PRESCRIBING POT COULD LEAD TO BREAK-INS, DOCTOR SAYS

Medicinal Value Of Marijuana Questioned

EDMONTON - Dr. Steve Chambers has no plans to help patients obtain
medical marijuana, despite the fact that physicians will prescribe and
distribute the drug under new federal rules.

Marijuana's medical benefits have not been scientifically proven, and
the Edmonton family physician said the idea of dispensing it causes him
grave concerns.

"I just would not be comfortable in dispensing at all," Chambers said.
"There would be safety issues in my office. We've had break-ins for
morphine, and armed robberies even, just to steal the prescription
blanks for triplicate prescriptions.

"So if we have a marked, labelled package that is obviously going to
be containing 30 grams of marijuana, I would imagine that would make that
physician's office a likely target for illicit activity."

Health Minister Anne McLellan this week announced an interim policy
for the distribution of marijuana to Canadians who are authorized to
use it to treat multiple sclerosis and other conditions. Dried pot
from a Manitoba lab will be shipped in 30-gram packages to the
patient's physician, who will dispense it.

Chambers, also president of the Alberta Medical Association,
questioned why doctors would be put in charge of distribution when
pharmacists dispense all other prescribed medications.

"And the idea that we should be dispensing something that has the
potential for harm, I don't see that as being something that a
physician would want to do," he said. "As an ethical physician, I
cannot treat this drug differently than other unproven experimental
drugs that I would not prescribe to a patient."

In the two years since Health Canada first approved the use of
medicinal pot, several patients have asked Chambers to help them get
access to it. "In every case, I have declined to fill out application
forms to apply for medicinal marijuana because I have not seen the
evidence that it would help their condition."

Chambers advised AMA members by letter Thursday to consider "ethical
issues, legal liability and office security" when deciding whether or not
to prescribe and distribute marijuana.

The Canadian Medical Association also warns that doctors who dispense pot
"do so at their professional and legal peril."