NEW RULES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA USE

Ottawa unveiled regulations that will allow Canadians to use marijuana for
medical purposes if they can meet strict conditions. The regulations,
expected to take effect during the next few months, will permit patients
who cannot grow marijuana themselves to designate a care-giver to raise it
for them.

Under the proposed system, terminal patients and those suffering from AIDS,
cancer, multiple sclerosis, severe arthritis and other conditions could win
exemptions for legal marijuana use to relieve pain and other symptoms,
including muscle spasms, nausea and seizures. To qualify, doctors will have
to satisfy Ottawa that other approved treatments are ineffective or cause
problems for their patients. "It's a step in the right direction," said
Hilary Black, co-director of the Vancouver-based British Columbia
Compassion Club Society, which distributes marijuana to medical
users. "But we don't see why bureaucrats have to be involved -- a simple
doctor's prescription for marijuana should be enough."

The new rules were drawn up last July after Ontario's Court of Appeal
struck down the federal criminal law on marijuana because existing
regulations rely too heavily on ministerial discretion. The court said
unless Ottawa changed the law within a year, growing and possessing
marijuana would cease to be a crime in Ontario. Under the current process,
220 Canadians have exemptions for the medical use of marijuana. Federal
officials declined to speculate about how many exemptions might be granted
under the new rules.