Canadian officials with the Marihuana for Medical Purposes announced rule changes today that will eliminate home-growing for medical marijuana patients and force consumers to purchase through licensed Health Canada growers.
“These changes will strengthen the safety of Canadian communities, while making sure patients can access what they need to treat serious illnesses,” Canadian Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said today in a press release.
“While the courts have said that there must be reasonable access to a legal source of marijuana for medical purposes, we believe that this must be done in a controlled fashion in order to protect public safety,” Aglukkaq said.
Under the old proposed rules, Canadians could fill their medical marijuana prescriptions at a pharmacy. The change forces them to go to authorized private medical marijuana vendors contracted out by the government.
According to the iPolitics.ca, the ruling has many afraid that privatization will mean increased prices and decreased availability.
The licensed private growers must cultivate their cannabis indoors and it can’t be in a house. Grows have to be under video surveillance and couriers will be allowed transport marijuana from the centers to patients. The Ministry of Health will oversee the growing program.
There are roughly 30,000 medical marijuana patients in Canada.
Other changes include what information is needed for a medical marijuana card, notably that medical marijuana patients will no longer need to send in their information to the government health department. It also allows for nurse practitioners to recommend medical cannabis to patients.