Rebecca Goterba

Pediatric Research article discussion

The article entitled “Improving the Regulation of Medical Cannabis in Canada to Better

Serve Pediatric Patients” discusses various ways in which medical cannabis can be useful in

pediatric patients as well as to improve regulation. The use of cannabis to treat drug resistant

epilepsy, cancer pain, and autism is not uncommon in Canada. However, there are not many

regulations that are in place for its use and there are not many studies of the side effects of

cannabis in the use of children. It is overseen by Health Canada, but the regulations are not very

strict. Cannabis must be authorized by a physician or nurse practitioner but can also be given by

licensed cannabis providers. According to the regulations in place, licensed cannabis providers

are required to report any adverse effects to Health Canada however, physicians and nurse

practitioners are not. This means that some of the adverse effects seen may not even be reported.

In addition to this, there is a lack of education to health care providers which contributes to a

hesitancy of them prescribing it to pediatric patients.

After reading this article, I believe more needs to be done to regulate the use of cannabis

in pediatric patients. There has been research that show the benefits of cannabis to treat multiple

drug resistant illness in children. This is very important because it can provide children with a

more “normal” life. I believe education needs to be provided to doctors and nurse practitioners

on the benefits of using cannabis to improve the lives of pediatric patients. In addition to this, I

believe all prescribers should have to report any adverse reactions in order to have more

complete and accurate data on the use and potential side effects of cannabis.
 This information could be extremely useful in the care of pediatric patients and their

families. If there are more strict regulations on the use of cannabis in pediatric patients in

Canada, there would be more accurate data. With more accurate data, other countries may begin

to employ the idea of using medical cannabis in the pediatric population. Therefore, helping

pediatric patients all over the world to have more fulfilling lives. Not only could medically

prescribed cannabis make life better for the patient, but it could also improve family functioning.

The families would be able to enjoy more time with their children and hopefully less time in the

hospital. Stricter regulations on the use of cannabis in the pediatric population truly could make a

huge difference. Although currently only acceptable in Canada, more strict regulations and

gathering of data could impact countries all over the world. It is evident that the cannabis is out

there, it only makes sense to use it in ways that will improve the lives of patients with illnesses

that don’t respond well to the normal medications that we would use to treat them. Overall, this

article gives a lot of information of ways to improve the regulation of cannabis to be used more

in the pediatric population.