SMOKING POT NOW OK - BY PRESCRIPTION ONLY

OTTAWA - New rules on the medical use of marijuana drew responses ranging
from lukewarm to stone-cold yesterday.

Health Canada regulations published yesterday will allow some patients with
chronic or terminal illnesses to apply to Ottawa for permission to grow and
smoke their own pot.

They must have a prescription from a doctor (or two, in some cases), and
must obtain a federal photo-ID card.

Some patients called the move a good first step, but others criticized what
they saw as needless red tape.

Doctors said they are being asked to prescribe uncertain doses of an
untested drug.

And growers ridiculed the Catch-22 in the rules. Even if you have federal
permission to grow marijuana, it's still illegal to buy or sell seeds.

The new rules, in effect July 30, will make Canada the first country in the
world with a regulatory system governing medicinal marijuana.

A Richmond man who has taken marijuana for more than four years to combat
multiple sclerosis said the regulations were "a fantastic baby step".

"Marijuana should not be illegal - it should be encouraged," said Greg
Cooper, 30, who takes up to six tokes daily.

"It drastically reduces my shaking and most of all, it kills the pain
within 10 minutes," said Cooper. "Why should I have to wait half an hour
or 45 minutes for a pill to work?"

At Vancouver's Compassion Club, which distributes marijuana to the ill,
founder Hilary Black called the new rules "progressive," but added: "We
don't think a person who uses medicinal cannabis should have to get
permission from their doctor. It should be available in the same way as
other medicinal herbs."

The regulations require doctors to recommend dosage even though they cannot
know how strong a patient's pot is.

"We're very unhappy that physicians are going to be put in this position,"
Dr. Hugh Scully, past president of the Canadian Medical Association, said
yesterday. "We're telling them: Don't do it if you're not comfortable with
it. And by the way, I don't know how you're going to be comfortable with it."

In a letter to the CMA yesterday, Health Minister Allan Rock promised his
department will soon announce research projects from a $7.5 million medical
marijuana research fund.

The government has already announced a $5.75-million contract with Prairie
Plant Systems to grow 2,000 kilograms of research-quality marijuana for
clinical trials.

But because there is no official government supplier of marijuana or seeds,
the Saskatoon company has been furnished with seeds seized in police raids.

"Right now, so far as I'm aware, there is no legal source of seeds,"
admitted Judy Gomber, who heads Health Canada's office of controlled
substances.

Vancouver marijuana entrepreneur Marc Emery yesterday dismissed as
impractical a rule that says a designated grower can supply no more than
three people. The regulations also prevent people with criminal records
from being growers.

"It's very difficult to make it worth his while investing that equipment
and spending all that labour and time for such a small quantity," said
Emery. "And of course, some of the best growers in this country are going
to have criminal records for cultivation."

Police reaction was mainly favourable yesterday.

"It'll be easier for those who have the authority (to have pot) and of
course for police officers to verify the identify of those persons, so I
think that's a good thing," said RCMP spokesman Staff-Sgt. Mike Gaudet.

Vancouver police Det. Scott Driemel said the department has no comment so far.

Details of the program are available at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/, the Health
Department website.