Pubdate: Wed, 29 Jul 2005 Source: Victoria News (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 Victoria News Contact: http://www.vicnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1267 Author: Brennan Clarke Cited: Vancouver Island Compassion Club http://thevics.com Cited: Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org Cited: Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies http://www.maps.org/ Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?235 (Vancouver Island Compassion Society) COMPASSION CLUB STOKED ABOUT POT STUDY On a day-to-day basis, the Vancouver Island Compassion Club remains a quasi-legal purveyor of medical marijuana, producing and providing pot to people in pain. But these days, club founder Phillipe Lucas is spending more time studying the drug than selling it. Lucas recently announced that Health Canada has granted unconditional approval" for a study looking at the effects of smoked cannabis and chronic pain" that will operate from the society's downtown headquarters. It's the first high-THC smoked cannabis study in North America and we're the first compassion club in North America, maybe the world, to be involved in this kind of study," Lucas said. It's part of our longstanding research agenda." The Health Canada-sanctioned study is being funded with a $50,000 grant from the U.S-based Marijuana Policy Project and conducted by Lucas, Dr. Shannon Hamersley, qualified physcians with a background in chronic pain, and Rick Doblin, director of the Multidsiciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies, a non-profit research organization. The group is currently developing a clinical protocol for the study, which will then be submitted to Health Canada for final approval. The group plans to provide 15 participants with marijuana of varying strengths - one with zero per cent THC (the active ingredient), one with 10-12 per cent THC, and one with 16-18 per cent THC. The participants will smoke one of the three grades for an entire week, before switching to the next. Neither they nor the researchers will know which strain they are using. The researchers will also monitor and record side effects. The study itself will take about six weeks, but it will take several more months to compile the results, Lucas said. While it's unusual for compassion clubs to undertake clinical studies, Lucas said it will be cheaper and quicker than a government-run study. Lucas is currently working on two other cannabis research projects - a hepatitis-C protocol with the University of California, San Francisco, and a nausea and pregnancy survey in conjunction with the University of British Columbia. We want to show that compassion clubs are more than just distributors, we can be contributors to scientific understanding," he said. Police, however, don't always see it that way. Last May, West Shore RCMP busted what Lucas refers to as a compassion club production facility" in Sooke. Police called it a marijuana grow-op. The matter is slated for trial on July 28 and 29. At the same time, Health Canada announced plans last week to streamline its regulations governing medical marijuana amid complaints from registered users that finding doctors to prescribe pot is extremely difficult. An estimated 864 people are authorized to possess marijuana for medical purposes, while 636 Canadians are allowed to cultivate it for that purpose, and 143 people are receiving medical marijuana from the government's $5.7 million grow operation in an abandoned mine in Flin Flon, Man. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake