150,000 SMOKE POT FOR HEALTH IN ONTARIO, NEW SURVEY FINDS

Study adds to the medical marijuana debate

About 2 per cent of Ontario adults are using marijuana for medical
purposes, according to a new provincial survey.

"That's a pretty significant number," said Reginald Smart, an
epidemiologist with Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
"It means there are a lot of people who are using marijuana for
medical reasons."

That percentage translates into almost 150,000 Ontarians.

But the study is limited. In a 1998 telephone survey of more than
2,500 adults, researchers found 173 people who said they used
marijuana for recreational purposes in the past year. Of those, 49
said they had also used the illegal drug for medical reasons.

What we have is a subgroup of regular marijuana users for whom medical
use is one of their uses, said Alan Ogborne, senior scientist with the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in London, Ont.

The results, published in today's Canadian Medical Association
Journal, involve the first attempt to get an estimate of how many
people are using marijuana for medical purposes, he said.

But it fails to capture those who may never have used marijuana other
than for medical reasons.

Ogborne said the study still raises pertinent questions on what
constitutes medical use.

"It begs the question who is to decide what constitutes medical use.
If medical use is self-defined, with people saying it helps with their
headaches or nausea or menstrual cramps or depression, is that medical
use?

"Or is it only appropriate if a physician decides they've tried
everything and a person would benefit from marijuana?"

The study adds to the public debate on medical marijuana which the
federal government is now exploring.

Health Canada is looking at clinical trials and into obtaining a safe,
reliable supply of marijuana for those legally allowed to use it to
treat illnesses.

People argue that it alleviates pain from cancer and multiple
sclerosis, reduces nausea from chemotherapy, increases appetite for
AIDS sufferers, and helps with glaucoma, epilepsy and other disorders.

The study found the chief reason people use it medically is as a
painkiller.