Pubdate: Sun, 17 Nov 2002
Source: Halifax Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2002 The Halifax Herald Limited
Contact:  http://www.herald.ns.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/180
Author: Canadian Press

OTTAWA SMOKES TEST MARIJUANA

Ottawa - The first batch of marijuana grown by a private company under a 
Health Canada contract was useless for clinical trials and had to be 
burned, Health Minister Anne McLellan told Montreal La Presse in an 
interview published Saturday.

Prairie Plant Systems Inc. received a five-year, $5 million federal 
contract to grow marijuana in an abandoned copper mine in Flin Flon, Man., 
but McLellan said their first batch was not uniform.

Prairie Plant Systems was unable to receive a supply of standardized 
marijuana seeds from the United States, McLellan said, so the company 
turned to the RCMP, which supplied seeds that were seized in various raids.

"So there definitely wasn't any standardization of the product," McLellan 
told La Presse. "From the first harvest it was very clear - my people did 
the tests here - that there were all sorts of marijuana. Plants from 
different stocks with rates of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, that 
varied from plant to plant. All of it had to be burned."

Scientists have since been able to produce standardized seeds that have led 
to a second, more uniform harvest in Flin Flon which will be used for testing.

"That harvest is in the process of being checked," McLellan said. "It will 
soon be available for clinical trials."

McLellan denied the perception that she does not favour the use of 
marijuana for medicinal uses. McLellan acknowledged the position of 
pro-marijuana activists, who tout the plant's value as a relief for nausea 
caused by AIDS and cancer treatments, among other uses.

But McLellan said there is still no scientific proof of these claims.

"In fact, we don't know enough," she said. "I asked my ministry to examine 
all of the research. The conclusion was that there is very, very little 
happening right now to determine the medical benefits associated with 
marijuana use.

"There's a lot of anecdotes on marijuana use, people who say that it gives 
them relief, allows them to keep their food down etc... But the problem is 
that if you want a doctor to prescribe you some pot, he would be very 
reticent to do so without serious medical and scientific facts that would 
allow him to make a clear decision."

Doctors, McLellan added, are more and more preoccupied with the legal 
implications of prescribing a drug whose effects have not been 
scientifically verified.

"If they prescribe this product without knowing if there are serious 
side-effects, without knowing how pot interacts with other substances or 
other chemical cocktails, they risk facing lawsuits," McLellan said.

McLellan feels marijuana should be treated exactly like any other new 
medication, which means it should be subject to a rigorous battery of tests 
before it is approved for use by the public.
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MAP posted-by: Beth