MED POT USERS OWE $500K

OTTAWA (CP) -- 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.

The statistics, acquired through the Access to Information Act and
questions to Health Canada, 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%, for $5 a gram.