DRUG STORES NOT LIKELY TO SELL MUCH MARIJUANA

The organization representing Niagara pharmacies isn't opposed to a Health
Canada plan to make government-certified marijuana available through drug
stores.

But it doesn't expect the proposed change to generate many sales
because so few people are approved to use medical marijuana, said
Niagara Falls pharmacist Brian White, interim president of the
Pharmacists' Association of Niagara Peninsula.

Currently, there are only 78 people across the country who have been
certified to buy Health Canada marijuana.

Even if pharmacies were permitted to sell the drug for medicinal
purposes, it wouldn't make sense for them to stock it unless there
were more government-approved users, said White.

"I see it as a very, very, very minor thing and probably nothing for
(the) Niagara peninsula," he said Monday.

Health Canada is organizing a pilot project in British Columbia,
modelled on a year-old program in the Netherlands, that would allow
medical users to buy marijuana at pharmacies.

Under the present program, Health Canada sends marijuana to certified
users by courier or through their doctors. The marijuana, grown for
the government in an abandoned mine in Flin Flon, Man., sells for $150
for a 30-gram bag.

But the department is changing the regulations to allow participating
pharmacies to stock marijuana for sale to approved patients without a
doctor 's prescription, similar to regulations governing so-called
morning-after pills - emergency contraceptives that can be obtained
directly from a pharmacist without the need for a doctor's signature.

A notice of the change is expected to be made public this spring,
allowing for drugstore distribution later in the year.

St. Catharines pharmacist Nello Rescigno said he's in favour of the
proposal. "As long as they have clinical evidence to support it and it
may help an individual, then why not?" said Rescigno, who owns Linwell
Medical Pharmacy in the city's north end.

Stocking marijuana shouldn't raise security problems for pharmacists,
he said.

"All pharmacies are supposed to have proper storage facilities for
narcotics," Rescigno noted.

Medical marijuana activist Matthew Mernagh would welcome the
opportunity to buy pot at a pharmacy rather than through a street dealer.

The St. Catharines resident said he smokes up to four grams of
marijuana daily to control chronic pain from osteo-arthritis.

"I would love to just go down to the pharmacist to pick up my
medicine. It's a lot safer," said Mernagh, who is not certified by
Health Canada to buy marijuana for medicinal purpose.

Mernagh, 30, is executive director of the Niagara Compassion Society,
a non-profit organization which helps people obtain marijuana for
medical purposes.

The fledgling group, which Mernagh founded last September, has 10
members, including one who is certified to buy Health Canada marijuana.

But many people with health problems aren't interested in registering
with the government as medical users because there's too much red
tape, said Mernagh.

"There's a great deal of problems with the Health Canada program," he
said. "Getting a doctor's signature is also difficult because they
fear they could be held liable for a drug that isn't approved."

Mernagh also maintained the marijuana grown for Health Canada is very
poor quality.

"The price is good, but the product is terrible," he said.