Benefits of being a medical cannabis patient

Why Choose Medical Cannabis Over Legal Recreational & Grey Markets in Canada?

Cannabis is a versatile substance that can be used for recreational as well as medical purposes – both of which are legal in Canada. This might prompt you to ask: What’s the difference between medical and recreational cannabis? Why sign up for medical cannabis, if there’s a retailer in the neighbourhood?

While the two can appear very similar at first glance, the streams of legal medical and recreational cannabis are distinct in terms of intent for use, access, price, and product range.

Since recreational cannabis legalization in 2018, Canadians have a range of options to choose from among legal retailers, who operate both online and at provincially sanctioned physical stores.

Medical cannabis has been legal for far longer in Canada – since 2001. Only patients who possess a valid medical document from an appropriate healthcare practitioner can purchase directly through Health Canada Licensed Producers (LPs).

Although purchasing from unlicensed dealers or cannabis stores can be locally convenient, unregulated sources can come with distinct disadvantages, such as a lack of standardization, inaccurate or inadequate product information, quality, and pesticides or other contaminants.

You may find similar cultivars (informally referred to as strains) from a given LP on both their medical market and in recreational retail stores, as many LPs make products for both streams. You can find indicas, sativas, and hybrids with various dominant characteristics in both markets.

Similarly, Health Canada mandates that both medical and recreational products be sold in child-safe, tamper-evident packaging that is labelled with the correct product name, LP or company’s name and contact information, respective THC and CBD concentrations, health risk warnings, product type, date of packaging, weight, lot number, and a bar code.

Recreational vs. medical cannabis. Health Canada packaging & labels; information for consumers.

Reference table by Harvest Medicine summarizing the differences between medical, recreational, and grey market cannabis in Canada

ACCESSIBILITY & CONSISTENCY

Unlike unlicensed products, medical cannabis products from LPs are clearly labelled, standardized for both THC and CBD content, and continuously and rigorously tested to Health Canada safety standards. LPs offer a level of consistency and quality that grey-market dealers simply cannot maintain.

When purchasing medical cannabis products from an LP, you interact directly with the producer. You can order medication from an LP either online or over the phone, and have it shipped to your home in discreet packaging. Once you have an active authorization, shopping for your products can be done in less than 5 minutes! Your medical cannabis comes right to you, saving you time and energy. Be sure to monitor your supply to ensure that it medication is always on hand. Once regular product type and dosages are established, most patients order on a regular monthly schedule. By law, medically authorized cannabis users can often possess and carry larger amounts of cannabis products than other individuals (i.e., up to 3 times their prescribed monthly limit).

DISCOUNTS, TAX BENEFITS & FINANCING

Compassionate Pricing: Along with better pricing compared to retailers, LPs often offer discount programs to patients who are low income, receiving disability benefits and/or income assistance, seniors, veterans, first responders, and more.

Income Tax Deductions: With a medical authorization for cannabis use, you may be able to claim part of your cannabis and vaporizer costs as medical expenses when filing income tax returns.

Insurance Coverage: Many insurers are beginning to offer coverage and/or reimbursement for medical cannabis-related expenses. You may also have access to coverage via a “Health Care Spending Account (HCSA)”. Check with your insurance provider/plan administrator to see if you are covered.

MEDICAL OVERSIGHT & BENEFITS

As part of the medical stream, you gain access to healthcare practitioners who specialize in the use of medical cannabis and tailor specific product and dosing recommendations to your unique medical history, symptoms, and healthcare needs/goals. You can specifically review how your cannabis use, pharmaceutical medication and/or supplement intake, diet, and health conditions could interact/interfere with each other, potentially avoiding serious drug interactions and complications.

Ongoing care and guidance from both healthcare practitioners and patient educators is provided either virtually or in person to further your progress. Unlike dispensary or recreational cannabis retail staff, cannabis clinic patient educators are trained to support your specific needs.

Specialized healthcare practitioners and educators help you cut through disinformation and stick to the facts – your treatment plan will be based on up-to-date, cutting-edge clinical research and scientific studies specific to medical cannabis.

Both scientific studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that patients who choose to incorporate medical cannabis into their healthcare plan enjoy an improved quality of life and significantly reduce their reliance on traditional pharmaceutical medications (opioids in particular) with unwanted and potentially harmful side effects.

EXTENSIVE PRODUCT SELECTION

Medical cannabis product format types available to patients. Purchased from licensed producers in Canada.

There are constant developments and improvements being made to the range of medical cannabis products available to patients. Apart from highly concentrated products, also available from LPs, other products focused on ease of use like transdermal patches, suppositories, lozenges, and sublingual strips are arriving to market. LPs offer more format types to medical patients than legal retailers or unlicensed dealers, including dry flower, pre-rolls, decarb, shake, ingestible oil products, concentrates, metered dosing vape pens, capsules or softgels, beverages or beverage mixes/teas, edibles, and topicals. Medical patients have more options, than ever before, when it comes to how they wish to consume their medication.

LPs offer greater variety in cultivars across the THC/CBD spectrum, including a wide variety of high-CBD products and products containing both THC and CBD in 1:1 and other proportions.

With the guidance of a patient educator, you can explore offerings from different LPs and choose one or more that best suit your individual needs. Clinical efficacy is the leading factor for product selection, however there are other factors that can be considered. You may refine your selection based on budget or compassionate pricing rates, customer service reputation, registration times, shipping options, vegan-friendliness, eco-consciousness, organic product options, veterans’ support, and so many other unique aspects.

It’s all about personalized care. The best cultivars and formats for someone else’s needs may not always be the most suitable for you. As individual circumstances and cultivar characteristics can vary, consuming a product that isn’t the best fit for you could come with side effects or risks, negatively interact with certain medications, or exacerbate underlying conditions.

Staff at a retail store for recreational cannabis products are legally obligated NOT to answer questions relating to treating medical conditions, as they are neither trained nor licensed to do so.

Therefore, if you are using recreational or grey–market cannabis for therapeutic effects, such as reducing pain, anxiety or depression, inflammation, and/or sleep problems, it is best to obtain guidance from a specialized healthcare practitioner in medical cannabis in Canada, such as those at Harvest Medicine.

Contact us to learn more about the medical cannabis stream and determine if it’s right for you.