AIDS VICTIM WANTS FEDS TO SUPPLY MARIJUANA

TORONTO -- A Toronto man with AIDS is taking the federal government to
court to provide him with a supply of "safe, clean, affordable, high
quality Canadian marijuana."

Jim Wakeford, who won a Constitutional exemption to use marijuana to
curb his nausea and stimulate his appetite, said it's dangerous and
unfair to expect him to obtain his supply through the black market.

Wakeford has struggled to grow his own supply of weed, and
"caregivers" who helped him were charged by police.

His lawyers filed an application to the Ontario Superior Court of
Justice yesterday to force the federal government to provide legal
marijuana and to protect caregivers from drug prosecution.

Lawyer Alan Young said there are two international supplies of legally
grown marijuana accessible to the federal government -- at a secret
growing facility outside London, England, and at the University of
Mississippi.

Young said black market marijuana can contain all sorts of
contaminants which could be dangerous to people with suppressed immune
systems.

"You don't know what you're buying," Young said. "It would be suicidal
for them to obtain medicine that's tainted."

Wakeford won the legal right through the courts to obtain and use
marijuana as have 19 other Canadians.

About another 80 people are trying to get the same
exemption.

The federal government is setting up clinical trials to study the
medicinal use of the potent weed but Young said sick people can't wait
for science.

Young said the federal government is obliged to provide Wakeford with
an immediate legal supply of marijuana, and ultimately, a homegrown
product with its official stamp of approval.

Marijuana is used to stave off nausea and to stimulate the appetite, a
benefit commonly referred to as "the munchies.'

Wakeford, who takes a powerful mix of AIDS drugs daily, said the mere
sight of food can make him ill. AIDS sufferers, along with other
people undergoing chemotherapy, can "waste" away from this lack of
appetite.