The Canadian government may have pushed the date for the legalization of recreational cannabis use by a month or so, but that isn’t stopping Canadians from fighting for medical cannabis rights. Even university students are getting in on it. More specifically, UBC Okanagan students in British Columbia, Canada.
What Does That Mean?
It means that on Wednesday a new health benefit was announced by the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus which states that those who use cannabis for medical purposes may soon be eligible to have their cannabis medication covered by the school’s student union health benefits plan.
One executive director of a medical cannabis advocacy group stated that if this were to happen, it would make UBC Students’ Union Okanagan the second post-secondary students’ union in the country to cover the cannabis on a health benefits plan.
>>Canadian Recreational Cannabis Delayed
A significant amount of research will go along with the new health benefit. For instance, Zachary Walsh, UBC Okanagan psychology professor, will be conducting research to see how many students on campus use medical cannabis, as well as what their uses for it are. The research will also be focusing on the exact number of students who would be applying for this coverage.
What we do know is that if you’re a UBC Okanagan student and you want to apply to get insurance coverage for medical cannabis, you will be required to register with Health Canada’s legal medical marijuana program. Further, you will have to show medical documentation. We also know that some conditions will have more priority than others. Those who have nausea or chronic pain for chemotherapy will succeed those who use it for say, insomnia.
This is going to be a big deal if it all works out. I think it will be interesting to see if other post-secondary institutes in Canada follow UBC Okanagan’s lead on this one. Or, at the very least, it will be interesting to see whether or not the Vancouver-based UBC campus will do anything similar in the near future.
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