MDS REFUSE TO PRESCRIBE MEDICINAL POT

Medical marijuana is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain in Canada
because many doctors are refusing to sign the prescriptions, say frustrated
patients.

David, a Lakeshore resident, said the drug he credits with relieving
chronic leg pain from multiple sclerosis is being denied to him because
doctors are afraid of lawsuits.

Without prescriptions, he and other patients may have to turn to illegal
marijuana sources for relief, David said.

He said Health Canada granted him an exemption last year to obtain
marijuana because it agreed it would help his medical condition.

"Then they turn around, knowing full well that I'm not going to get better
- -- and make it impossible for me to keep the exemption."

David said he and his wife Sandra (not their real names) have made it a
part-time job to find a specialist who will sign his 25-page medical
marijuana renewal form. The doctor who suggested marijuana in the first
place, a neurologist at an MS clinic in London, will not re-sign, citing
potential lawsuits.

Health Canada began giving exemptions on compassionate grounds in 1999 to
seriously ill patients -- suffering severe pain with MS, spinal cord
injuries, HIV/AIDS, cancer, arthritis and epilepsy -- who were not getting
results with traditional medication.

New regulations

A new set of rules aimed at easing access to medicinal pot -- the Marijuana
Medical Access Regulations -- were introduced July 30, 2001. Exemptions
under the regulations require a doctor's signature or, depending on the
condition, two specialists' signatures.

But two months after the rules came into effect, the Canadian Medical
Association and the Canadian Medical Protective Association advised their
members not to sign medical marijuana applications unless they felt
particularly knowledgeable about cannabis.

"Our focus is on the patient," said Dr. Dana Hanson, president of the
Canadian Medical Association. "We're here for a healthy Canadian
population. We're not here to experiment on them. The Canadian Medical
Association did not feel that there was compelling, reasoned, sound,
scientific evidence to support medical marijuana. But the CMA strongly
supports looking into research into this area."

Licences to possess and cultivate marijuana must be renewed every year and
many of the first licences are expiring. But without language absolving
doctors of liability -- as is the case in the eight U.S. states allowing
medical marijuana -- doctors fear they could be sued for malpractice if a
patient were to have an adverse reaction.

"Basically, Health Canada is putting the onus on physicians to be the
judges of whether or not to prescribe something that has not been tested,
so that does put a physician at risk and it certainly puts a patient at
risk," said Barbara Wilson, spokeswoman for the Canadian Medical Protective
Association. "We don't know exact dosages, we don't know how it interacts
with other drugs. There's lots of clinical information we don't know
because these studies don't exist."

Health Canada launched clinical studies into medical marijuana Oct. 9,
through the Community Research Initiative of Toronto, which focuses on
people with HIV/AIDS.

Why do patients seek marijuana as therapy?

"I'm in pain 24/7," said David, who has tried many pain relievers without
success. "It's just a little bit of relief when I come home.

"It's the difference between having a life and not having a life."

MARIJUANA STATS

Marijuana Medical Access Regulations started: July 30, 2001

Number of "authorizations to possess" granted: 405

Number still active: 403

Number of exemptions given since 1999 under old system: 666

Number still active: 376

Total number of Canadians currently allowed medical marijuana: 779

- -- Health Canada