HEALERS, NOT DEALERS

The Canadian Medical Association is correct to balk at Ottawa's plan to
have doctors distribute medicinal marijuana. In response to a January court
ruling, Ottawa has decided to supply the 582 patients who are permitted to
use marijuana for medicinal purposes with government-approved weed. Doctors
will be given the drugs to dispense, at a cost of $5 per gram of grown
marijuana or $20 for a bag of 30 seeds.

CMA president Dana Larson says doctors will be placed at undue risk for
liability in the event of side effects and could be the targets of robbery.
That's not all they have to worry about. If the government drops this
program, which it will if it wins on appeal, it would leave doctors in
possession of contraband. The risk of being targets of police harassment or
border security scrutiny is too much to expect doctors to bear.

Health Minister Anne McLellan has stated her reluctance to have doctors
distribute pot because its therapeutic value is anecdotal and unproven.
Yet, because the buck stops with her department, it is presumptuous of her
to make drug dealers out of doctors. Canada's protocol for approving
pharmaceutical drugs is clear and marijuana should not be an exception to
the rules. Before doctors or pharmacists are sanctioned to administer it,
the medicinal benefits must be validated through clinical trials. Until
then, Ottawa should find another way to traffic its pot, instead of making
the medical profession do it for them.