MEDICAL POT OFFER HORRIFIES MD

BCMA Head Decries Federal Marijuana Shipments To Doctors

The federal government will immediately begin to ship medical
marijuana to physicians who prescribe pot to their patients -- a move
the head of the B.C. Medical Association calls "horrifying and
mind-boggling."

"It boggles the mind. It sounds like a scheme thought up by a
bureaucrat trying to make doctors' lives more difficult," BCMA
president Dr. John Turner said Wednesday.

"I mean what would a doctor do with 10 totes of marijuana in the
office cupboard? You would have to hope nobody breaks into your
office. I think most doctors would be absolutely horrified by this."

Not only is the federal government willing to ship directly to doctors
but it will do so at bargain-basement prices. Hundreds of chronically
ill patients who currently qualify for "medical marijuana" under
Health Canada's program had better rush their order though, because
within weeks, the government may revoke its official drug supplier
status and resume its policy of keeping its stash -- grown at an old mine
site in Flin Flon, Man. -- under lock and key.

The marijuana is being offered to Canadians at $5 a gram, enough for
about one or two joints, compared to the black market street value
prices of $10 to $25 a gram. It will be regularly distributed by
courier to a patient's doctor in 30-gram bags and be limited to the
amount that the physician says is required to treat the condition. As
well, the government will sell marijuana seeds -- $20 for a packet of 30
- -- to sick Canadians to grow their own.

Federal Health Minister Anne McLellan, who announced the plan
Wednesday, made it clear she is lukewarm about the new system. "Keep in
mind that it was never the intention for us to supply the product," she
told reporters.

She said the government wants to be convinced first of the medical
benefits of marijuana, but its hand was forced by a court ruling
earlier this year that essentially required it to meet a deadline to
become a drug supplier -- at least for now.

Turner said he has no idea how many doctors in B.C. prescribe
marijuana for pain relief.

Canadian Medical Association president Dr. Dana Hanson said the
medical profession believes there should be more scientific proof
before medical marijuana is used as a treatment.

Hilary Black, founder of the B.C. Compassion Club, which has been
supplying pot to the needy for several years, believes the federal
decision is "really just a smokescreen" that Ottawa set up to "look
like" it was complying with court decisions, but knowing full well that
few doctors across the country would get involved in such a plan.

"Doctors are being told by the CMA (and regulatory bodies) not to put
themselves in these positions and I understand why, because they
really don't have training in herbal medicine," she said.

Black said of the 8,000 doctors in the province, about 200 have signed the
forms the club requires to distribute pot to users who buy it from
the non-profit club for $8 to $14 a gram. Poor customers can get one
or two grams free each week. There are currently nearly 2,500
compassion club members. Black said she doesn't anticipate the number will
go down just because of the Ottawa decision.

She said she understands why doctors would have concerns about
security. "We've had break-ins in the past, although not for a few
years because we have a great alarm system and this place is built up like
a fortress now."

The long-awaited measure was unveiled after years of promises by the
government to amend its policies on medical marijuana. But the details of
the plan, and the fact that McLellan proceeded with it reluctantly, left
critics fuming.

Advocates of more liberalized marijuana policies complained it will do
little to ease the suffering of patients and may even make it more
difficult for them to obtain pot. NDP MP Libby Davies called
McLellan's plan a "shabby" response to the judicial ruling. And
Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, who also supports freer access to the
drug, said of the plan: "It's bad news. It's temporary. What's the next
step? We don't know."

Canadian Alliance MP Rob Merrifield, whose party opposes medical
marijuana until validated by studies that say it is an effective
treatment, said instead of following the court's dictum, he said, the
government should be tabling legislation for parliamentarians to
decide the appropriate policy.

The government stressed Wednesday that its new plan is only an
"interim policy."

Indeed, Ottawa would not have become a drug supplier for the sick if
its hand were not forced by a court decision in January in which
Ontario Superior Court Justice Sidney Lederman blasted the government
for inadequate regulations on how to distribute medical marijuana. He
ruled it was unconstitutional that sick people who qualify for the
medical marijuana exemption must turn to illegal means to buy it off the
street because Health Canada won't supply it to them.

The regulations allow certain patients with chronic or terminal
illnesses to apply to Health Canada for permission to use marijuana.
Their applications must be signed by a doctor. So far, 1,145 people
have applied and 582 have qualified. They are allowed to grow
marijuana on their own or have another approved grower do it for them.

When then-health minister Allan Rock launched the program two years
ago, he made it clear that sick people could also buy it from the
government.

But when McLellan replaced him in January 2002, she said the Flin Flon
crop would only be supplied to people in clinical research trials to
determine if it was true that pot helps sick people. Those trials will
proceed in Canada this fall.

Lederman gave the government six months -- which ended Wednesday -- to come
up with new regulations. The government appealed that ruling, but
the hearing isn't until July 29 and 30. Federal officials repeatedly
refused to say if they will stop supplying medical marijuana if the
government wins its appeal.