SICK MAN WINS OK TO SMOKE MARIJUANA

OTTAWA (CP) - Health Canada has given Robert Brown the okay to smoke
marijuana after the victim of hepatitis C spent two days camped in the
rain on Parliament Hill protesting for the right to do so.

Brown, 43, is the 20th person given such approval since Health Canada
said last spring it would begin clinical trials into the therapeutic
use of marijuana.

Brown got the good news on a cell phone during his Hill vigil this
week.

''I'm feeling pretty sick, but I'm feeling pretty good,'' he said
after hearing the verdict.

Jeff Pendler, a Health Canada spokesperson, said Brown's cold vigil
didn't influence the decision, but may have speeded up processing of
his application, which was already in the final stages.

''Obviously, the fact that he was out in the cold and getting sicker
probably (accelerated) gathering the last bit of information,'' he
said.

Brown faces charges of possession, cultivating and intent to traffic
in marijuana. He was charged after police raided his farmhouse in
December 1998.