Pubdate: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2002, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtml Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135 Author: Mindelle Jacobs, Edmonton Sun Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) OTTAWA'S NOT A VERY GOOD DRUG DEALER The federal government is obviously profoundly uncomfortable at the idea of dabbling in the drug-dealing business. Last year, with much fanfare, Ottawa unveiled what it described as a "compassionate framework" to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The new regulations were designed to replace exemption provisions that required people to get special permission from the health minister to use pot for therapeutic reasons. It was supposed to be easier for those suffering from debilitating illnesses to access medical marijuana. Things haven't turned out that way. As part of the application process, patients are supposed to obtain declarations from medical specialists that include, among other details, a recommended dosage. Physicians, as you can imagine, aren't interested in prescribing a drug without clear, scientific evidence on the risks and benefits. As a result, doctors have been largely reluctant to co-operate and Ottawa has had to grant extensions under the old rules to many patients who were previously allowed to smoke pot. Two months ago, I wrote about an Edmonton couple suffering from hepatitis C whose exemption from prosecution under the old law was scheduled to expire at the end of this week. Try as they might, Dale and Alice Strohmaier couldn't find specialists who would help them apply for permission to use pot under the new regulations. The day my column ran, a Health Canada official phoned them and gave assurances that the problem would be resolved. Sure enough, the couple were granted a six-month extension. Numerous other sick Canadians have been quietly granted similar renewals because they, too, haven't been able to convince doctors to fill in their applications. But they're sorely mistaken if they think they'll have access to Ottawa's own research-grade weed any time soon. Sure, the plants have been harvested in the government's high-security underground pot bunker in Flin Flon, but the stuff is just sitting there smelling up the place. When Health Canada announced in December 2000 that Prairie Plant Systems Inc. had won a $5.7-million contract to grow standardized pot for medical and research needs, it declared that the government-authorized marijuana would be available in a year. More than a year later, priorities have changed. There is no "time frame" as to when the Flin Flon pot will be distributed, Farah Mohamed, spokesman for Health Minister Anne McLellan, told me yesterday. And that's not all. Our official weed won't be released to the ailing Canadians who qualify until clinical trials on medicinal pot have been completed, she said. "We're not in the business of taking risks," she added, saying the government has no intention of distributing an untested product. In that case, Ottawa should have clearly stated right from the beginning that it would likely be years before people not involved in clinical trials would have access to government pot. The clinical trials, by the way, haven't begun yet. In the meantime, there's all that pot stored in Flin Flon, which, unless it's really wicked, is bound to lose its potency as the months go by. York University law professor Alan Young predicts Ottawa will end up incinerating this batch on the grounds that it no longer has any medicinal value. While the government is committed to clinical trials, it's not particularly interested in being a drug dealer for ill Canadians, says Young, who has represented ailing Canadians in their fight to use pot. "I don't think they can backpedal on this. They can stall, they can delay, but I don't think they can subvert it. We have to move forward eventually." Young plans to push the process along. He's about to go to court to try to have Ottawa's medicinal pot regulations quashed. If he wins, pot possession will no longer be a crime. That should give Ottawa a buzz. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom