in there and get your medicine or get your product can be very challeng- ing,” Larsen said. Kelly Gorman, of the Arthritis Society, said in an emailed state- ment that while she understands the safety concerns, the type of packag- ing used for cannabis can be difficult for someone with arthritis to open. For some medical users, illegal websites or dispensaries offer a range of products and potency limits that they cannot find in the legal market. The B.C. ministry of public safety declined to answer several ques- tions submitted by a Voice reporter about medical users turning to illicit suppliers. According to Larsen, the illegal market is filling a gap for medical users. “T think that there’s still stuff in the gray market that we provide that is not matched by the legal system,” he said. This story 1s part of an investigative series by Langara Voice reporters on the whet cannabis market in B.C. The rest of the series will be posted online at https.//www.langaravotce.ca on April 5. Medical Culprits use Health Canada licences aS a COVErF = By GRAHAMABRAHAM he majority of illegal cannabis grow opera- tions in the province are conducted by licenced medical growers producing far over their legal capacity, according to both the RCMP and the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety. “What we are seeing is an expan- growers driving sion of medical authorizations,” said Set. Shane Holmquist, who works in drug advisory for the RCMP. “It can be used as a cover for, you know, some large-scale production on some of these sites.” Holmquist said that growers will often produce much greater quan- tities of cannabis than they are legally permitted under their Health Canada licence, then sell the excess product for profit. In one case he referenced, Holmquist said that a medically- licenced grower was legally allowed to grow up to 998 plants at a time, but was caught growing 16,931 plants. In 2020, Delta Police seized 18,000 cannabis plants and 1,400 pounds of cannabis from an illegal grow site. Police said that Hells Angels stick- ers were found on motorcycles located on the roperty. Mike Proper'y Farnsworth In Canada, ac. puplicsarery those with MINISTER a medical prescription can receive a Health Canada licence to grow their own cannabis. In 2021, 292,399 Canadians were illicit ca prescribed cannabis for medical purposes. Of those, 39,525 or around 14 per cent are licenced to cultivate and produce their own cannabis for personal consumption. The licence does not allow the grower to sell the cannabis. Holmquist said that a lack of data makes enforcement challenging. “Tt is challenging because we just don’t have the data. Like, I would love to be able to say to you that, you know, this is the percentage of inves- tigations that are grows or this the percentage of medical authorizations that are going over or the percent- age being compliant. I just don’t have that data.” nabis B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth also said that the major- ity of illicit grow operations are being operated by those who have obtained a medical licence to grow for personal use. Farnworth agreed with Holmquist that the lack of data available, collected and shared is insufficient in order to adequately address and deter illegal activity. “Part of the challenge is that there is a lack of inspection by Health Canada on that. And we can work if we have an understanding of where [illegal grow operations] are, but there’s not a lot of information shar- ing that allows us to go after them.”