DOCTORS FUMING ABOUT MEDICAL POT PLAN

Don't hold your breath waiting for Canadian doctors to jump on board
Ottawa's medical-marijuana bandwagon.

The Canadian Medical Association is already balking at a draft federal plan
to expand medical access to smoked marijuana.

In a submission to Health Canada over draft regulations to be in place by
July 15, the CMA says too much about smoked marijuana is still unknown.

Doctors don't want to be forced to prescribe smoked marijuana to patients,
the CMA says, because the draft regulations will hold them legally and
professionally responsible for a virtually untested form of the drug.

"The CMA is unable to support the regulations in their present form," the
submission says.

It's 'Addictive'

The brief, signed by association president Dr. Peter Barrett, a
Saskatchewan surgeon, cites many "fundamental" concerns about widening
legal access to pot.

"Marijuana is an herb, and as such can be considered a natural health
product," it says. "Unlike many natural health products, however, marijuana
is an addictive substance, is known to have psychoactive effects and in its
smoked form, is harmful to health. We are concerned, as well, about the
broader social implications of marijuana as a medicine and its potential
impact on one's ability to function at home or at work."

The federal draft rules describe a "catch-all category" of candidate
illnesses which are not defined, the CMA complains.

"The CMA is concerned that physicians may come under pressure from patients
... who are seeking psychoactive drugs for predominantly recreational
purposes," it says.

Doctors should not have to be involved in the supply chain, the CMA argues.
The draft rules call for doctors to approve pot patients for possession
permits, and even approve patients or their agents to grow pot.