14 ILL PEOPLE GET OK TO USE POT TO EASE PAIN

OTTAWA -- Health Minister Allan Rock will clear the way today for 14 more
ill people to smoke pot to ease their pain.

And in the meantime, Ottawa continues the search for a Canadian source of
marijuana.

Rock said his officials have concluded 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 there may be 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 as Rock
first gave permission for cultivation and use of marijuana to Jim Wakefield
of Toronto and Jean-Charles Pariseau of Ottawa, both AIDS victims, in June.

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.

London's medical marijuana crusader, Lynn Harichy, said she's not one of
the 14 on the list. Harichy became a national figure two years ago when she
smoked pot on the steps of London police headquarters in an act of civil
disobedience.

Harichy uses marijuana to ease symptoms of her multiple sclerosis.

The stay, which effectively puts the charge laid two years ago into
indefinite legal limbo, was requested by federal prosecutor Kevin Wilson,
who said the Crown had received medical information about a significant
decline in Harichy's health.

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

Rock has previously mentioned the National Institute for Drug Abuse in the
U.S. as a possible source until the government gets its own supply up and
running.

"One of our goals is also to get a Canadian source of supply for medical
purposes," he said. "We're new to this line of work so we're doing the best
we can to cope. What motivates us is the humanitarian approach . . . to
those who are very sick or dying and who believe that access to marijuana
will help relieve their suffering."

Some sick and dying people believe pot relieves the symptoms caused by
AIDS, cancer, manic depression and glaucoma.

A government spokesperson said applicants must have a doctor's approval and
the pot must be shown to have a medical benefit.

"We're not just saying, 'You're sick, you deserve it,' " said the official.