The Liberal Bullshit supported by CBC got pretty high in this article

I managed to comment quite a bit on the topic until CBC began blocking again me for illegal political reasons so I quit and created this blog as per my MO

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/veterans-medical-marijuana-osi-clinics-1.4267592

Veterans see access to medical marijuana curtailed over doctors' concerns

1299 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.


 
Dax Randall

My 90 YO mother started MM oil this spring after 20 years of chronic arthritis pain. It completely healed her pain. Unbelievable. She was on high doses of Fentanyl and hydromorphone for years without relief.

She uses the low THC and high CBD oil.

It took a long time to talk her doctor into referring her to the pain doctor for the prescription. The medical community needs to use this resource more.

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David Raymond Amos

@Dax Randall Anyone remember Rick Simpson? Elections Canada, CBC and the RCMP certainly should

http://www.cbc.ca/news2/canadavotes/riding/014/candidate.html

Rick Simpson
Party: Independent
Age: 58
Profession: Hemp advocate
Career Background: Former power engineer, currently advocates hemp oil as a cure for cancer and other illnesses.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/father-denied-say-in-son-s-cancer-treatment-after-fighting-chemo-1.2766941

Father denied say in son's cancer treatment after fighting chemo

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David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos YO CBC why did your minions block that comment? Those were words gleaned from YOUR "News" articles. Furthermore I provided the links to your work so anyone could check to see what I offered was irrefutably true N'esy Pas Hubby Lacriox and Minister Joly?

 

Brian Fox

You want to know why I use it? To keep the gun out of my mouth. The medical cannabis is all that keeps me calm enough to not pull the trigger. Still want to take it away?

Jerry O'Connor

@Brian Fox

I say TAKE BOTH the gun and the marijuana....AWAY FROM YOU.

Problem solved.

Arlond Lynds

@Brian Fox
No, and I know others in the same boat. Keep your chin up.

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David Raymond Amos

@Brian Fox Nope

Please feel free to Bogart every joint till you lose that urge

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David Raymond Amos

@Jerry O'Connor Methinks you are a problem

@Arlond Lynds
Wow, this little comment up in five minutes while my others wait hours to be buried deep by the powers that be.

David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos Oh my CBC must have put another moderator on shift and he/she is on a roll and starting to block me again tonight EH?

Michael Geraldson

Allow them to grow their own, and they can smoke as much as they need.

David Raymond Amos

@Michael Geraldson Didn't Trudeau The Younger promise to make dope legal by this summer Well summer is almost over

Rick Gould

@David Raymond Amos 1968 all over again .

David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos People have corrected me It appears that Trudeau The Younger promised to legalize dope by next summer

David Raymond Amos

@Rick Gould I remember 1968 rather fondly then things rather fuddled duddled after that

Margaret Bricknell

@David Raymond Amos
Next July was the promise. Try to keep up/

John Thompson

I use Med Marijuana to control chronic pain so I can't really comment on it's use for PTSD. What I can say is my heart goes out to my brothers and Sisters in arms and pray they get the help they need, whether it be by Med Marijuana or other means/ways.

Roger Drisdelle

@John Thompson I use it for chronic pain as well due to 2 accidents. Also suffering from PTSD, i can tell you that is certainly does help me deal with those symptoms as well. It can really help some people. But like all drugs, marijuana will not work for everyone. There is always a % of people who don't have any benefits from a drug or have negative effects.

David Raymond Amos

@John Thompson Methinks the Feds are playing a very nasty game with the veterans Does anyone remember the RCMP member Ron Francis?

David Raymond Amos

@Roger Drisdelle Methinks this was the most interesting quote of all in CBC today Trust that as soon as I read it I called OSI and left a voicemail.

"The physician's Hippocratic oath is that above all you should do no harm," said Dr. Anthony Njoku of the OSI clinic in Fredericton."

  

William Perry

Those veterans that went to Afghanistan in that useless thirteen year attempt to solve a problem that can never be solved are suffering from what they saw and heard. Their buddies blown up by IEDs, the cries of little orphan boys being sexually molested during the night by Afghani senior officers (bacha bazi) and the constant stress 24 hours a day as to whether or not your living compound would be bombed. Many of our PTSD veterans did multiple tours. My neighbor was one of them. Unable to sleep more than three to four hours a night, constant flashbacks, unable to withstand the minor noise in our cul de sac, could not stand even the smallest crowd of people, spending lots of time in his garage because he could not be with his newborn son or partner, the feeling of being useless. Medical marijuana made the most of what he was suffering from go away. Look up any drug and see the list of contraindications. You would not even take a baby aspirin as a blood thinner after reading about the POSSIBLE side-effects. 

 

 

David Raymond Amos

@William Perry I heard of the same things too. Many people should thank CBC for allowing your comment to be published

 

John Smith

@William Perry

What is ironic about your comment is that Afghanistan was all about drugs, as it always has been.

The price of cannabis and heroin on the illegal markets has been the same for decades, while the price of oil is all over the place.

Make no mistake, every foreign intervention in Afghanistan has been about drug money.

 

David Raymond Amos

@John Smith "Make no mistake, every foreign intervention in Afghanistan has been about drug money."

Although poppies are an issue to the ordinary farmer over there.

Methinks our form of foreign intervention was about scooping their mineral wealth Gold and other rare metals in particular.

 

Joe Allaire

""The physician's Hippocratic oath is that above all you should do no harm," said Dr. Anthony Njoku of the OSI clinic in Fredericton." - Are you kidding me? - What about all the more dangerous addictive drugs doctors push such as Percocet, Oxycontin, Oxycodone? The hypocritical oath, rather!

David Raymond Amos

@Joe Allaire Strange that I am compelled to agree with you N'esy Pas?

  

Al Purves

It is a known FACT that Marijuana helps people with PTSD.

David Raymond Amos

@Al Purves "It is a known FACT that Marijuana helps people with PTSD" 

YUP.

Ron Vollans

@Al Purves
I agree that marijuana helps SOME people. On that point marijuana should not be excluded.

David Raymond Amos

@Ron Vollans I concur

 

Marcia Thomas

No one profits from medicine that can be grown in your backyard. That is why big pharma is not going to allow mj to become accepted therapy. Medicine is about profit now, not science.

Leigh O'Brien

@John Smith The RCMP has literally nothing to do with CAF medical policy. That's ludicrous in the extreme.

David Raymond Amos 

@Leigh O'Brien I repeat Remember Cpl Ron Francis of the RCMP?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/pot-smoking-mountie-has-uniform-seized-by-rcmp-1.2444352

"Francis believes the order to take his uniform came from the RCMP commissioner's office in Ottawa.

He said he was also served with documents earlier in the day by the acting district commander, ordering him to turn in his uniform, not to speak to the media, or represent the RCMP or their views."

"The heavy hand’s coming down on me, but I knew I’d have to prepare for that," said Francis. "It’s got to change before more people die."

“Definitely a member that has been prescribed medicinal marijuana should not be in red serge taking his medication,” said RCMP assistant commissioner Gilles Moreau. “It would not be advisable for that member, it would not portray the right message to the general public, it’s definitely not something we would support or condone.”

http://globalnews.ca/news/1732010/rcmp-try-to-improve-mental-health-care-after-suicides-moncton-shootings/

"Cpl. Ron Francis, who served with the Mounties for 22 years, committed suicide in early October after feuding with his superiors about not being allowed to smoke medicinal marijuana while in uniform.

There have been 32 suicides of retired or serving RCMP members since 2006 and his death put even more pressure on the force to address what many saw as a growing problem of operational stress injuries in the ranks.

The force appointed Gilles Moreau as its so-called “mental-health champion” last spring and rolled out a five-year mental health strategy in May that emphasized reducing the stigma around psychological disorders, knowing that 38 per cent of members off on sick leave cited mental health as the reason."

 

Russell Barth

they are deliberately undermining pot's benefits. they don't worry that there might be a *danger* using so much pot, they worry that the reduction of pharmas being used will cut into their kickback money and they won't be able to afford that new yacht.

John Smith

@Russell Barth

The problem in Canada is not Big Pharma, it is RCMP cannabis profits.

The RCMP can easily control Armed Forces medical policy.

Without accountability of law enforcement democracy is meaningless.

wilson abernathy

@Russell Barth - there is big money in pharmaceuticals.

But anyone can grow cannabis.

Pharma will continue to push the expensive, addictive drugs and discredit MM and influence the doctors to stick with big pharma

David Raymond Amos

@John Smith "Without accountability of law enforcement democracy is meaningless."

I have been preaching those words for years

  

Mark O'Connell

What a pile of hogwash. Do no harm? This coming from a group that prescribed oxys willy nilly to thousands. The tv drugs have a list of side effects a lot of times worse than the condition you have. The only possible reason could be they are not getting a piece of the action from the suppliers. Outrageous

Jerry O'Connor

@Mark O'Connell

You said more then enough in your first five words...........

David Raymond Amos

@Jerry O'Connor His last word said it all

 

Karin Bougie

There is hordes of marijuana out there. Sativa strains for fatigue or depression, Indica strains for treating pain and insomnia and the high-CBD strains for seizures, anxiety, pain with little to no psychoactive effects.

If veterans would have been paid reasonably for their services or have a little extra money every month, they would be able to afford to buy it from whatever source they wanted to.

If marijuana works for them, it's disgusting that it would be taken away.

Robert Anderson

@Karin Bougie

Where is the FDA approval saying that these strains of pot are safe and effective for treating the conditions you list?

David Raymond Amos

@Robert Anderson Where is the FDA approval of Trudeau The Younger legalizing dope next year?

 

James Tripp

The current opiate addiction crisis was created solely by the over-prescribing of opiate painkillers for long-term pain relief.

At the same time that this opiate addiction crisis was being created by the pharmaceutical industry, in conjunction with their representatives within the medical community, the use of cannabinoid therapy in pain management has been virtually ignored by our medical community!

If medicinal cannabis had been legalized and studied decades ago we would not have the opiate addiction crisis that we are currently dealing with today!

The so called 'dangers of Cannabis' have no basis in science and are the result of decades of a pervasive negative bias against all Cannabis use and the science and data do not match the current institutionalized mentality towards Cannabis use.

https://www.facebook.com/phytocannabinoidscience/posts/301290320317965

https://www.facebook.com/phytocannabinoidscience/posts/319829821797348 

David Raymond Amos

@James Tripp "The current opiate addiction crisis was created solely by the over-prescribing of opiate painkillers for long-term pain relief"

YUP

  

James Doney

I am a Veteran with PTSD and have been using cannabis to help with the symptoms. There is only one thing wrong with it. It hasn't helped me, but rather hindered me. I will be going back into treatment in November to get me off of it. Just my opinion, but I think that Marijauna for Trauma is criminal.

David Raymond Amos

@James Doney "Just my opinion, but I think that Marijauna for Trauma is criminal."

You have the right to your opinions just a many folks have the right to disagree with you.

  

Vance Hall

I think we should listen to the medical experts as this therapy evolves. Sitting at home stoned does not help PTSD.

David Raymond Amos

@Vance Hall "I think we should listen to the medical experts as this therapy evolves. Sitting at home stoned does not help PTSD."

Methinks many so called "medical experts" are not to be trusted

 

James Tripp

The current opiate addiction crisis was created solely by the over-prescribing of opiate painkillers for long-term pain relief.

At the same time that this opiate addiction crisis was being created by the pharmaceutical industry, in conjunction with their representatives within the medical community, the use of cannabinoid therapy in pain management has been virtually ignored by our medical community!
If medicinal cannabis had been legalized and studied decades ago we would not have the opiate addiction crisis that we are currently dealing with today!

The so called 'dangers of Cannabis' have no basis in science and are the result of decades of a pervasive negative bias against all Cannabis use and the science and data do not match the current institutionalized mentality towards Cannabis use.

Current legislation seems more fixated on the potential profits generated by the emerging recreational Cannabis industry rather than the many medical benefits that cannabinoid therapy could provide to a large segment of the Canadian population.

Please research phytocannabinoids, the endocannabinoid system, and look up patent 6630507, just for starters, before making any assumptions about Cannabis Use and general health and DO NOT let unfounded fear and negative bias block access to the many medical benefits of Cannabinoid Therapy.

John Smith

@James Tripp

What you are seeing is a desperate RCMP propaganda campaign.

David Raymond Amos

@John Smith "What you are seeing is a desperate RCMP propaganda campaign."

YUP

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/critchley-oxycontin-lawsuit-1.4107887

OxyContin created 'hell on earth' says former RCMP officer who sued drug maker

 

James Rielly

With what our Vets been through and they want to smoke a fat one to feel better, then regardless of how effective its is, let them have it.

David Raymond Amos 

@James Rielly Methinks it would be far better for them than the evil drugs the questionable Shrinks and other Doctors prescribe

http://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/unstoppable-the-fentanyl-epidemic

"The only time Canadians hear about fentanyl seems to be when the death count gets abnormally high in a short period of time. When 36 people died in one weekend in Surrey, British Columbia last summer, that caught everyone’s attention. What Canadians don’t know is that fentanyl has been a steady killer for the past four years — the death count passing 2000 Canadians by August of 2016. But while the grim news about overdose deaths has continually made the headlines, nobody has really looked at why this drug is such a killer."

 

James Rielly

@David Raymond Amos I agree that some of the pharms put profits ahead of health, but we should not discount them altogether.

 

 

Max Merl

So many of our veterans are homeless and suffer from PTSD. What they need is an effective treatment program where counselors can talk to them and they can participate in group therapy. The last thing they need is drugs. To me, giving them access to marijuana its no different than handing them a bottle of hard liquor and saying that will solve their problems.

David Raymond Amos

@Max Merl "To me, giving them access to marijuana its no different than handing them a bottle of hard liquor and saying that will solve their problems."

I strongly disagree

 

 

Jackson Farley

So my friends, the Liberals are once again in hot water. One of their MPs accused of sexual harassment. 23 not really giving us an answer what he will do with the North Korea threat. So here is your up to date legal pot story to keep you interested in them as they dangle this election promise trying to convince you its going to happen and solve all our problems.

Mark O'Brien

@Jackson Farley What North Korean threat? For the last 67 years the US has been threatening North Korea!

David Raymond Amos

@Mark O'Brien "What North Korean threat? For the last 67 years the US has been threatening North Korea!"

True

 

 

Norm Stafford

I'm way more concerned about opioid use in Canada, legal & illegal, and not just amongst veterans. Comparably, weed is pretty benign.

Joseph Swonsin

@Norm Stafford

And reduces demand for and use of opioids. When used along with opioids, it can reduce the opioid dosage required to achieve the same pain management too.

David Raymond Amos

@Joseph Swonsin Dis ya notice that the Feds are blaming the provincials about this nonsense as usual?

"In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for Veterans Affairs said operational stress injury clinics are run by provincial health authorities and the department does not have the "authority to direct any health care professionals to authorize specific treatments."

 

Max Merl

I think this is the absolute last thing we need. Our veterans who are suffering from getting work, education, housing, being hooked on a new legal drug.

Jerry O'Connor

@Max Merl

What a refreshing and intelligent comment to make that unfortunately is falling the deaf ears of this Trudeau Liberal government intent on making all Canadians.........ADDICTS.

David Raymond Amos

@Jerry O'Connor Methinks thou doth protest too much

 

Jim S Powers

When it is legal Vet Affairs will have no say
Pot is better for several ways . First off you can function in a normal way . Booze on the other hand damages your liver etc and you are just an old drunk

David Raymond Amos

@Jim S Powers
"So you are saying Liberals are not brain dead , thanks for the support"

I don't support liberals because of the obvious corruption. In fact that is why I ran against them in five elections ask Landslide Annie

  

Stan Cox

Get more clinical trials done - and educate doctors about the results.

David Raymond Amos

@Stan Cox Why bother?

 

Jason LeClair

Abolish medical pot and just legalize it for everyone.

David Raymond Amos

@Jason LeClair Isn't that the plan?

 

Jim S Powers

thing is you take something and YOU feel it helps

Remember PTSD can be mental not all PTSD is caused by a physical injury

So in YOUR head if you feel it helps then all the studies are not going to show a thing .

Classic example is the thousands of studies and 1/2 the people are given sugar pills the other the drug . Yet people who take the sugar pills say they feel better

So if smoking a few joints makes people feel better what is the harm?

Cannabis seeds found in cooking in China 6,000 BC or over 8,000 years ago

 

Joseph Swonsin

@Eleanor Bunikowski

" Is that "soothing" cup of tea or warm milk actually doing you any good, or do you just THINK it makes you feel better? Who cares... you feel better, and that's a good thing, eh?"

Are you suggesting that feeling better after having a warm cup of milk or soothing chamomile tea is a bad thing?

David Raymond Amos

@Joseph Swonsin Every morning I know for a fact that I feel much better after my first cup of coffee and a cigarette. No doubt it is because I am addicted to the legal overtaxed drugs called nicotine and caffeine. However I don't care.

I know neither drug is doing me any good but enjoy them so much that sometimes methinks those simple pleasures give me reason to live. No joking.

Joseph Swonsin

@David Raymond Amos

I wouldn't discourage you. I only point out that other people are so quick to judge cannabis while conveniently ignoring the miriad of other substances that are more harmful yet more socially acceptable somehow.

 

Fletch Peterson

If Doctors are "Limiting it",,,, why is Justin making it open for all to access???

David Raymond Amos

@Fletch Peterson The Feds don't like paying for the Veteran's prescriptions for the dope.

 

Stan Cox

I think the only solution is legalisation.

Unless Health Canada - or some publicly funded/controlled lab - can perform the clinical trials required to convince doctors that medical marijuana is helpful, and until the medical profession shows that it is completely above board with how it prescribes medication - the public will lose confidence in the system.

Maybe people should just be allowed to grow and use the stuff if they want to?

Will this result in a nation of 'potheads'?

I doubt it - unless we are already a nation of alcoholics.

David Raymond Amos

@Stan Cox "I doubt it - unless we are already a nation of alcoholics"

The Feds won't allow us to have a still but we can make our own beer and wine. I always wondered what is the difference.

John Dalton

@Brian Robertson - No but it sure cures Post Harper Anxiety.

David Raymond Amos

@John Dalton Methinks you jest but I liked it.

Veterans see access to medical marijuana curtailed over doctors' concerns

Country's last operational stress injury clinic pulls plug on medical marijuana prescriptions

By Kristen Everson, CBC News Posted: Sep 01, 2017 5:00 AM ET 

Veterans who require medicinal marijuana to treat mental-health illnesses have few places to turn to to access the drug. The last Veterans Affairs-sanctioned clinic stopped prescribing cannabis in January. (Ron Ward/Canadian Press) 

Veterans who use medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder are having to go outside the network of clinics sanctioned by Veterans Affairs to get the drug due to concerns by doctors at the clinics about its effectiveness.

The last operational stress injury clinic to prescribe medical marijuana to former soldiers stopped doing so in January, citing a lack of research and concerns it might even be doing more harm than good.

"The physician's Hippocratic oath is that above all you should do no harm," said Dr. Anthony Njoku of the OSI clinic in Fredericton.

"These are people ... who are struggling. You don't want to be the one who's added on top of that all in the vain attempt at helping them. You then end up making them much worse," he said.

The decision by the clinic to stop prescribing medical cannabis is mentioned in an undated briefing note prepared for the deputy minister of Veterans Affairs and obtained by CBC News under access to information.

The department has struggled with its policy on medical marijuana for veterans. In May, the department lowered the daily limit for medical cannabis prescriptions covered by veterans' benefits to three grams a day, down from 10 grams, after an internal review found reimbursements to veterans for medical cannabis had shot up over the past decade.

The new policy allowed for higher amounts if the patient obtained authorization from a medical specialist.
But with the OSI clinics no longer prescribing cannabis, veterans with mental illnesses have one less place to turn to get a psychiatrist's approval.

Operational stress injury clinics provide assessments, treatment, prevention and support to serving Canadian Forces members and veterans with mental illnesses. The department of Veterans Affairs provides guidance to these clinics but does not get involved in operational issues. They are operated by local or provincial health authorities.

Making it up as they go along

Veterans Affairs, along with the Canadian Forces, are undertaking a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis in treating PTSD.

But for now, Njoku said the research and evidence is scant.

"Overall, we really even now don't have that much research work that has been done to determine either the dosing, to determine the efficacy, to determine which kind of clients would best benefit from this," he said.

"We're making it up as we go along unfortunately," he said.

That reason isn't good enough for veteran Fabian Henry.

"It's not fair, it's just not fair that we don't have a place to go, those who choose medicinal marijuana," he said. "I have to look for outside help, other than the operational stress injury clinic."

Henry served in the Canadian Forces for 12 years and was medically released after being diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder in 2012. Now he's the founder of Marijuana for Trauma, a company with 15 locations to help veterans access medical marijuana across the country.

He uses marijuana to relieve his PTSD symptoms.

Fabian Henry says it's unfair that he and other veterans cannot get medical marijuana prescriptions from Veterans Affairs-sanctioned clinics. (CBC)

Henry said now that the clinic in Fredericton no longer writes prescriptions or fills special requests of veterans for amounts beyond the limit of three grams of dried cannabis per day, it's next to impossible for him to get the seven grams of marijuana he said he requires to cope with his symptoms.

"When they cut my medicine back, I started to fear for my health, those around me, my community, because before all of this I was not a good person.... I didn't want to go down that road again," he said.

Limited access 

Veterans are able to access medical marijuana for mental-health illnesses from physicians outside of the Veterans Affairs network. Henry said that if someone does not need more than three grams, access is getting better because of groups like his.

In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for Veterans Affairs said operational stress injury clinics are run by provincial health authorities and the department does not have the "authority to direct any health care professionals to authorize specific treatments."

The department reimbursed 5,190 veterans for medical cannabis between April 1 and July 31, 2017. As of Aug. 29, the department had received 637 requests for reimbursement of more than three grams per day since November 2016.