RESEARCHERS TO GET WEAK GRADE OF MEDICAL POT

Low-THC marijuana could force test subjects to inhale more toxic
smoke, critics say

OTTAWA - The federal government will provide researchers with a
weakened grade of medical marijuana that could force test subjects to
ingest more toxic smoke to gain any benefit from the drug.

Health Canada recently gave out a $5.75 million contract to a
Saskatchewan firm to produce marijuana for use in clinical trials.
The pot will allow researchers to test the drug's effectiveness in
treating the symptoms of serious illnesses like AIDS, cancer and
multiple sclerosis.

But in tendering the contract, Health Canada specified an allowable
concentration of the active ingredient, THC, between five and six per
cent --lower than the concentration typically found in the home-grown
variety which can be more than five times as potent.

"It baffles me why they would go to the trouble of creating marijuana
at a lower level than the natural plant," says Steven Bacon, a
Hepatitis C sufferer who is one of 140 Canadians to receive a special
exemption from the government to smoke cannabis to control symptoms.

"You must get out of your sickbed and go smoke sub-standard marijuana
in order to get it at all," Mr. Bacon said.

The marijuana produced for Health Canada would also be available to
those, like Mr. Bacon, who receives a special exemption based on
medical need. In return for the free pot, they will be required to
provide feedback on the effect of the drugs on their illness.

But anyone who gets the government grass will have to smoke much more
than home-grown marijuana to get the same medicinal benefit as
home-grown, Mr. Bacon says. They will also have to inhale more of the
2,000 chemicals and toxins contained in cannabis smoke.

"I would have to smoke more, and my lungs would get filled with more
crap," Bacon said.

"That's not compassionate access to marijuana that (Health Minister)
Allan Rock talks about all the time."

According to the U.S. National Institute of Health, the average
concentration of THC in a marijuana plant runs about three per cent.

But the variety favoured by most medicinal smokers, made from just
the buds and flowering tops of female plants, has an average
concentration of 7.5 per cent and can be as high as 24 per cent.

"It certainly is an inferior product," said Loren Wiberg, whose
Alberta-based company ZYX Corp. unsuccessfully bid on the production
contract.

"The stuff that some of these people are growing for medical purposes
can be up to 25 per cent THC," Mr. Wiberg said. "They're saying why
would the government want them to smoke four times as much? It
supposed to be for health and they have to get all this tar and other
stuff at a rate of 4:1."

But Roslyn Tremblay, of Health Canada, says it was important to
establish a consistent THC concentration for research purposes. The
level was based on previous scientific research.

"The five to six per cent was decided upon on the basis of most of
the literature we could see," she said.

The production contract does allow Health Canada to ask for higher or
lower THC concentrations after the first year of production.