Marijuana use is on the rise in Canada, with 16.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 to 64 (just over 3.9 million people) admitting using it in 2007, up from 7.4 per cent in 1994. In 2004, 45.5 per cent of Canadians said they had tried marijuana at some point in their lives. With such a significant increase in marijuana use, it's difficult to understand how the Canadian government continues to hinder the ability of suffering Canadians access to medical cannabis.

Cannabis has been used for medical purposes dating back as far as 10,000 years ago, when it was used for treating pain and curing insomnia. Up until 1883, cannabis hemp was the largest agricultural crop in the world, and was used for fabric, paper, lighting oil and medications. It wasn't until early in the 20th century that cannabis started being seen as a substance that should be vilified and made illegal.

It is no wonder that, given the centuries of medicinal benefits cannabis has provided, Canadians with serious health issues are turning to the plant for aid. Medical cannabis helps people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, spinal cord injury, spinal cord disease, cancer, HIV/AIDS, severe arthritis and epilepsy, to name a few. It is estimated by some that cannabis can show positive benefits in over 200 different medical conditions.

According to Health Canada, in 2010, 4,884 people held an Authorization to Possess dried marijuana card, and 3,576 people held a Personal-Use Production License, meaning they could legally grow their cannabis. Though medical exemptions are legal and available to Canadians, the process with which you obtain one can be quite complicated, making it difficult for those in need to even apply, let alone be approved for a license. Many medical exemptees in Canada have complained that they've had to see up to a dozen family doctors before finding one who would sign their prescription.

After contacting a dozen or so cancer researchers and doctors, I couldn't find a single heath care professional who would speak to me about this subject. How is there still such a stigma associated with marijuana, especially in a field that should, scientifically, see its benefits?

One medical exemptee is 49-year-old Paul Falkner from Peterborough, Ontario. Falkner had a lumbar spinal fusion in 1997, when doctors placed four titanium screws in his spine. Within months of his surgery, one of the Health Canada-approved titanium screws snapped and left a broken piece embedded in his vertebrae, resulting in extreme chronic pain. "There are days I can't even move," said Falkner. "I have taken numerous and copious amounts of narcotics over the years to assist me with pain, and I find cannabis to be the most helpful."

Falkner's fight to obtain a medical license took him six months, though the Health Canada website claims there is an eight- to 10-week turn over. Falkner also said he fears the new government regulations, calling them "unconstitutional at best. (They are) taking our right to grow, so we will then have to go to a government run place to obtain our meds. I'm on a fixed income (because I'm on disability) and I'm not able to afford the cannabis I am prescribed. If I grow, I can," he said. "I fear going to jail just because I want to feel better."

Scientists have undeniably seen the benefits of cannabis for medicinal purposes, and have developed a synthetic form of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the main psychoactive substance in cannabis) known as Dronabinol, or Marinol. Medicinenet.com claims that Marinol is used to reduce nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy, as well as to treat the loss of appetite experienced by people with HIV/AIDS, and the side effects are quite similar to those of natural cannabis. However, many people question whether or not a strictly controlled synthetic form of THC can have the same positive effects experienced with natural cannabis.

In the documentary The Union: the Business Behind Getting High, Dr. James Hudson, Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia, Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine, discussed the problem with synthetic forms of THC, such as Marinol: "It's not the same as medical marijuana; it's not a crude mixture of things and there's no guarantee you'll get the same results."

A major problem with marijuana as a medication is that a plant can't be patented and therefore pharmaceutical companies can't profit from it. "In the case of a synthetic compound, if it's only an ingredient from cannabis, they can formulate that as a drug and make a lot more money out of it," said Hudson.

In June 2011, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a report urging governments to end the war on drugs, claiming, "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world." The report urged governments to end the "criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others," and to "offer health and treatment services to those in need."

Even in Canada, according to the Angus Reid Global Monitor, in 2008, 53 per cent of Canadians supported the legalization of marijuana. But this issue isn't about legalization or decriminalization; it is about making safe, alternative medication accessible for suffering Canadians like Paul Falkner. Understandably, there are many concerns surrounding how this will be regulated, but there is an undeniable group of Canadians who don't see cannabis as a drug, they see it as a required medication that greatly improves the quality of their lives.
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