POT ADVOCATES SAVOUR BIG VICTORY

New rules take effect tomorrow allowing terminally ill patients to
grow, possess marijuana

Pot advocates are anticipating a major victory next week when sick
and terminally ill patients can apply for permits to possess and grow
marijuana for pain relief.

But some studying and debating the drug think the government might
not be prepared.

The new regulations, which take effect tomorrow, will let people with
conditions such as AIDS, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and cancer
apply to the federal government for authorization to possess a 30-day
stash of the drug.

The regulations will also allow people to apply for licences to grow
marijuana for medicinal use.

The move by Health Canada is the result of a decision last year by
the Ontario Court of Appeal, which ruled the drug laws regulating
marijuana use by sick people was unconstitutional.

Lynn Harichy, a marijuana crusader who was arrested and charged after
she tried to light a joint on the steps of the London police station,
said she's happy with the decision.

"I think (Health Canada) is doing a good job," she said.

Harichy, who suffers from MS, said she hopes the move will bring
marijuana into the open, making it safer for people who need the drug
to treat their pain.

"Right now, who has control?" she said. "Not us. The drug dealers
have control."

But a University of Western Ontario researcher said the new
regulations may have been implemented with too little study.

"Minister (Allan) Rock did the right thing, but I personally would
have put a bunch of money into studying (marijuana's) uses," said
Michael Rieder, a physician and clinical pharmacologist.

He said the only studies done with marijuana have used extracts of
the drug swallowed orally rather than actual marijuana cigarettes.

Rieder also said many physicians will be reluctant to prescribe the
drug, in part, because of the stigma still attached to cannabis. "We
really think it puts us in a bad position," he said.

Rieder said sick people must remember that marijuana is a drug, just
like any other.

"The first thing to remember is that (it) works for some people but
not for all," he said.

A London merchant and pot activist thinks the government may be in
for a surprise when the applications begin arriving.

Pete Young, owner of Organic Traveller, a pot paraphernalia store on
Richmond Street, said there are more than 5,000 people across Canada
who frequent "compassion clubs" -- illegal marijuana suppliers. Yet
less than 300 people currently have an exemption from the federal
government to use the drug to ease their pain.

Roslyn Tremblay, a spokesperson for Health Canada, admits the
government has no idea how many sick people will apply. "It's
impossible to make projections," Tremblay said.

The new regulations require a doctor to endorse the person's
application and state that no other drug has offered them pain
relief. Tremblay said this should be enough to stop people from
abusing the program.

Health Canada's move is part of a five-year study that's also looking
at how to stop "wasting" or deterioration in AIDS patients. It set up
a marijuana laboratory in Manitoba to cultivate the drug.

Tremblay said the federal crop should be available to those
authorized to have marijuana as early as January.