A MATCH MADE OF SMOKE

Call it an unusual online matchmaking service.

A new Regina Web site wants to match people qualified to smoke marijuana
for medical reasons with people that can legally grow it for them.

Launched by the Saskatchewan chapter of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws, the Grower-Patient Connection site wants to guide
people through the process of applying to have marijuana legally, said
24-year-old Regina resident Daniel Johnson.

"We're seeing if there's other people who can do this better than we can,
but since nobody else is doing it yet we might as well jump in with both
feet and at least start something," Johnson said.

Under government regulations, the terminally ill or those with chronic
diseases such as MS or AIDS are among those who could qualify for medicinal
marijuana. Johnson hopes the drug will eventually be legalized.

But for now, the Grower-Patient Connection could help people legally
allowed to have it find safer and easier ways to get it.

"In order for me to find it, I would have to associate with people I
honestly feel are scum," Johnson said.

Arranging a good way to legally access drugs is just one part of the
challenge, though. First, patients need the proper approval, with a form
completed by a physician. One part requires a doctor to agree the benefits
outweigh any risks associated with marijuana use.

The Canadian Medical Protective Association, a body representing 95 per
cent of physicians in Canada, has advised its members not to fill out the
forms if they don't have this detailed knowledge. The Canadian Medical
Association has expressed similar feelings.

"I don't think it's fair to put the physician at some medical legal risk of
lawsuit or complaint to the college down the road if ... the patient
suffers adverse and unanticipated effects," said CMPA secretary-treasurer
Dr. John Gray.

Since the regulations on marijuana for medicinal use took effect at the end
of July, 38 people across Canada have been authourized to use the drug.
Health Canada won't break the numbers down by province, but the
Saskatchewan Medical Association reports physicians have begun receiving
requests.

The big problem, say some doctors, is that there just isn't enough medical
research on marijuana.

"I think family doctors are generally a conservative group, and I think
what we would probably like to see, as with any new medication, is make
sure it's been out there and we know what it does and doesn't do before we
prescribe it," said Dr. Gill White, a family doctor at Regina's General
Hospital and head of the University of Saskatchewan's department of family
medicine.

A "synthetic cousin" of marijuana is now on the market as a prescribed drug
and is sometimes used in the Pasqua Hospital's palliative unit for nausea
and vomiting, said White, but that drug has undergone extensive research
that naturally grown marijuana hasn't.

"We've kind of done things backwards here," said Dr. Peter Barrett, a
Saskatoon doctor and past-president of the Canadian Medical Association.

Barrett said doctors need to be able to give patients information such as
what drugs marijuana may have reactions with or what kind of dosages to take.

"One of the problems in Saskatchewan would be even if you wanted to do
this, where would you tell them to go and get it?" he said. "Most of us
don't move in those circles."

Health Canada spokesperson Andrew Swift said the application process for
medicinal use of marijuana is "really a compassionate framework".

He said the department shares the CMA's concerns about the safety of the
drug. As for access, people can grow it themselves, designate someone to
grow it for them when they apply, or, as of 2002, get it through Praire
Plant Systems, a company growing marijuana for Health Canada in an
underground mine in Flin Flon, Man.

In the meantime, some Saskatchewan doctors plan to take a wait-and-see
approach. Dr. Bev Karras, president of the Saskatchewan Medical
Association, said doctors are comfortable dealing with different drugs, and
have empathy for their patients. But most doctors don't feel they know
enough about marijuana and its effects, she said.