CANADA UNVEILS NEW REGULATIONS FOR EXPANDING THE LEGAL USE OF MEDICAL
MARIJUANA

New regulations expanding the legal use of medical marijuana will allow
people with terminal or debilitating illnesses to possess and cultivate
pot, or designate someone to do it for them.

But the Canadian Medical Association opposed the rules announced Wednesday,
saying that too little is known about the possible harm from the drug.

The guidelines take effect July 30, meeting a court-ordered deadline for
the government to create the regulatory system.

"Today's announcement is a landmark in our ongoing effort to give Canadians
suffering from grave and debilitating illnesses access to marijuana for
medical purposes," Health Minister Allan Rock said. "This compassionate
measure will improve the quality of life of sick Canadians, particularly
those who are terminally ill."

The regulations create categories of people who could possess marijuana,
including those with specified terminal illnesses with a prognosis of death
within one year and others with symptoms associated with serious medical
conditions. The second category would include patients with severe
arthritis, cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

"These regulations are placing Canadian physicians and their patients in
the precarious position of attempting to access a product that has not gone
through the normal protocols of rigorous pre-market testing," said Dr. Hugh
Scully, past president of the Canadian Medical Association, which
represents 50,000 physicians.

The regulations were drawn up after a court ruling last year that gave the
government until July 31 to change criminal laws so that people requiring
marijuana for medicinal purposes could legally obtain and possess it.

Canada already has a legal industry for hemp -- cannabis cultivated with
very low amounts of the chemical that produces the high sought by marijuana
smokers -- while the U.S. federal government prohibits hemp production.

The Canadian Supreme Court also has agreed to consider a case that argues
criminalizing marijuana is unconstitutional because the drug poses no
significant health threat.