MARIJUANA RULES NEED A FIX

BRANTFORD - The Canadian government is developing a program for the
medicinal use of marijuana, making Canada a world leader in the field.
However, good intentions don't mean much unless they are backed up by
sensible rules. The problem is that Ottawa, in developing regulations
for marijuana use, has left a gaping loophole that has users, doctors
and others scratching their heads.

The federal Ministry of Health announced rules for marijuana use this
week, which allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for their patients,
and the patients to grow and possess the substance.

However, the feds failed to deal with one fairly important matter:
obtaining seeds.

It remains illegal for licenced pot smokers to buy seeds or cuttings
for their plants. So the possibility exists that a registered user
could still find himself in trouble with the law if he went through
the usual, underground channels to obtain seeds.

While it is likely that a criminal prosecution wouldn't go very far,
the fact remains that this bureaucratic oversight has put the
registered users in an unnecessarily tenuous position.

And it's not as if the system is so loose that an explosion of
marijuana growing will take place. There are fewer than 300 registered
users in Canada. One of them, Ron Johnson of Paris, whose story was
told in The Expositor last month, noted that the rules are so tight
they could allow police virtually unlimited access to his home and
personal records to ensure that nothing untoward is going on.

Johnson, like many others on the medicinal marijuana program, says the
use of the drug has allowed him to cut down on the use of prescription
drugs for his multiple ailments _ he was taking more than 500 pills a
day for his multiple maladies _ and allowed him to lead a more normal
life. He says the threat of losing legal access to marijuana is enough
to deter him from doing anything illegal.

Federal officials say the absence of a regulation regarding seeds was
a bureaucratic oversight, something that is understandable in a
complex, experimental program.

And, in any event, a federal program to grow medical marijuana plants
under tightly controlled conditions at an underground farm in
Saskatchewan is just about to begin. The first crop is expected to be
available next year, thus making it possible for registered marijuana
users to get the drug in a proper, controlled way.

But in the meantime, it would be wise if the federal government
patched over the loophole or, at the very least, let it be known that
there will be no prosecutions for registered users who are following
the other rules of the program.

While the benefits of medical marijuana use are still being debated in
the medical community, the anecdotal evidence from users such as
Johnson provides a pretty compelling case that the drug provides some
benefit.

So it's important the the users shouldn't have to worry about the long
arm of the law while they try to mend their ailing bodies.