Cannabis Clinics (Canada) - experiences, success, grievances

[mikek9]

I am curious to know what your experiences have been from anyone that has had any interaction with any of these clinics that specialize in prescribing cannabis to Canadian patients. I would like to get some discussion going around people's experiences with them, positive and negative and what their outcomes have been. For example, we have Canadian Cannabis Clinics in Ontario which are well know for OHIP billing(no patient costs), but also THC% limits and urine samples (I'm guessing for drug testing?).

Also many other clinics, possibly CCC (Canadian Cannabis Clinics) as well writes 3 month scripts from what I have read and make you come back often for renewals. I think the clinics that charge then don't charge for the renewals or charge much less than the initial fees. I am curious about this though and how this works if you eventually get a longer script from them.

I wanted to create this thread as we have another Canadian Licensed Producers Thread (http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/canadian-licensed-producers.18986/) and the discussion started to get off topic there when in came to THC% limits imposed on patients at Canadian Cannabis Clinic. I am curious if there are patients from there that don't have any limits on their scripts. Also, how many grams per day does CCC usually prescribe?

 

[hi_there]

Cannimed product I have found sub-par, shopped at a few downtown locations of various shops and found them all fairly knowledgeable and all products were good (hash, oil, co2 carts and flower). My best experiences have been with Sprout, up in the North end of the city. Script was given by my pain management dr. it expires every year but I see him about 10 times a year for treatment.

 

[Morimoto]

Canadian Cannabis Clinics - Whitby

The Good: They don't bill patients, they bill the provincial government, nothing else good to say.

The Bad: Tele-medicine aka skype Dr. & Urine tests in tiny filthy bathrooms that have old tests on the counter and piss and trash everywhere. THC restrictions are automatic during first round of appointments, unsure if they will ever relax that. OH and there was no bike rack... I had to chain my bike up across the street...

Personally I don't want to go back simply because I don't want to catch an infection trying to give a sample in a tiny filthy bathroom... I don't need weed that bad! (it's not fear mongering, I have an auto-immune cluster disorder, that IS my disability and infections happen allll the time, I got ringworm from the YMCA, I get sick every time I go to the walk-in clinic, and I have also gotten an unknown skin infection from the waiting room at a specialists office)

What else.... I said I use 1 gram per day and he wrote a script for 15g/month @ 15% THC. Also when he asked if I had any experience with marijuana I said "I'm very experienced" and he laughed at me (I didn't find that funny) Then he asked me about my experiences with marijuana in relation to Ankylosing Spondilitis and other auto-immune cluster disorders and I told him that the high THC marijuana allows me to exercise without pain, and reduces my inflammation via COX inhibitor cannabinoids and TNF-alpha blocking cannabinoids, he then proceeded to go off on a rant about CBD and how CBD is the medicinal compound in marijuana and THC is just for recreational... ugh... I felt like walking out at that point, there was no conversation, no 2-way, his beliefs were set in stone before I ever got in the room, no rapport whatsoever, all him "telling me how it is/how it's going to be"

Then shit got weird... he told me "don't come back here asking for higher THC %, LP's will tell you to ask your doctor for higher THC %, but that's because they are gearing up for the recreational market, so don't come back next time asking for 20 or 30% THC"

At no point during my visit to the clinic did I get upset or confrontational, I was polite, courteous and calm, lots of Yes, please and thank you's, I'm very nice in person!

Anyhoo, YMMV, these are my own experiences and opinions

 

[hi_there]

The Bad:

Wow, so they actually bill OHIP for the cannabis product itself? I don't know what to say about your experience, sounds like a nightmare.

 

[Morimoto]

Noooo wayyyy lol they just write a 3 month script, thats it, then they sign you up with a LP and send you out the door. I have been in contact with my LP already, Aurora called me to tell me that the clinic fucked up my address and they had to wait until the clinic confirmed my address

 

[killick]

I'm familiar with 3.
Green Leaf Medical Clinic in Abbotsford BC. $200 for a 6 month prescription. They do appts via some online system.

- CannaConnect.ca
-CC has doctors and will arrange prescriptions at a cost.
Having said that they arrange prescriptions at no cost for military veterans and first responders.


MFTgroup.ca is (or was) veterans only, and no cost for vets. Offices in most provinces, still missing Sask and BC IIRC.

 

[mikek9]

Canadian Cannabis Clinics - Whitby

The Good: They don't bill patients, they bill the provincial government, nothing else good to say.

The Bad: Tele-medicine aka skype Dr. & Urine tests in tiny filthy bathrooms that have old tests on the counter and piss and trash everywhere. THC restrictions are automatic during first round of appointments, unsure if they will ever relax that. OH and there was no bike rack... I had to chain my bike up across the street...

Personally I don't want to go back simply because I don't want to catch an infection trying to give a sample in a tiny filthy bathroom... I don't need weed that bad! (it's not fear mongering, I have an auto-immune cluster disorder, that IS my disability and infections happen allll the time, I got ringworm from the YMCA, I get sick every time I go to the walk-in clinic, and I have also gotten an unknown skin infection from the waiting room at a specialists office)

What else.... I said I use 1 gram per day and he wrote a script for 15g/month @ 15% THC. Also when he asked if I had any experience with marijuana I said "I'm very experienced" and he laughed at me (I didn't find that funny) Then he asked me about my experiences with marijuana in relation to Ankylosing Spondilitis and other auto-immune cluster disorders and I told him that the high THC marijuana allows me to exercise without pain, and reduces my inflammation via COX inhibitor cannabinoids and TNF-alpha blocking cannabinoids, he then proceeded to go off on a rant about CBD and how CBD is the medicinal compound in marijuana and THC is just for recreational... ugh... I felt like walking out at that point, there was no conversation, no 2-way, his beliefs were set in stone before I ever got in the room, no rapport whatsoever, all him "telling me how it is/how it's going to be"

Then shit got weird... he told me "don't come back here asking for higher THC %, LP's will tell you to ask your doctor for higher THC %, but that's because they are gearing up for the recreational market, so don't come back next time asking for 20 or 30% THC"

At no point during my visit to the clinic did I get upset or confrontational, I was polite, courteous and calm, lots of Yes, please and thank you's, I'm very nice in person!

Anyhoo, YMMV, these are my own experiences and opinions

Your experiences seem to really mirror what I have heard from others except the urine test was a new thing I haven't heard about before.

I guess they are acting like a lot of pain clinics do that make you submit urine samples for whatever reason. My clinic doesn't require this so I don't know why they would do them, to ensure you aren't using other illegal substances? Or if you say I want to use cannabis instead of oxys then maybe they make sure you aren't still using oxys? Couldn't this all still be done using a blood test?

The doctors and their CBD rants are definitely something I have heard of before. I think the reason they really push CBD is because it is safe to do so. It doesn't cause euphoria, it doesnt cause anxiety, it had anti-psychotic properties suggesting potentially safe use for those battling severe mental illness or having them undiagnosed. I think it's almost like their lawyer said there could be no negative implications for pushing CBD so maybe just push that.

At the end of the day, are you still legal with a thc% limited script or a CBD only script? Sure you are. All dispensaries will accept you and I would be happy enough just being legal and not have to worry about any hassles with law enforcement.

Though a 15g/month script does seem kind low. I wonder if this is where they start usually and wait for the patients to return claiming it isn't enough?

I'm glad I didn't have to go to Canadian cannabis clinics from everything I have heard, but I guess I am thankful for them since they are helping many patients access cannabis who otherwise couldn't, even though it is limited access and with restrictions - I guess it is still access.

 

[Morimoto]

Yup, at the end of the day, I will be legal so that's a good thing. I'm totally ok with ordering 5 grams a month just to keep my foot in the Aurora door, and, the $50 credit should work fine for that for now.

I forgot to mention... (there were so many shockers that I forgot) When the doctor was on his rant about CBD, I brought up the imbalance of cannabinoids in high CBD and he said "you can just mix the CBD with whatever you get from the dispensary to add some more THC" ..... I was thinking in my head, Did the doctor just tell me to get dispensary weed?!?! I never mentioned dispensaries to him or anyone, so it was shocking that he would say that considering they are illegal, THEN the assistant who does LP registration after made me sign a document saying I would not purchase marijuana from dispensaries.... I brought the point up to her and she just kinda gave me the "wtf?!, stupid doctor" look.

I'm also kinda torn, for 100% inexperienced users i.e. someone who had never used cannabis, the CCC is good for them, but for experienced users it's a guarantee of frustration. There was a 40-something school teacher in the waiting room that I had a very nice conversation with, poor guy leans over to me and says "hey have you tried any of this before?" so I say "marijuana? of course!", he then tells me that he hasn't even seen weed since the 80's and asks a bunch of basic questions, I told him allllllll about FC and vaporizers LOL it was a fun conversation SO that teacher is the example of patients that CCC will be excellent for, he really needs restrictions and guidance, same for old folks, there were lots of old folks there.

 

[Morimoto]

And Aurora just registered me fully, but CCC did not send them my compassion pricing stuff, I made a point to the lady about it and she was all "ya, I'll send it today because I have a bunch of others to send" bullshit.

Anyhoo, Aurora was super nice on the phone, the fella said just snap a pic of my ODSP stub and e-mail it to them and they will hook me up.

Coolest thing was the guy on the phone from Aurora, I said thanks and he said "no prob dude" LOL

Aurora = Awesome customer service, (they called me last week and I called them today, both times were nice and positive).

 

[George1151]

The advisor (the person that does the paperwork to register the prescription with the LP's you select) who works at the CCC clinic I go to has been really good, excellent actually, so while there were a few hicups registering, the advisor kept me informed and fixed whatever problems I had. That is the good news.

I have seen 2 different doctors there and both were exactly the same and treated me the same way they treated Morimoto. While knowing less about cannabis from a practical point of view than most people on this forum (I would be shocked if any of them use cannabis themselves), they were both condescending, very authoritative and the conversation was totally one way, basically do as you are told. Plus one of them questioned the medical treatment I am receiving (from leading experts btw) without knowing anything about me or my issues or lack thereof.

The clinic is fine for people who know nothing about cannabis, but otherwise it has been one of the worst interactions I have ever had with medical professionals. Even though they are covered by OHIP the whole operation to me seemed liked a cash grab. 10 to 15 clinics all working from 1 call centre, terrible response to inquiries, voice messages unanswered, suspicion as to your intentions etc. 2 out of 10 would be a generous rating.

 

[JCat]

I've been using http://www.medicalmarijuanaclinic.ca (LB Patient Services) for years with great success, and quality service (not free though).