NOW THAT MARIJUANA IS LEGAL FOR PAIN RELIEF

Not everyone was cheering yesterday, as Canada became the first country in
the world to legalize doctor-prescribed marijuana for people suffering from
terminal illnesses and chronic conditions that produce severe pain.

Among those voicing worry was the Canadian Medical Association. Police,
too, must be wondering about enforcing laws that apply to most citizens,
but not all. Still others perceive a slippery legal slope that will lead to
wider drug use.

All that said, the newest amendment to the Controlled Drugs and Substances
Act should be hailed as a useful step forward.

It was a step taken under pressure. An Ontario Court of Appeal ruling last
year, one in a string of judgments sanctioning marijuana use for patients
with such grave ailments as HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cancer and severe
arthritis, gave Ottawa until July 31 to create a legal avenue for those
patients to obtain their dope. Under the new regulations, those patients
may grow marijuana for their own needs or have someone else do it for them
- -- including the government. Hence the federally funded underground
marijuana-growing operation in Flin Flon, in northern Manitoba, which over
the next five years expects to harvest a tonne of medium-grade pot.

None of that crop will be available until fall at the earliest. Until then,
many of the roughly 300 individuals currently exempt from Canada's
cannabis-possession laws (500 more applications are pending) will have to
continue paying visits to their friendly neighbourhood dealer.

Therein lies the first, immediate problem identified by the CMA and other
medical groups. The Flin Flon product, when it comes onstream, will have an
expected THC content (the ingredient that gets a person high) of 5 to 7 per
cent. On the street, however, THC levels are often a guessing game. Thus,
for now, the physicians who authorize a sick patient's marijuana use will
effectively be approving a drug of unknown strength.

Even when the state-sanctioned supply materializes, the CMA notes, there
will still be a dearth of reliable data on marijuana's long-term effects on
the seriously ill, particularly if those people are also ingesting other
drugs. Results from the first clinical tests, in Toronto and Montreal, will
not be assessed until next year.

The new regulations, in sum, are the result of court rulings rather than
medical evidence. But that doesn't mean those regulations are wrong. They
came about because judge after judge, in court after court, was hearing the
same consistent message. Men and women with agonizing illnesses stated
that, yes, marijuana really does ease the pain.

Agreed, there are plenty of unknowns in this experiment, which is being
watched closely from around the world. At the same time, severe pain is
knowable. Ask anyone who has to live with it.

As for law enforcement, there is no disputing that the new landscape
creates difficulties and may become more complicated still. Sooner or later
- -- probably sooner -- a recreational pot-smoker will be found to have lied
to his or her doctor, or in some other dishonest way tried to secure
exemption from the criminal law. And when hundreds of kilos of state-grown
pot start appearing, it will be remarkable if a portion of that is not
diverted.

That's another good reason, we would argue, to take the next logical step
in this decades-old debate. Decriminalize small-scale marijuana use
entirely, and stop saddling pot-smokers with criminal records that last a
lifetime. As with this current, limited level of toleration, opening such a
door would create much uncertainty. But as with these new regulations,
uncertainty is not necessarily the worst choice.