Pubdate: Thu, 10 June 1999 Source: Ottawa Sun (Canada) Copyright: 1999, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.ca/OttawaSun/ Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html Author: Anne Dawson GRITS SPARK POT LUCK PLANS Feds To Test Weed Effects OTTAWA -- Health Minister Allan Rock issued a call yesterday to all pot growers to send him their resumes. Rock officially launched a program to begin clinical trials to test the effect of smoking marijuana and called for pot entrepreneurs to put together a business plan spelling out how they would grow the weed for government use. "We're going to be putting the job out to tender to find somebody who can grow us a reliable, consistent quality (marijuana product) for research purposes," Rock announced yesterday. "Once we do that, we'll go out to tender and we'll receive bids. I hope that by the fall we'll have somebody that we can identify as a source." Rock announced several months ago his department was developing guidelines for trials that could lead to the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. He insisted this move in no way signals the legalization of pot for general use. Rock also gave the OK for two Canadians to grow and smoke dope for their own medicinal purposes and said his department will deal with some 30 other applicants as quickly as possible. Toronto AIDS sufferer Jim Wakeford and Ottawa epilepsy victim Jean Charles Pariseau are both exempted under the Controlled Substance Act, allowing them to cultivate and smoke their own pot. Pariseau, 31, was elated with the news, saying his debilitating disease leaves him with little appetite or energy. Marijuana increases his appetite and keeps up his strength, he said. "I'm going to be able to eat with my family all the time ... get munchies and smoke my dope and take my pills," Pariseau said. "I don't think anybody can take 51 pills a day and not smoke dope." Rock also intends to seek help from the University of Mississippi, where marijuana is grown for U.S. government research, to help with Canadian research. As well, the government is negotiating with a British firm to conduct research on its liquid marijuana which is breathed in through an inhaler. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D