Speaker offers look inside world of medical cannabis
Guest speaker Michelle Davis, a community engagement specialist with Tweed, Canada’s largest producer of cannabis headquartered in Smiths Falls spoke to us this month on this topic.
Michelle said that Tweed, which was licensed by Health Canada in 2014 to grow medical cannabis, has many grow sites across Canada including in Niagara-on-the-Lake and also several service sites called Tweed Main Street, the closest being in Hamilton.
She pointed out that under current legislation, cannabis is only legally available for medical purposes and can only be obtained through a licensed producer with a referral from a doctor.
That will change on October 17 when the new federal cannabis act takes effect allowing recreational use by adults with the distribution to be regulated on a provincial level.
Michelle said that the legislation will allow for the possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana and will give individuals the right to grow up to four plants. The distribution of medical marijuana will not be affected by the new legislation.
She said that cannabis interacts with various receptors in the body and can affect different peo-ple in different ways. Depending on the makeup of the product, it can be prescribed to treat different problems such as pain relief or as a sleep aid.
The two most common ingredients in medical cannabis determine its usage. The levels of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidol) determine the relative strength and effects of the drug and Tweed has produced a colour coded chart called Spectrum to readily categorize products according to their THC and CBD profiles.
Cannabis is sold in either dry or oil form and can be taken either through inhalation, which acts fairly quickly or by ingesting, which is slower to re-act but with longer lasting effects.
Michelle admitted that there remain many unanswered questions surrounding the distribution and control of recreational cannabis as the date for its legalization approaches.
Our speaker at the August meeting will be Adrian Petry from the St. Catharines Museum. His talk will be about Architecture in Niagara.