FAKE JOINT NEEDED FOR CLINICAL TRIALS

(Ottawa)- Researchers have been given the green light to go ahead with
clinical trials of medicinal marijuana, but must first overcome a
pungent problem perfecting a bogus joint.

Health Canada will spend several million dollars funding clinical
trials and longer-term research on the therapeutic value of smoking
pot,. Health Minister Allan Rock announced Wednesday.

Double-blind tests require giving one test group the real goods and
another a placebo, or fake, to determine the drug's
effectiveness.

"If we want to do a scientifically rigorous study it has to be a
double-blind placebo control trial," said James Austin, a researcher
with the Community Research Initiative of Toronto.

"There are ways of coming up with a placebo marijuana cigarette. One
of the suggestions from some clinician scientists is that we should
develop a placebo and then test it before we do a major study. That1s
something we're considering."

Both the Community Research Initiative of Toronto and the
Vancouver-based Canadian HIV Trials Network will handle clinical
studies comparing smoked cannabis with a pill containing the synthetic
version of the weed's active ingredient, THC.

Both organizations work with HIV-positive or AIDS patients. Pot may
relieve the wasting effects of these illnesses - or the drugs used to
combat them - by suppressing nausea and stimulating appetite.

Health Canada notes that despite research by the Netherlands, Britain,
the United States and the World Health Organization, "evidence of
potential therapeutic effectiveness of marijuana is heavily anecdotal
and inconclusive."

Double-blind testing is "the standard that all new therapies are
measured against," said Austin, and that's why past research on pot
has been inconclusive.

But Austin recognizes the problems inherent in creating a perfect fake
joint.

"We may have to use the bigger clinical trial for people who are just
naive," he said.

Despite the medical conundrum, another 14 Canadians were officially
granted federal exemptions Wednesday to use pot for medical purposes
under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Two
others were given exemptions by Rock in June.

The Health Canada release suggests there may be room for some leniency
in prosecuting those who supply marijuana to people with medical exemptions.

The department also announced it has a business plan in place
providing all the necessary details with respect to the potential
establishment of a legal and reliable source of affordable, quality,
standardized marijuana products to meet Canada's needs."

Initially, pot for the clinical trials will be bought from U.S. and
British companies, but a Canadian source is Health Canada's ultimate
goal.