Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jun 2005
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2005 The Register-Guard
Contact:  http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author: Arthur Max, The Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

SLUGGISH SALES MAY STOP LEGAL DUTCH POT

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The Dutch Health Ministry, unhappy with legal 
sales of medical marijuana through pharmacies, will re-evaluate its program 
later this year and may close it, a spokesman said Monday.

In a country where unauthorized marijuana has been available easily for 
decades, the government was surprised to find that prescription marijuana 
produced under stringent quality controls has been far less successful than 
predicted, Health Ministry spokesman Bas Kuik said.

The Dutch were considering their reassessment as the U.S. Supreme Court 
ruled Monday that users of medical marijuana could be prosecuted under 
federal law even if their doctors had prescribed it legally according to 
state law.

Official intolerance in the United States for marijuana still raises 
eyebrows in the Netherlands, where marijuana is accessible to any adult in 
"coffee shops" - so called to maintain the fiction of legality. In the 
shops, the sale of small quantities of marijuana remains technically 
illegal, but it is tolerated by the authorities.

"It's a witch hunt; that's what they do in the United States," said Marcel 
de Wit, who until two years ago grew marijuana under license from the Dutch 
government for medicinal purposes.

The government is selling less than a third of the marijuana it thought it 
would and is losing money, prompting the health minister to call for new 
studies on whether the program should be discontinued or modified, Kuik said.

After an exhaustive study, the government set up the Bureau of Medicinal 
Cannabis to supply standardized and regulated marijuana that underwent 
quality control, especially for patients suffering chronic pain from 
multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, neuralgia and cancer.

Sales began in September 2003 and soon fell flat.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager