September marks World Alzheimer's Month

September marks World Alzheimer’s Month and this year, the Alzheimer’s community is facing more significant challenges than ever. 

Nearly 750,000 Canadians are living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia. Due to the significant and prolonged changes brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic, many patients are experiencing increases in symptoms including increased agitation, depression, insomnia and aggressive, and sometimes violent, behaviours.

Current pharmaceutical therapies, including antipsychotic medications, may provide some reduction in behavioural symptoms but carry an increased risk of severe side-effects including stroke and death. As a result, many families are proactively asking for safer alternatives.

There is a growing body of evidence for the use of cannabinoid-based medicines in the treatment of dementia-related symptoms and clinically, we’ve been seeing some outstanding outcomes since beginning therapy. I hope you’ll have a quick watch of this video to learn more.

International Overdose Awareness Day 2020

Yesterday was International Overdose Awareness Day. 

Eleven Canadians die every day in Canada due to opioid-related causes, and like so much else in the post-pandemic world, COVID has made the situation even worse. 

British Columbia and Alberta are two of the Canadian provinces hit the hardest by the opioid epidemic. After taking a terrible toll in 2017 and 2018, death rates in 2019 were significantly improving: Post-COVID, the opioid crisis is worse than ever.

While this is a complex public health problem with no easy solution, one thing is clear: If we can reduce opioid prescribing from the start, we can reduce dependency and ultimately reduce deaths. But as a medical community, we need to make some bold changes and be open to new approaches. 

In my previous role as the Primary Care Lead for our regional Opioid Reduction Strategy, I was proud to work with hundreds of forward-thinking physicians, pharmacists and nurses to provide education in how cannabinoids can be used as a safe and effective opioid alternative, in the management of chronic pain. As cannabinoids are opioid-sparing, they can also be used by physicians to help patients wean their current opioid dose.  

Sadly, despite the evidence and superior safety profile, cannabinoids are still extremely under-utilized by most physicians. With advances in both evidence and patient access, in 2020, there is no reason why cannabinoid medicine shouldn’t be part of every physician’s pain management toolbox, where it is legally available. 

In the meantime, my goal is to work with physicians from as many countries as possible, to evolve medicine and help further the international medical community’s thinking about pain management and harm reduction.

Full article available here.

Reflections on Australia Visit: Canada and Australia Have More in Common Than You May Think

Did you know that Canada is the largest per capita consumer of prescription opioids? We are closely followed by the USA, which is no big surprise, but the countries rounding out the top 5 may be surprising: Denmark, Australia and Switzerland.

Unfortunately, we have a lot more in common with our Australian compatriots than having the Queen on our money: they too are facing an opioid crisis with opioid-related deaths up 114% since 2006.

Encouragingly, the Australian Government appears to be taking steps to explore reasonable opioid-alternatives and recently announced a $3 million research grant to investigate the use of cannabinoids to help cancer patients. Building on this momentum, I was excited to be invited to Australia for two weeks, where I met with pain, cancer, addiction and geriatric specialists, as well as primary care physicians, pharmacists and nurses in Sydney and Melbourne. Together we shared learnings and best practice and I provided in-depth training in cannabinoid-based medicine to help increase understanding amongst the Australian medical community.

Sharing my experiences with other practitioners, so that more patients can benefit, is one of the best parts of my job. I’m proud to be playing a small role in the evolution of medical cannabis in another part of the world and can’t wait to get back there and see how everyone’s making out.