Standard Index brings clarity to Medicinal Cannabis

The Reformulary Group announced the launch of its Cannabis Standard. The Index uniformly categorizes medicinal Cannabis products based on objective data, allowing Canadians and the medical community to find accurate and detailed information and research and compare products reliably.

"We want to help patients and their doctors understand Medicinal Cannabis, so we worked with a group of experts to develop a standardized classification system as is the norm with prescription and over-the-counter medications, but explicitly designed for cannabinoids," said Helen Stevenson, founder and CEO of the Reformulary Group. "The Cannabis Standard Index allows patients and healthcare professionals to research and compare Cannabis products and determine which are similar or interchangeable."

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The Index is an educational tool that allows patients using medicinal marijuana and their doctors to assess and compare products made by different Licensed Producers using objective data, such as composition, format, and form, rather than strain name. Since there are no industry standards for strain naming, some producers may apply strain names to products with different cannabinoid concentrations. 

By indexing products using objective data, including the presence of major (THC, CBD) and minor (THCA, CBDA, CBG, CBC, CBN) cannabinoids, where information is available, the Index can help guide reliable prescribing and therapeutic substitutions. Therefore, when a Medicinal Cannabis patient seeks a change in product type or when a patient's usual Licensed Producer runs out of stock, they can find an effective alternative.

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A national study conducted in the summer of 2019 by RIWI, a global trend forecasting and tracking technology company, revealed that two-thirds of Medicinal Cannabis patients were interested in a rating system that categorizes Cannabis into product types and helps consumers compare products. 

The Index is the latest addition to the Cannabis Standard, an ecosystem of expert recommendations, patient-driven tools, and independent information to help Canadians and healthcare professionals make smarter, more informed decisions about Medicinal Cannabis.

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"The addition of the Index to the Cannabis Standard ecosystem empowers patients and healthcare professionals to access and evaluate Medicinal Cannabis with the same level of sophistication as prescription medications," said Dr. Alan Bell, family physician and assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. "Instead of relying on the name of a product strain or user-generated reviews, we now have a system to help categorize and differentiate Medicinal Cannabis using relevant data for doctors and patients," he added.

The Cannabis Standard Index is free and open source. The Reformulary Group strives to include products from as many Licensed Producers as possible. It does not sell Cannabis, does not receive commissions, and does not benefit from the sale of Medicinal Cannabis.

Source: information from News Wire website