Highlights from the North American Cannabis Summit

Updates on distribution, apps, creative dispensaries and the need for separate medical and recreational streams.

Caroline MacCallum, MD, presents at the North American Cannabis Summit, with Ashley Chisholm and Dr. Shelita Dattani.
Caroline MacCallum, MD, presents at the North American Cannabis Summit, with Ashley Chisholm and Dr. Shelita Dattani.

Last week’s North American Cannabis Summit in Los Angeles delivered some often-overlooked medical marijuana information, along with its signature policy, legal and health topics.

Why medical needs to stay

“Once there’s recreational marijuana in a state, why keep medical?” It’s fairly common to hear this perspective, and in some states, the stats do show that the number of medical dispensaries decreases when recreational comes onboard.

But a nurse, a pharmacist and a doctor from Canada spoke—from the perspective of the second country to legalize cannabis—with a strong hope that medical and recreational streams remain separate.

The following experts presented at the Summit, and identified a large gap in the system: Cannabis (even medical cannabis) is still separate from the healthcare system.

  • Ashley Chisholm, MSc, Research and Policy Advisor at the Canadian Nurses Assn.

  • Dr. Shelita Dattani, Director of Practice Development and Knowledge Translation at the Canadian Pharmacists Assn.

  • Caroline MacCallum, MD, FRCPC at Greenleaf Medical Clinic

Healthcare providers have no oversight into whether a patient is using cannabis in addition to their medications. The way that the system is set up, there’s no opportunity for counseling from medical experts at the time of dispensing.

In the province of Ontario, nurses are allowed to administer cannabis to patients, but many abstain due to stigma or lack of training on the subject. Additionally, cannabis education has not been integrated into medical school. If doctors and medical practitioners are not trained, how can the treatment become mainstream?

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