Doctors to debate medical pot as more patients expected to ask for prescriptions
VANCOUVER — Doctors with opposing views on whether medical marijuana should be prescribed for various conditions agree on one thing: their profession is ill-prepared to deal with patients asking for a drug that lacks adequate clinical research.
Two doctors with contrasting viewpoints on the issue will participate in a debate on Tuesday — the day before recreational cannabis is legalized — as part of a live streamed event hosted by the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
Dr. Mark Ware, who practises pain medicine in Montreal and has spent 20 years researching chronic pain, will be arguing for the use of medical cannabis for conditions such as neuropathic pain and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
On the other side, Dr. Mel Kahan, medical director of Substance Use Services at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, believes the overall evidence for medical marijuana is “incredibly weak.”