WATCH: Should Cannabis Compassion Clubs Exist in Canada?

Should compassion clubs exist in Canadian cannabis? If so, how should they be regulated? Should pharmacies carry cannabis? What kind of barriers are there for medical cannabis patients in Canada today? What about marginalized communities?

These are some of the questions explored in episode 44 of The State of Craft, which was loosely based on the "Medical Cannabis Patients Have Been Forgotten" chapter of our white paper, The Dire State of Craft Cannabis in Canada.

This discussion featured some true legends of Canadian cannabis. Two of our guests have shaped cannabis history for decades; without the work of Hilary Black of the BC Compassion Club Society and Ted Smith of the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, cannabis would arguably still be illegal today. Our conversation is rounded out with pharmacist Trevor Shewfelt (of Reefer MEDness podcast fame)—a critical perspective for any conversation considering how to license compassion clubs.

The conversation today was enlightening and, at times, deeply personal. Here are some of the topics discussed:

• Cannabis stigma is the root cause of the challenges that medical patients are facing today
• How easy it is for pharmacists to prescribe powerful drugs like fentanyl to patients, compared to how impossible it is to prescribe cannabis.
• Compassion clubs and pharmacies providing medical cannabis in two different models side-by-side.
• Compassion clubs collaborating with pharmacists for patients who need more support.
• Large scale studies in marginalized communities (over 10,000 participants) that show that cannabis use reduces the chance of legal overdoses by 50%
• An update on the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club's legal battles with the province of BC
• So much more!