Pubdate: Tue, 09 Dec 2003 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2003, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/home.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Stephanie Rubec, Ottawa Bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) FEDS EASE LAWS FOR POT Approved Smokers Can Now Pay Growers By STEPHANIE RUBEC OTTAWA -- In a bid to boost the availability of pot, the feds have softened medicinal marijuana rules. Health Canada announced yesterday that it's okay to pay a licensed grower for their weed. And the department also cut down on the red tape in the application process. It now only requires a patient to obtain the recommendation from one medical specialist -- not two. Health Canada spokesman Catherine Saunders said the move responds to an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling in October that criticized the federal medicinal marijuana program for making it too difficult to get access to pot. By striking down rules that require a licensed grower to provide medicinal marijuana for free, Saunders said Health Canada hopes more people might be willing to cultivate the crop. "It might make it more available when you compensate the licensed grower," Saunders said. "Basically, you can pay a fee for a service rendered." ONE USER Saunders said there are no changes to the rule that licensed growers can only provide pot to one user and a maximum of three people can pool their resources to grow medicinal marijuana. "It wouldn't become a business in that you can only grow for one person," she said. The feds provide 30 seeds for $20. Dried marijuana is also being provided by Ottawa for the bargain price of $5 a gram -- about $10 cheaper than it goes for on the street. Health Canada has okayed 697 Canadians for possessing marijuana for medical purposes and another 530 people are allowed to cultivate pot -- most of them in Ontario. The feds have received and approved 75 requests for pot or marijuana seeds from Canadians who have permission to possess it. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom