The #CoverCannabis Project: Business of Cannabis Interview

I’m so grateful for the outpouring of support The #CoverCannabis Project has been receiving from all of you! It’s going to take a lot of noise and debate on this topic to make change happen - but I know we’re up for the challenge!

If you haven’t heard about The #CoverCannabis Project yet - or want more info - check out this quick conversation I shared with Jay from Business of Cannabis earlier this week. I really appreciate all the media who have been helping us to spread the word about this movement to a larger audience - thank you! Now everyone, please share, share, share! Let’s keep the momentum going.

Have an awesome day!

The #CoverCannabis Project: Global News Interview with Mike Stubbs

I was thrilled to be invited onto London Live with Mike Stubbs to chat about our #CoverCannabis Project.

Listen to the full interview here.

When you’re in the midst of a pandemic, other important issues don’t get a lot of attention. The problem is, they’re still there and in this case, the pandemic has exacerbated the problem by increasing many of the symptoms for which people need cannabinoid medicines AND making it harder to attain due to the financial stress the pandemic has imposed on so many Canadians.

Mike and I chat about this and more on his show. Click on the link below to hear our full conversation.

Thank you all for your continued support for this movement! Keep sharing your stories using hashtag #CoverCannabis and sharing our posts. If we make enough noise, we will make change.

The #CoverCannabis Project: A Look Into Long-Term Care

According to a recent report from the Ontario Long Term Care Association, approximately 64% of residents living in long term care have been diagnosed with dementia and 90% have some form of cognitive impairment.

This is one of the first areas that the Government should consider covering.

Not only have we seen that cannabinoid medicines have a strong treatment success rate, they have a safer side-effect profile compared to other traditionally used medications and are multi-modal, meaning we can often treat more than one symptom at a time and reduce other meds. This is super important amongst the elderly, as polypharmacy (taking multiple medications) is the number one cause of hospitalizations due to adverse drug reactions amongst seniors.  

So, not only can we improve quality of life and decrease side-effects through cannabinoid therapy, we can often reduce other medications, which has an inherent cost savings. Who else sees this as a win-win?

The #CoverCannabis Project: Ron's Story

I’d like to introduce you to my patient, Ron who was kind enough to share his experience with cannabinoid medicine as part of our #CoverCannabis Project.

Prior to initiating cannabinoid therapy, Ron suffered from extreme chronic pain, resulting from football injuries and a serious car accident. He was prescribed physiotherapy and a number of pain medications but saw no improvement. His pain was so severe that he was unable to walk even short distances. He was also chronically drowsy-- a side-effect of his painkillers and the underlying sleep disorder that developed as a result of his chronic pain.

Here is just a short snapshot of my conversation with Ron, which includes an important message for both patients and practitioners alike: It can take some time to see the benefits of cannabinoid therapy, as dosing and titration is highly individualized. 

Just like you shouldn’t stop taking an antibiotic before the full course is complete, patients should follow their practitioner’s dosing instructions carefully and not get discouraged if they’re not seeing immediate results. Oftentimes it can take 4-6 weeks to reach your personal therapeutic dose -- but if you give up on therapy within a week or two, you’ll never know how your life could have changed.