DOCTORS WORRY ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Doctors "don't want to be gatekeepers" for the medical use of
marijuana, the head of the Canadian Medical Association says. Dr.
Peter Barrett said doctors will find it extremely difficult to
prescribe marijuana.

Interested parties have until today to make submissions on Health
Canada's draft regulations on medical access to marijuana.

The draft calls for doctors to decide who gets marijuana.

"That puts us in the arena of being the gatekeeper ... when there are
no guidelines, there's no solid evidence of research, there's no
solid evidence even of its effectiveness," Barrett said.

Ottawa will make its official brand of marijuana available to
approved patients, who can be granted licences to grow their own. On
Saturday, several hundred Montrealers marched calling for
legalization of marijuana.

"When the law is broken so often and it's not preventing the
behaviour ..., the law should be changed," said Marc-Boris St-Maurice
, the leader of the federal Marijuana Party.