MEDICAL POT USERS ON HOOK FOR $500,000

Feds Cut Off Those In Arrears

OTTAWA -- Medical marijuana users are on the hook for more than
$500,000 in unpaid bills for government-certified weed, raising
questions about the effectiveness of Health Canada's troubled dope program.

Newly disclosed statistics show that Health Canada has sent final
notices -- and sometimes dispatched a collection agency as well -- to
462 registered users since government marijuana first became available in 2003.

"Most of the 462 individuals who have received a letter regarding
their accounts in arrears have had their shipment ceased," department
spokesman Paul Duchesne said in an e-mail.

The unpaid bills, totalling $554,255 as of Dec. 31, have tripled in
value in the last two years and have resulted in some seriously ill
citizens returning to the black market for their medication. The
marijuana distribution service was specifically designed to give
patients a legal alternative to street dope.

Officials have handed 29 overdue accounts to collection agencies, who
so far have been able to recoup just $2,000.

The statistics, acquired through the Access to Information Act,
suggest a deeply flawed program as the number of users in arrears has
soared to about two-thirds of all 739 patients licensed to buy government dope.

Health Canada has paid Prairie Plant Systems Inc. more than $10
million to cultivate a strain of pot in a mine shaft in Flin Flon,
Man. Accredited patients can then buy the dope, with a THC content --
the active ingredient -- of 12.5 per cent, for $5 a gram.

The department has said it plans eventually to end its licensing of
home-grown dope, forcing all medical users to buy their supplies
directly from the government, perhaps through pharmacy distribution.
Prairie Plant Systems now couriers the weed in 30-gram packets
directly to users.

Health Canada previously allowed a 90-day grace period for payment
but has since reduced it to 30 days before considering an account in
arrears. Other restrictive changes have been made to the program in
the last two years, including efforts to persuade doctors to keep doses low.

Many seriously ill medical users are impoverished, unable to work,
and survive on disability payments, provincial drug plans and
charity. Medical marijuana has never been assigned official drug
status by Health Canada and is therefore not covered by pharmacare programs.

Mark Schollenberg, 42, of Stoney Creek, Ont., uses marijuana to
control chronic pain from a series of workplace injuries.

With a doctor's approval, Schollenberg got a licence and ordered his
first batch of Health Canada dope last summer, assuming Ottawa would
cover the costs. He was cut off in October, now owes $3,962.34
including interest, and is back on the street to buy. "I can't even
afford the black market," he says.

Jason Wilcox, of Victoria, owes Health Canada $6,770, a number that
will increase with interest charges each month. Wilcox, 37, has been
HIV-positive since 1993, and needs 10 grams of marijuana daily for
nausea, for severe pain in his foot and to help him sleep.

He says he became angry on learning that Health Canada charges users
1,500 per cent more than it pays Prairie Plant Systems for the dope.

"At that point, I refused to pay," he said. "Also, not to mention
that their product is crap."