BAD SEEDS SPOIL OTTAWA'S MEDICINAL MARIJUANA CROP

Ooops! The official supply of federal pot is bad weed.

So impure, in fact, that the first crop contains 185 different varieties of
pot. Hardly the stuff a health minister would want to provide to a
seriously ill patient to relieve their symptoms.

Health Minister Anne McLellan revealed the "problem" Tuesday, saying it's
responsible for the delay -- which could last at least several more months
- -- for getting the department's much-heralded plan off the ground to
provide marijuana to Canadians who need it for medicinal purposes.

She said the unreliable pot stems from seeds that were used. Initially,
Ottawa hoped to obtain a standardized seed from the U.S. government, but
officials in the Drug Enforcement Agency refused to share.

That meant Canada's officially sanctioned grower, which harvested the pot
at an underground mine in Flin Flon, Man., was left using confiscated seed
from police agencies.

Not surprisingly, the first crop of nearly 2,000 plants -- which was
completed in the fall and was supposed to be distributed early this year --
contained a rainbow of varying potencies and purities.

The government is now having its pot tested to find the best strain so a
"quality, standardized" seed can be used for the second crop of plants,
said McLellan. Until then, sick Canadians who were approved to smoke the
stuff and were counting on the official federal pot as their supply will
have to wait.

"It is a problem," McLellan told reporters about the delay. "I'm not here
to pretend."

But she said Ottawa has an obligation to ensure the marijuana it provides
is of a consistent quality -- in part because the pot would be given out
for clinical trials to determine whether the claims are true about the
medicinal benefits.

Without a standardized crop, McLellan said, researchers monitoring the sick
patients would have no way of knowing whether the marijuana is having the
desired effects.

She urged people to remember Canada is the first country to launch a
program, based on compassionate grounds, to test the merits of medicinal
marijuana.

"So, in fact, trial and error is going to be a part of this. I think people
have to be patient."

Nonetheless, the delay is an embarrassment for Health Canada. Its former
minister, Allan Rock, pushed the department to adopt a more compassionate
approach to medical marijuana.

New regulations came into effect last summer that allow certain patients
with chronic or terminal illnesses to apply to Health Canada for permission
to use marijuana.

The regulations apply to patients who have less than a year to live; those
suffering from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries,
severe arthritis or epi-lepsy; and to patients suffering from other
conditions if marijuana is recommended by two specialists.

In each case, the application must be signed by a doctor, who must, among
other things, agree the "benefits from the applicant's recommended use of
marijuana outweigh any risks associated with that use."

Those who qualify can grow marijuana on their own, have another approved
grower do it for them, or get the weed from the government.

As of April 5, the government had given permission to 205 Canadians to
smoke marijuana. Of those, 137 have permission to grow their own pot. As
well, 10 permits have been granted to people to grow the marijuana on
behalf of sick people who can't do it themselves.

Canadian Alliance MP Rob Merrifield questioned McLellan about the apparent
inconsistency in her approach.

He noted the government is letting 137 people grow their own marijuana,
with no indication of the quality of their "backyard" crops. And yet it is
demanding a higher standard for those who will rely on the government crop.

The government gave a $5.7-million contract to Prairie Plant Systems to
grow the marijuana in Flin Flon.

Last August, Rock appeared at a photo-op at the mine to announce the first
crop was being grown.