Medical marijuana oversight increases with new rules in effect

OTTAWA – New regulations which increase oversight around the authorization of marijuana for medical use have gone into effect.

The federal government says the updated rules are a response to requests from medical licensing bodies to increase the information available to them on how doctors are authorizing marijuana.

The regulations require licensed producers of medical marijuana to provide quarterly reports to health-care licensing bodies, like the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, on how health-care practitioners are authorizing the use of marijuana.

The reports — which will include information such as the daily quantity of marijuana prescribed and period of use — will be provided at the request of the provincial and territorial medical and nurse licensing bodies.

The federal government says the new rules will strengthen public safety and allow the licensing bodies to more effectively monitor the professional practice of their members.