OTTAWA NEEDS A POT DEALER

Health Minister Allan Rock will clear the way today for 14 more ill
people to smoke pot to ease their pain. In the meantime, the feds
continue the search for a Canadian source of marijuana.

Rock said his officials have decided 20 of about 100 applications from
individuals wanting exemptions from federal drug laws for medical
reasons are legitimate.

But he didn't rule out the possibility of more exceptions down the
road.

"Fourteen more individuals will be exempted under Section 56 (of the
drug law) so they can use marijuana for medical purposes because
they're very sick or they're dying," Rock said yesterday. "They have
satisfied us that they're legitimate cases."

That brings the total of legitimate pot smokers in Canada to 16 since
Rock gave permission in June to Jim Wakefield of Toronto and
Jean-Charles Pariseau of Ottawa, both AIDS sufferers, to cultivate and
use marijuana.

The government was busy notifying the individuals granted the
exemptions yesterday, although it will not make public their names
when the announcement is made official today.

Rock said he will also finalize the government's criteria for finding
businesspeople who might be interested in supplying the federal
government with pot.