'Too Little Too Late' The message was "too little too late" yesterday as politicians, activists, and the ill converged on Parliament Hill just moments after Health Canada announced it would provide medical marijuana to eligible Canadians. Health Canada made the announcement at the eleventh hour, six months to the day after Ontario Superior Court Justice Sidney Lederman declared that the Health Canada Medical Marijuana Access Regulations (MMAR) was "unconstitutional" and therefore invalid for only providing the "illusion of supply". Judge Lederman gave Health Canada six months to rectify the situation that "forces medically needy individuals to rely on black market marijuana." [continues 649 words]
MONTREAL -- Canada yesterday announced that it will start selling cheap pot to ill people seeking surcease from pain, becoming the first country in the world to supply so-called ''medical marijuana'' directly to patients. Acting under court pressure, Health Canada -- the federal ministry of health -- said 1,650 baggies of marijuana are already packed and ready for sale to patients suffering from pain or nausea as the result of disease, chemotherapy used to treat cancer, AIDS, and other serious sicknesses. Marijuana also will be sold to people not expected to live more than a year. [continues 693 words]
MONTREAL -- Canada Wednesday announced that it will start selling cheap pot to ill people seeking surcease from pain, becoming the first country in the world to supply so-called "medical marijuana" directly to patients. Acting under court pressure, Health Canada -- the federal ministry of health - -- said 1,650 baggies of marijuana are already packed and ready for sale to patients suffering from pain or nausea as the result of disease, chemotherapy used to treat cancer, AIDS, and other serious sicknesses. Pot also will be sold to people not expected to live more than a year. [continues 725 words]
Federal Plan Will See Doctors Distributing Discount Cannabis From Their Offices OTTAWA -- Doctors will be allowed to dispense medicinal marijuana from their offices under a federal plan that drew criticism yesterday from medical officials and patients. As early as a week from now, the government will start delivering the drug to doctors treating up to 582 Canadians who have the right to use it. The drug will be in the form of seeds -- so patients can grow it themselves -- or mature cannabis cultivated at an abandoned mine in Flin Flon, Man. [continues 797 words]
$10-Million Later, No Studies Have Been Done OTTAWA -- Four years after former health minister Allan Rock announced a major effort to assess the medical benefits of marijuana, not a single study has been completed and the whole research program is clouded with uncertainty. Advocates of medical marijuana say the government has wasted millions of dollars growing marijuana in a Flin Flon, Man., mine without making any of it available to patients who need it, or to scientists for research purposes. [continues 248 words]
OTTAWA - Four years after former health minister Allan Rock announced a major effort to assess the medical benefits of marijuana, not a single study has been completed and the whole research program is clouded with uncertainty. Advocates of medical marijuana say the government has wasted millions of dollars growing marijuana in a Flin Flon, Man., mine without making any of it available to patients who need it, or to scientists for research purposes. "Health Canada over four years has spent almost $10 million on its medical marijuana program and has yet to supply a single gram or seed to a single sick Canadian," Philippe Lucas of Canadians for Safe Access, said in an interview Tuesday. [continues 348 words]
OTTAWA (CP) - Four years after former health minister Allan Rock announced a major effort to assess the medical benefits of marijuana, not a single study has been completed and the whole research program is clouded with uncertainty. Advocates of medical marijuana say the government has wasted millions of dollars growing marijuana in a Flin Flon, Man., mine without making any of it available to patients who need it, or to scientists for research purposes. "Health Canada over four years has spent almost $10 million on its medical marijuana program and has yet to supply a single gram or seed to a single sick Canadian," Philippe Lucas of Canadians for Safe Access, said in an interview Tuesday. [continues 349 words]
Who: Rielle Capler What: Community and public health activist who works with The Compassion Club, which supplies medicinal marijuana to about 2,500 people with severe illness and chronic pain and offers homeopathic services. She is also on the board of the newly-created Canadians for Safe Access, a group lobbying for fair marijuana laws. Roots: Grew up in Toronto, one of two daughters in a politicized family. Earned her Masters degree in Health Administration at UBC, interning at a women's health clinic in Bolivia. She was an organizer in the anti-globalization and APEC protests at UBC, and works with the Pivot Legal Society, advocates for low-income people in the Downtown Eastside. [continues 566 words]
