It's not all green pastures.

Case in point, I went to the pain doctor today. 3 hour visit, great visit in fact.

He prescribed me Sativex, which is essentially marijuana in a bottle (spray).

Great right? "Oh don't worry your insurance will cover it".

They don't.

The drug will cost me $500+ out of pocket.

Should I just start growing a plant? (kidding, he did say there were other options to try if it wasn't covered).

Sigh. They don't make things easy for us do they?

I thought Canada had National Insurance. You can buy it more natural and legal (in Canada?) Brownies? Without the smoke risk to the body?

Do you know any brownie bakers?

In a spray bottle? How is it applied, topical or oral?

and how often? How long would a bottle last? $500 - ouch!

The way it works with Medicare in Canada is that most doctor visits/tests are covered by the government (see: taxpayers).

So say I have the flu, I can walk into an after hours clinic, see a doctor, government has just paid that visit.

If I have to then fill a prescription from the doctor, that falls on my individual insurance. In my case, group insurance through my employer. Which... for the majority of things is great, but may be a bit behind the times when it comes to cannabis being legal in Canada for medical use if approved.

Brownies? Yuck!

It's an oral spray yes... they begin you on 4 sprays per day, and you work your way up. Same deal as the plant pretty much, only in a mist.

I wish they'd cover it. Hell, they have no trouble tossing out bucks for oxycontin.

How long do you have to wait in line for the free healthcare?

To see a doctor in a clinic, you don't really. You call, schedule an appointment, they get you in same day.

To see your GP is a bit trickier, but generally they can get you in pretty fast when needed in my experience.

Certain other 'functions' like getting an MRI take longer. Few months on that one. I'm still waiting on mine, and it's because I'm 'low priority' now that I've been diagnosed already.