For Immediate Release
November 16, 2022
Victoria, B.C.: Another strong letter of support for the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club to get an exemption from the Cannabis Act has come from the Victoria federal Member of Parliament, Laurel Collins. The VCBC has been advocating for an exemption from the Cannabis Act for years in order to provide low cost and high dose medicine to patients. Other letters of support from the Victoria city council and a persuasive letter signed by a number of lead drug researchers working with the Canadian Institute of Substance Use Research (CISUR) have also been sent this year. Health Canada is currently reviewing the exemption application.
MP Laurel Collins’ letter is addressed to the Federal Minister of Health, advocating for an exemption for the VCBC to continue its important work in the community. The letter also implored Health Canada to review the THC limits in edibles for patients and writes, “[t]he high doses patients need to manage their conditions far exceeds the 10 mg THC per serving limit Health Canada has arbitrarily created.” The letter also outlines cannabis’s potential in curbing the opiate crisis and echoes the sentiments of the top drug policy researchers in BC who suggest that cannabis should be treated as a primary tool in the harm reduction tool kit for health care practitioners facing this epidemic.
Finally, MP Laurel Collins acknowledges that medical cannabis falls under federal jurisdiction in Canada. Collins supports our request to Health Canada to work with the VCBC and suggests they contact the B.C. Solicitor General, Mike Farnworth, to request that he postpone any provincial enforcement action pending the exemption application outcome.
This letter of support from MP Laurel Collins comes while Health Canada is conducting a review of the Cannabis Act. In the survey Health Canada asks if the medical cannabis program is necessary or if the needs of patients can be met by the non-medical cannabis industry. The needs of many patients are not being met with the crrent legal medical program but it needs to be improved, not eliminated. Laurel Collins’ letter of support, in combination with all the local support we have garnered, demonstrates the overwhelming need for storefront medical compassion clubs like ours.
The Cannabis Act Review closes for public input on Monday November 21st. The VCBC has compiled a document answering all of Health Canada’s survey questions and we implore concerned citizens to review our answers and to voice their concerns in the survey to save the medical cannabis program in Canada.
Laurel Collins Letter:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10TlgCgDsafOtfbeXP7DNobWKDcmLEA5E/view?usp=sharing
Latest letter of support from the City of Victoria:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rCQWyq27OoIWsfwO1Ya0eitjztKPs_YL/view?usp=sharing
Top Drug Policy Expert’s Letter:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MxThG48xwM7fE7ZCjYR3AjPURdNKJAPr/view?usp=sharing
For more information contact VCBC at hellovcbc@gmail.com or contact Ted Smith at 250-415-1063.
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