USE OF MARIJUANA OK'D FOR CANADA'S TERMINALLY ILL

Medical Groups Criticize Regulations As Confusing, Open To Abuse

MONTREAL -- Canada became the first country Monday to allow people
suffering from terminal illness or long-term debilitating disease to grow
and smoke their own marijuana.

Under new regulations issued by the Ministry of Health -- and sharply
criticized by Canadian medical organizations as confusing and open to abuse
- -- patients suffering from diseases ranging from AIDS to crippling forms of
arthritis will be allowed to legally cultivate personal gardens of relief,
if they first obtain a doctor's approval.

Those unable to grow their own supply will be able to obtain marijuana
being grown under the jurisdiction of Health Canada in a "greenhouse"
located in an abandoned mine deep beneath the surface of Manitoba.

The Canadian Medical Association accused the government of moving too
swiftly in response to emotional campaigns by AIDS victims' groups as well
as from activists whose long-term goal is outright legalization of marijuana.

"There is no good, solid research anywhere in the world to show that this
is good treatment" for pain management, said Dr. Peter Barrett of the
medical association, which represents tens of thousands of Canadian
doctors. "Fundamental medical issues of quality, efficacy, and patient
safety have been ignored."

But federal Health Minister Allan Rock said the new rules will dramatically
improve the quality of life for patients close to death or suffering
terrible pain as the result of chronic illness.

"Today's announcement is a landmark in our ongoing efforts to give
Canadians suffering debilitating illness access to marijuana for medical
purposes," Rock said.

The move won praise from cannabis clubs and other groups in the United
States, Canada and Europe that have long argued marijuana should be
regarded as just another medicine for easing pain or relief from the side
effects of chemotherapy.

"This proves that Canada is truly the most progressive, compassionate
society in the world," said Derek Thaczuk of the People With AIDS
Foundation, a Toronto organization. "I am proud to be living in this country."

Under present health rules, only 300 Canadians have won exemptions from
criminal laws banning marijuana possession, allowing them to smoke legally
in order to relieve the pain of cancer, severe arthritis, epilepsy and
other diseases.

Under the new rules, authorities conceded, thousands of ill people may be
eligible for a special federal license to cultivate their own marijuana,
designate someone else to grow it for them, or obtain "medical marijuana"
grown under artificial lights in a government- authorized hydroponic
laboratory in a former copper mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba.

There, a private company, Prairie Plant Systems, has won a $3.5 million
contract to become Canada's official marijuana supplier.

The first government-sanctioned harvest of marijuana for general medical
use should be underway in the underground site this fall, and eventually
about 1,000 pounds of legal marijuana will be produced annually and rolled
into cigarettes for distribution to eligible ill people.

"A Canadian source of research-grade marijuana is essential to move forward
on our plan," said Rock, the health minister.

Any Canadian diagnosed with a terminal illness will be more or less
automatically granted a federal license to procure marijuana upon receiving
certification from a physician that death is likely within 12 months.

People in no immediate danger of death but suffering from incapacitating
pain or disease with debilitating symptoms that have not responded to
conventional therapy -- severe forms of arthritis and epilepsy, for example
- -- will have to obtain certification from two physicians before they can
partake in the world's first government system for providing free marijuana
to the ill.

Only citizens or legal residents of the country can participate in Canada's
socialized health systems, so Americans seeking medical marijuana will not
be eligible.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in May that cannabis clubs cannot distribute
marijuana to seriously ill patients. The judges supported the U.S. Justice
Department's argument that, since there is no proof that marijuana is
medically useful, the substance should continue to be outlawed.