POT RULES TO EXEMPT ILL, THEIR CAREGIVERS FROM LAW

OTTAWA - New federal marijuana regulations will offer seriously ill people
and their caregivers exemptions from criminal possession laws, sources say.

The regulations expected to be announced later this week by Health Minister
Allan Rock will outline the criteria that determine who qualifies to use
marijuana legally for medicinal reasons.

They will also provide for licensing caregivers to grow marijuana,
something medicinal pot users have been demanding, said a government
official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"That means someone could, on their application, indicate that person X, Y,
or Z is their producer and so they want them covered by the exemption so
that person would not be breaking the law by producing the supply they
need,'' the official said.

The regulations are the government response to a court ruling last year
declaring Canada's marijuana laws unconstitutional because they fail to
recognize the drug has medicinal uses.

Currently, Canadians can apply for an exemption from the criminal laws
governing pot. Some 200 people suffering from AIDS and other ailments have
been granted exemptions.

It remains illegal, however, for others to supply marijuana to the sick who
need it, something medicinal marijuana advocates say is particularly hard
on very ill people who lack the strength to grow plants themselves.

Last month, police raided the home of Toronto AIDS patient Jim Wakeford,
who has the legal right to use marijuana. They seized about 200 cannabis
plants he was growing for himself and chronically ill friends.

His exemption entitled him to grow only seven plants.

Wakeford is fighting in court to force the government to ensure caregivers
who help cultivate plants or buy pot are exempt from prosecution and to
force Ottawa to provide for an official pot supply.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has reserved its decision in the Wakeford case.

The new rules follow an earlier decision by the same court last summer,
striking down marijuana laws as unconstitutional.

The appeal court said the law forces people who use pot to help control
conditions such as epilepsy and multiple sclerosis to choose between
treatment and possible arrest.

The court gave the government a year to change the law, or it would no
longer be in force in Ontario. Ottawa hopes to have its regulations in
place by the July 31 deadline.

A source said the new rules describing who is eligible to use marijuana
will be similar to "ad hoc'' guidelines already in use.

They allow people to apply to the health minister for exemptions from the law.