OTTAWA LOOKING FOR STEADY SUPPLY OF DOPE

Federal government may have to grow its own marijuana for clinical tests on
whether drug helps patients

Ottawa -- The federal government is having trouble getting a supply of
marijuana for forthcoming clinical trials on medicinal uses for the drug,
so it may have to resort to growing its own.

"I think we are up to it as a nation, aren't we?" Health Minister Allan
Rock said yesterday after a meeting of the Commons health committee where
the issue was discussed. He said he is still considering his options, but
government documents obtained by The Globe and Mail make it clear that the
difficulty in finding a safe and secure supply of the drug for clinical
trials could lead to a home-grown solution.

In March, Mr. Rock announced his department is developing guidelines for
trials that could to lead to legalizing marijuana use for people suffering
from diseases such as cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. They now break
the law when they use a treatment they say provides relief from nausea and
other symptoms. Mr. Rock said his department is developing guidelines for
the trials, which he will make public next month.

Government documents, obtained under the Access to Information Act by
Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin, show that obtaining a secure supply of
marijuana is one of the biggest hurdles to allowing the drug to be used as
medicine in Canada.

This is it if your are still the Church of the Universe.....

Mr. Rock summed up the dilemma in a letter that he sent last year to the
Assembly of the Church of the Universe Institute for the Advancement of
Marijuana Medicine.

"For marijuana, there exists a practical problem of finding a secure supply
of a medicinal-quality product," he wrote. "Generally, acceptable sources
of drugs not approved in Canada may be found in countries where they have
received approval. Health Canada has not been able to locate an acceptable
international source of marijuana, and is examining the issue further."

A briefing note, dated April 22, puts it even more bluntly.

"To our knowledge, after extensive research, there is no licit
medicinal-quality marijuana supplier in the world. To make marijuana
available for medicinal purposes in Canada it would need to be grown and
manufactured in Canada. "

Mr. Rock has made it clear that his intent is to help sick and dying
Canadians, not to legalize recreational use of the drug. He has dodged
questions about whether he has smoked marijuana on the grounds that he
doesn't want to incriminate himself, but as a young man he drove Beatle
John Lennon around Ottawa.

"As former attorney-general of Canada, I am keenly aware of the right
against self-incrimination in this country. I fully intend to invoke that
right." Mr. Rock replied with a broad smile.

"I have never smoked marijuana for medicinal purposes," he insisted yesterday.

Marijuana for medicinal purposes must be pure. Mr. Rock said yesterday the
advantages of a Canadian supply are its guaranteed cleanliness, and that it
could be grown with a uniform level of the main psychoactive compound in
the drug, tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC. This would allow researchers
to reduce the number of variables in their experiments.

Health Canada says it can't ask the RCMP to turn over contraband, because
it might be contaminated with fungus or other substances.

Government officials are still checking out potential sources in the United
Kingdom and in the United States for clinical trials, but now believe the
long-term solution is likely to be growing it in Canada.

They are looking to the United States, where the University of Mississippi
grows marijuana in a project funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Chuck Thomas, who works for a Washington-based non-profit group that helps
U.S. researchers negotiate the many hurdles to getting marijuana for
clinical trials, says the Canadian government won't get a supply of the
drug just by asking nicely. It now takes five years for U.S. researchers to
get access to the drug, he said.

Canadian officials say another reason for growing Canadian marijuana is
that it would mean the government would not have to follow the protocols
set by other countries but could develop its own rules.

The government is also looking to Britain, where there is at least one
government-sanctioned grower, an individual named Geoffrey Guy.

The briefing document, marked secret but declassified, says Ottawa would
have to set up an infrastructure to cultivate, manufacture and distribute
marijuana cigarettes. That process would involve establishing a legal
source of seeds, and establishing licenses for people to grow the plant,
make it into cigarettes and distribute them. It would also require setting
up a testing laboratory, appropriate security measures and a monitoring
system.

Canadians who want to take part in a clinical trial will find application
forms on Health Canada's Web site, at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca