Pubdate: Mon, 09 Jul 2001
Source: Kelowna Capital News (BC)
Copyright: 2001, Kelowna Capital News Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.kelownacapnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1294
Author: Barry Gerding
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

PROPOSED POT LAWS MURKY FOR ALL

Trying to understand the straight dope about marijuana's medicinal benefits 
is hard for anyone to understand if they have never sampled a joint in 
their lives, which would seem to extend to the entire scientific medical 
community in this country.

The reality is that marijuana has become so prevalent in our society today, 
as the children of the '60s and their attitudes about drug use have evolved 
into the grandparents of this century's first new generation. We even have 
political parties now that advocate for possession of cannabis to be 
decriminalized.

The scientific evidence, or lack of it, is far behind what most people 
themselves accept to be true or not true based on their own usage or moral 
and ethical ideals.

As a teenager of the late '70s and young adult in the early '80s, that was 
a time for me when coming across someone who smoked marijuana always 
carried with it a reaction of hesitancy, in my mind that person was doing 
something that went over the edge.

You could overindulge in alcohol and throw up to your heart's content. Big 
deal. But if someone pulled out one of those funny little cigarettes, that 
was something different, there was that element of danger about it.

Today, the use of marijuana is so prevalent I don't even think twice about 
it, so common is its usage today.

So it all makes me wonder why the federal government continues to embark in 
such small steps up to this point to make marijuana a legal drug for 
individual Canadians to possess for treatment against pain caused by 
illness, or to aggressively try to generate that absent scientific research.

The new Health Canada regulations published this week will allow patients 
with chronic or terminal illnesses to apply to Health Canada for permission 
to grow, possess and use marijuana to relieve their symptoms. These new 
regulations apply to palliative patients who have less than a year to live; 
to patients suffering from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord 
injuries, severe arthritis or epilepsy; and to patients suffering from 
other conditions, if marijuana use is recommended by two specialists.

In every case, the application must be signed by a doctor, who must 
indicate that "the benefits from the applicant's recommended use of 
marijuana would outweigh any risks associated with that use."

This new policy has left the Canadian Medical Association in a bit of a 
quandary. Besides the lack of available scientific research, they're also 
being empowered to draw a line between who is and who is not among their 
patients to be absolved from criminal prosecution for growing their own 
pot. Not a very comfortable position to be placed in.

The police can't be totally happy with this either. Added to the fact that 
they don't have the resources to keep up with the illegal pot operations 
now in existence, further red tape has been entered into their job of 
having to determine who is and isn't legally allowed to cultivate their own 
marijuana.

Even marijuana advocates are dissatisfied by not allowing medium-sized 
commercial operations to grow pot for these doctor-approved clients, rather 
than forcing each patient to grow their own supply. They point out the cost 
to set up a hydroponic garden is about $2,000 and if they are bed-ridden, 
who will tend the marijuana harvest?

Who remains rather quiet in this debate so far, and perhaps might explain 
why the federal government is treading with such short strokes forward on 
this issue, is the pharmaceutical drug industry.

Marijuana holds out the potential of being a relatively inexpensive 
alternative to prescription drugs which both cost millions for drug 
companies to research and which generate millions for them in revenues.

The lobby efforts of these companies commands considerable influence within 
the halls of government power in Ottawa, as was made evident by the 
roadblocks the feds created against herbal remedy producers.

So while many talk about the fears of marijuana being an addictive drug and 
about the lack of "official" research into its impact on reducing pain, 
what we are not hearing about is the impact this small step toward 
legalization will have on the profit margins for drug companies.

I still think that is where the real battle lines will be drawn on the 
legalization of marijuana, because the interest level to maintain the 
possession as a crime status quo regarding cannabis will continue to dwindle.
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MAP posted-by: GD