A man living in Saskatoon claims Royal University Hospital staff turned him away from treatment after he told doctors he takes medicinal marijuana for his anxiety. The Saskatchewan Health Authority denies a patient would be turned away for that reason.
Warren Monaghan, 41, says he is diagnosed with severe anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, ADHD, and bi-polar. He said he has a license for his medicinal marijuana and a prescription from his doctor to take three grams every day for his mental health.
On Saturday, Monaghan says he attempted suicide, by overdosing on pills, but he said he quickly changed his mind and called 9-1-1.
“After I did it … kind of regretted it,” Monaghan told CTV News.
He said the Mobile Crisis Unit rushed him to emergency at RUH, where he was treated for the overdose.
He says he asked to be admitted into the Irene and Leslie Dube Centre , a mental health and addictions services facility. But Monaghan claims when doctors discovered he smokes medicinal marijuana, they refused to admit him.
“I was told that I am on ‘voluntary status’ now and that they aren’t even going to bother with seeing the psychiatrist because there’s no point,” Monaghan said. “They won’t admit me because of the medical marijuana.”
The Saskatchewan Health Authority would not comment on the specific case, but did say under the Saskatchewan Mental Health Services Act, the use of medicinal marijuana would not prevent a patient from being admitted into the Dube Centre.
Monaghan said the hospital gave him a taxi voucher to go home.
“I would’ve liked to just stay there and gotten the help I asked for,” he said.
Now Monaghan is looking to live in a care home where he can have his independence but still have support staff on hand to help with his treatment.
