IMPORTANT! Canadians with FMS/ME interested in obtaining legal marijuana for pain relief

[Guest guest]

** Please circulate to

appropriate lists **

MARIHUANA MEDICAL ACCESS REGULATIONS (MMAR)

As you may know, on April 7, 2001 Health Canada published in _Canada

Gazette_, proposed new regulations allowing legal access to marihuana for

Canadian researchers and patients under a " compassionate use " program called

the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR). The proposed regulations,

which can be found at http://canada.gc.ca/gazette/hompar1-2_e.html [click on

whichever format suits you best] establish three categories of patient who

may qualify for medical marihuana: 1) those with a terminal illness 2)

those with conditions for which marihuana has been found especially useful

in reducing the symptoms including: HIV wasting syndrome, epilepsy, multiple

sclerosis, severe arthritis; 3) those with a condition other than those

listed in category (2).

Unfortunately FMS/ME has been left out of category (2), which means that

those who have FMS/ME will have a harder time trying to access marihuana for

pain relief than a person with epilepsy or MS. It is neglectful and unfair

to deny patients with FMS/ME equal access to pain relief options. FMS/ME can

be equally painful, debilitating and responsive to cannabinoid treatment as

the others listed so far in category (2). To make an application as a

category (3) patient, it becomes much more difficult to qualify for an

" authorization to possess " , as the patient must now have written

recommendations from two specialists (just who gets to name those

'specialist' is anyone's guess) instead of simply from their family

physician.

So basically this means that they are not recognising FMS/ME as a category

(2) illness alongside MS, AIDS, arthritis and cancer‹i.e., FMS/ME is not

being recognised as a painful illness which warrants the same degree of

" compassionate " access to medical marihuana for pain relief as the category

(2) illnesses so far included in Health Canada's proposed new regulations.

To me this seems an injustice because I know a lot of FMS/ME patients who

live with more pain, more continuously than do many MS patients. And unless

we write to Health Minister Alan Rock to let him know that persons with

FMS/ME deserve equal access to pain relief treatment, the proposed

regulations [see above for link] will go into effect this summer.

HEALTH CANADA TAKING PUBLIC COMMENTS UNTIL MAY 7th

Because Health Canada is welcoming public input on the proposed new

regulations untl May 7, 2001, IT IS VITAL TO SEND A LETTER TO HEALTH

MINISTER ALAN ROCK IMMEDIATELY telling him you believe that FMS/ME should

be added to the Category (2) list, if you think persons with FMS/ME deserve

equal access to pain relief.

NOTE: All letters *must* cite the ** _Canada Gazette_ Part I, April 7, 2001

** and should be addressed to:

*Bruce kson*

Office of Controlled Substances,

Department of Health,

Address Locator 3503D,

Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 1B9.

Email: Bruce_kson@...

Tel: (613) 957-2826; Fax: (613) 946-4224 or).

THERE IS VERY LITTLE TIME LEFT.

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Hud Ramelan hudr@...