Medical marijuana counselling service opens in Markham

Yorkregion.com
May 7, 2015
By Laura Finney

Andrew Brown used to take a variety of medications to treat his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Now the veteran takes one, marijuana, and says the results have been outstanding.

“It’s completely changed my quality of life,” he said.

It’s partly thanks to Brown that others in Ontario will be able to access medical marijuana more easily.

Brown is vice president of the Marijuana for Trauma Ontario Inc. office that opened in Markham last Friday.

The consultation service primarily helps veterans, but also works with first responders and civilians by providing information, administrative support and help accessing medical marijuana.

Brown was with the Canadian military for 13 years and served in Afghanistan. He was diagnosed with PTSD four times.

He said he was on a number of medications for a few years to treat his condition.

“They didn’t work. I wasn’t able to feel any emotion at all,” he said. “It made things significantly worse.”

Among the side effects were depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, some of which he had already been diagnosed with.

So last January he decided to try medical marijuana.

“It gave me that feeling like I didn’t have to be in charge of everything all the time,” he said. “I didn’t have to be a hardcore warrior. I was able to look for other things.”

And he said it has helped.

“Marijuana isn’t a cure. It’s a helping hand. It’s a medication,” he said.

Unfortunately at the time, he couldn’t find a place in Ontario to prescribe medical marijuana.

“We call it a grey space,” he said, explaining that while the medication was covered by Veterans Affairs Canada and they are encouraged to use it to combat PTSD and other injuries, it was difficult to find a doctor willing to prescribe it and if they found one who did, it could get expensive.

Before the Ontario office opened, the nearest Marijuana For Trauma location was in New Brunswick.

(It’s in New Brunswick where Marijuana for Trauma founder Fabian Henry applied for a licence to grow medical marijuana. There is also an office in Newfoundland and two others set to open in Nova Scotia.)

Brown and Chris Dupee, veteran and president of the Ontario chapter, drove to New Brunswick to visit the MFT office.

That’s a drive they won’t have to take anymore.

The organization is veteran run, mostly by volunteers, Brown said.

It offers its services free of charge to veterans, currently serving military and the RCMP he said. Civilians and first responders do pay a fee of $200.

The company is not a dispensary. It offers is administrative assistance, information and other services like peer support groups.

It also connects clients with a doctor.

“It’s helped me open up to other forms of treatment I wouldn’t have considered, “ said Brown, listing things like yoga and meditation.

He said it also helps break the stigma of medical marijuana.

Brown said Dr. Mike Hart, a family physician from London, Ont., who prescribes medical marijuana as part of his practice, is working with Marijuana for Trauma in Markham.

Brown notes the marijuana itself is grown by a licenced producer and mailed out to users by Canada Post.

The Ontario chapter is at 2758 Bur Oak Ave., near White’s Hill Avenue. For more information, visit mftgroup.ca.