MARIJUANA RULES TOO STRICT, SAYS PATIENT

New regulations to allow medicinal use of drug.

New regulations governing the legal use of marijuana for medicinal
purposes are just more bureaucracy, says Mark Crossley of Noel, Hants
County. "It's too restrictive," said the 40-year-old father of three
in an interview on Saturday.

"They want to know when I plant, when I harvest, when I smoke it,"
said Mr. Crossley, who has an inoperable brain tumour. "They want a
journal on my life. I do well to remember to take all my other
medications." Under the federal regulations effective Monday,
severely ill patients can, with a doctor's approval, apply to Health
Canada to grow and use the drug.

The government will license third parties to grow the drug for
individuals who can't grow it for themselves.

The regulations also allow terminally ill people, as well as those
with AIDS, multiple sclerosis, spinal-cord injuries, epilepsy and
other serious conditions, to use marijuana if it eases their symptoms.

The regulations follow the federal government's announcement in April
that individuals suffering from serious forms of arthritis would be
given the right to possess and smoke marijuana if they can prove that
other drug treatments don't alleviate their pain.

Mr. Crossley has been convicted of growing marijuana for his own use,
but continued to use it to ease headaches and anxiety associated with
his medical condition.

Last year, he became one of 292 people granted exemptions on the
basis of medical need from laws that make it a criminal offence to
grow and use marijuana.

"My one-year exemption was renewed in May," he said, adding that he
hasn't decide whether to apply under the new regulations.

Mr. Crossley said the government's moves to recognize that marijuana
has positive medicinal effects are generally a good thing, but he
said they come with too many strings attached, including restrictions
on how much marijuana individuals can grow and possess.

"It doesn't make it easier," he said, noting that he requires far
more of the drug than government regulations allow.

"I grow enough to last me a year," he said, adding that since he
began using marijuana, he's gained weight, doesn't stutter and hasn't
experienced night sweats.

"I'm a lot better," he said. "I'll continue to do it the way I do it."

The new regulations have been criticized by the Canadian Medical
Association, which argues they ignore normal pre-market testing
protocols. Doctors are also concerned that they will be flooded with
bogus marijuana use applications.

Mr. Crossley, who expressed a clear skepticism about the medical
establishment, says the medicinal properties of marijuana are well
documented.

"They know more than they're letting on," he said, suggesting that
the medical profession has a vested interest - "it's more about
money" - in pushing pharmaceutical treatments over alternative
therapies.

"I'm dropping the amount of pharmaceutical medication I take," he
said, adding that marijuana is far less a health risk than tobacco,
which is legal.

"Tobacco is more lethal than heroin or cocaine combined, yet they
sell it to you," he said. "Marijuana doesn't kill."

Mr. Crossley said too many people in his position fear the wrath of the law.

"I just disregard everything they say, in one sense," he said.

"Their rules and regulations don't really turn me on. It's my brain,
my head, and I do what I do to stay alive."

He said there have been many times in the past few years when he
thought he'd never see his 40th birthday, but he celebrated it in May.

"I'm feeling better and I haven't seen a neurologist since 1997," he
said. "If I need someone to tickle my toes (for diagnostic purposes),
I'll do it myself."