Pubdate: Tue, 20 Dec 2011 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2011 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 GROW YOUR OWN There might be Canadians who, because of chronic pain or some other reason, find that a glass of wine or a shot of whiskey before bed helps them sleep, with less extreme side effects than other drugs. Those Canadians can have that glass before bed, and nobody asks them to fill out any paperwork or ask permission. Because that would be ridiculous. As ridiculous as Canada's medical marijuana system, which attempts to formalize and regulate an illegal substance. As data obtained by the Citizen show, there's been a spike in the number of people applying to use the drug because of arthritis. Many of those people might have other conditions, but the application process for arthritis is relatively streamlined. The data also appear to confirm what patients have been saying for years: that many doctors simply refuse to take part in the program. In the absence of research-based guidelines and training about dosage, potency, sourcing and efficacy, some doctors just don't feel comfortable. The government wants to make changes to this system, changes that would probably make the existing problems worse. Removing patients' right to grow their own plants would force them to either use the government-supplied drug, which many patients say is of poor quality, or seek the drug on the streets. And giving doctors - who are already nervous - even more say over who gets to smoke is unfair to doctors and patients. The simplest way out of this mess is simply to legalize or, at least, decriminalize marijuana. Of course it isn't perfectly safe. But it compares well to many drugs available by prescription or - as with cigarettes and alcohol - over the counter. Legalizing and regulating marijuana might also cut down on the safety problems associated with clandestine grow ops, the problem the government is hoping to solve by telling sick people they can't grow their own plants. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt