Establishing expertise: Canadian community-based medical cannabis dispensaries as embodied health movement organisations.
In this commentary, I describe how, through both advocacy and the generation of new knowledge, community-based medical cannabis dispensaries have contributed to the broader dialogue regarding the legal and safe provision of medical cannabis in Canada. By employing an embodied health movement framework (Brown et al., 2004), this analysis highlights the role of dispensaries in creating new knowledge, challenging existing practices, and advancing their agenda to legitimise cannabis as a therapeutic substance and offer an alternative model for its provision. Although the community-based, holistic approach that dispensaries offer has not been adopted by the Canadian government, dispensaries have achieved success in being recognized as credible stakeholders and experts in the ongoing debate on the legal provision of medical cannabis in Canada.
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 6th Floor, 155 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada. Electronic address: rebecca.penn@mail.utoronto.ca.
Rebecca A
RA
Penn
D002170:Canada; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006291:Health Policy; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D064086:Medical Marijuana / Q000600:supply & distribution*
D064086:Medical Marijuana
Drug policy; Embodied health movement; Lay-expertise; Medical cannabis