MDS WARY OF POT SEEKERS

Fake forms expected to be big problem under new regulations effective on Monday

Doctors are concerned about a flood of applications from patients --
some using fake forms -- when regulations on marijuana for medicinal
use take effect Monday.

Under the new law, severely ill patients with a doctor's approval can
apply to Health Canada to grow and use the drug.

The Alberta Medical Association told doctors in that province Friday
to "think twice" about filling out forms for patients.

Dr. Clayne Steed, AMA president, also warned physicians to be extra
wary of fake forms after one physician was asked to fill out a form
from the Grant W. Krieger Cannabis Research Foundation. Calgary-based
Krieger, 46, who has multiple sclerosis, has been fighting for more
than five years to have the drug legalized for medicinal use.

In April, the federal government announced that people suffering from
severe forms of arthritis will be given the right to possess and
smoke marijuana legally if they can prove they can't be treated with
other drugs to alleviate relentless pain.

The regulations also allow terminally ill people as well as those
with AIDS, multiple sclerosis, spinal-cord injuries, epilepsy and
other serious conditions to use the drug if it eases their symptoms.

The measures also allow the government to license third parties to
grow marijuana for individuals who can't grow it for themselves.

To date, 292 people have been granted exemptions from the current
law, which makes it a criminal offence to grow and use marijuana.

The Canadian Medical Association has raised strong objections to the
new regulations, which they say ignore normal protocols of rigorous
pre-market testing, putting patients and physicians in a precarious
position.

The Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine, representing doctors
specializing in addiction treatment, argues "there is more risk than
benefit" and is calling for more clinical research.

"Unfortunately, the government has decided to go ahead to appease a
few lobby groups," said Dr. Raju Hajela, past-president.

Canada is the first country to adopt such a system using marijuana as
medicine, after an Ontario judge ordered the government to clarify
its rules within one year. The regulations are a result of that order.

"The courts can't be deciding how doctors should be practising
medicine, because that's what is essentially happening here," said
Hajela, an assistant professor at Queens University in Kingston.

Manual for physicians

Health Canada says it shares doctors' concerns and plans to release a
manual for physicians to coincide with the regulations taking effect.

The new rules create three categories of people who can possess the
drug: the terminally ill with a prognosis of death within one year;
those with symptoms associated with specific serious medical
conditions; and those with other medical conditions who have
statements from two doctors saying conventional treatments have not
worked.

Tim McClermont, executive director of the Hepatitis C Society of
Canada, said the process frustrates patients who find the system too
bureaucratic.

Health Canada requires so many different types of documentation,
patients have to keep going back to their physician, McClermont said.

"The doctors are getting angry and getting fed up with it . . . so
often they tell the patient, 'I don't want be involved with this,
it's too much of a hassle'," he said. "It's discouraging for
everybody. ... people will just give up and not pursue it."