Medical marijuana clinic opens in Montreal

MONTREAL– Quebec’s first medical marijuana clinic, Santé Cannabis, opened its doors Tuesday in Montreal to a rush of interest.

“The phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” executive-director, Adam Greenblatt told Global News.

Plans to open the clinic, located on Amherst Street in the Gay Village, had been in the works since May.

“It’s very exciting,” Greenblatt said.

“People finally have options to safely discuss the medical use of marijuana.”

He said the clinic has also gotten calls of support from various physicians in the city.

One person who is not offering support to the clinic is Quebec health minister Gaetan Barette.

“It is premature,” Barette told reporters at the National assembly.

“When you put a medication on the market you have to have a due process: evaluate the complications, the legal dose, the overdose and most of all the amount of the substance that you have to administer to have a therapeutic effect.”

The clinic staffs two doctors at the moment, and it plans on having five in place by February 2015.

Patients who come to the clinic must have a referral from their family doctor.

Greenblatt said the clinic follows the guidelines set out by the College of Physicians with regards to prescriptions.

“I think we took the College of Physicians off-guard but we are looking forward to working with it to help as many Quebecers as possible have access to medical marijuana.”