PAIN PHYSICIAN RELUCTANT TO PRESCRIBE QUESTIONABLE POT

He Prefers To Wait For Clinical Trials, Reliable Source.

Pain specialist Dr. Brian Knight isn't keen to prescribe marijuana under
Health Canada's new rules, which came into effect this month. The Edmonton
anesthesiologist is concerned that patients will get their cannabis from
illegal sources and that the drug will be of uncertain quality. Knight
prefers to wait until clinical trials show it works.

That said, he acknowledges he once filled out the paperwork under the
previous rules to help a patient win an exemption from possession charges.
"At that time I filled it out for her because she was quite desperate," he
said. He warned her it would do her no good because she would have to get
her marijuana through a clinical trial -- and there were none in Edmonton.

Knight, who runs a pain clinic with two other specialists, can see himself
in certain circumstances going along with patients' wishes under the new rules.

"I do, in my practice, have a number of patients who tell me that they
smoke marijuana for their chronic pain," he said. "I think if one of those
people approached me, having been on it, I would say, 'Look I'll sign that
form so that you don't get prosecuted,' if I thought what they were doing
was appropriate."

Still, he shares concerns of doctors at University Hospital's multiple
sclerosis clinic, who have decided not to help patients get marijuana
permits, that there's little evidence the drug works. The first federally
funded clinical trial doesn't start until January in Montreal.

It's been possible before now to win a medical exemption from the legal ban
on possession. But last summer a court faulted the process on
constitutional grounds and gave the federal government until this summer to
introduce clear regulations.

Knight said there's still the problem of access to legal marijuana.

"There is, as yet, no government-approved source for it. In other words
they'll be buying it from somebody who is presumably breaking the law by
trafficking in drugs."

The rules do let patients grow their own. Hepatitis C sufferer Dale
Strohmaier, who has an exemption under the old rules, has his own small
crop but said he still has to buy on the street sometimes because spider
mites can wipe out his production.

By next February there should be a legal supply for individual patients,
from a federally regulated and quality-controlled marijuana-growing
operation at Flin Flon, Man.

Until then there will be concerns over the quality of the drug, even if a
patient has a legal source, Knight said.

As of Sunday, when Health Canada last checked, there were 335 Canadians
with exemptions allowing them to use marijuana for medical purposes. The
department does not provide totals by province or region.

Knight said that since the new rules took effect no patients have asked him
for approval to use marijuana. He said that may take time because he
doesn't accept walk-in patients.

Strohmaier says, "I'm a living example of the benefits of medical marijuana."