POT THREATENS PHARMACEUTICAL FIRMS

Letter to the Editor

Health Minister Allan Rock announces clinical trials of medicinal marijuana
in March 1999.

Eugene Oscapella points out that medical practitioners have long had
access, through the Special Access Program, to non-marketed drugs prior to
the completion of clinical trials and questions the Canadian Medical
Association's recent protests that medicinal-marijuana legislation is
premature (Letters, Aug. 4). However, Mr. Oscapella misses a significant
difference between marijuana and drugs available through the SAP.

The latter are generally produced by multinational pharmaceutical companies
at great expense while marijuana is easily grown, with no complex
manufacturing process. This not only makes it difficult for the
pharmaceutical industry to control its production and distribution but may
also present a competitive threat to the industry's existing and future
chemical products.

Eventually, the industry will figure out how to put the active properties
of marijuana into a pill, at which time the CMA's members will prescribe it
under the Special Access Program until clinical trials are quickly
completed and the product is brought to market.

Of course, this requires that the plant remain illegal. In Canada, this is
called serving the public interest.

Al Rhino Feldman

Montreal