DOCTORS WARNED OVER NEW POT LAW

Rules governing the use of marijuana to relieve pain go into effect Monday,
but Alberta's medical profession says there are still too many unanswered
questions about the drug's benefits.

The president of the Alberta Medical Association said Friday doctors should
"think twice" before signing their approval on the government applications
patients are required to submit to take the drug legally.

"We're concerned about physicians being placed in a position where they're
authorizing the use of a drug where they have no knowledge of the risks or
the side-effects. We don't know the dosage that should be used or what
potency the product is," said Dr. Clayne Steed.

"This isn't the way doctors work."

A Health Canada spokeswoman said the department welcomes the AMA's concerns
and similar ones brought forward by the Canadian Medical Association
earlier this month.

"We consulted with physicians in the process and we'll continue to consult
with them," said Roslyn Tremblay.

Doctors will be given a formula designed to determine proper doses and a
handbook for physicians is in the works, said Tremblay, adding regulating
medicinal marijuana is uncharted territory for all concerned.

"This is going to be a bit of a challenge for everybody," she said.

In April, Health Canada said people with terminal illnesses or serious
conditions such as AIDS, multiple sclerosis and severe arthritis could
legally possess and smoke marijuana if they can prove their pain can't be
treated with other drugs.

The regulations also grant successful applicants the right to grow their
own plants or buy their supply from a third party.

But while the medical profession said Health Canada is moving too fast and
urged more research, medical marijuana advocates said the government hasn't
done enough to make sure patients will have access to the drug.

Calgarian Grant Krieger, a multiple sclerosis suffers who won a five-year
legal battle to smoke marijuana legally, said many ill patients can't grow
their own pot and instead will turn to the risky business of buying "junk"
from street-level dealers.

"It's dangerous," said Krieger, adding pot sold on the streets is often
laced with impurities and contaminants.

Health Canada has contracted a Saskatchewan company to grow 600 kilograms
of marijuana at a Flin Flon, Man. facility for two years of research and
clinical trials, but there's no immediate plan for any distribution to the
300 Canadians so far granted permission to use the drug.

"Where is the supply?" said Krieger.

"We have people who as a last resort want to use this plant - how are we
going to know (its benefits) unless we do this?"

Krieger, 46, who already supplies marijuana to more than 100 patients, is
in the process establishing the non-profit Grant W. Krieger Cannabis
Research Foundation to do its own study.

Krieger said his client list "grows daily" and he's had many requests for
assistance in filling out the government applications. The foundation is
distributing its own application form.

Steed said one doctor contacted him saying he's beset by "four or five"
requests a day and has so far refused them all.