MINISTER WANTS TO SCORE

Health Minister Allan Rock is looking for a little home-grown pot.
Pure Canadian. None of that foreign weed.

Rock said Thurday his department will reveal details next month of
upcoming clinical trials on the medicinal benefits of marijuana use.
He will announce who will qualify to participate in the trials, how
the research will be supervised, and how long the research will last.

But first, Rock must decide who his supplier is.

One option is to buy the stuff from licensed growers in the United
States, the only country in the world that allows the cultivation of
marijuana for scientific research.

But appearing before the Commons health committee, Rock indicated his
preference is to build up a suppy of domestically grown pot, which can
then be distributed to ailing Canadians in the clinical trials.

"I'd like to see it in Canada," he later told reporters, adding: "I
think we're up to it as a nation, aren't we?"

Rock, a 51-yr-old baby-boomer sho, as a university student, persuaded
John Lennon of the Beatles to attend a peace conference in Ottawa,
sidestepped questions over whether he has over smoked marijuana.

"As a former attorney general of Canada, I'm keenly aware ther's a
right against self-incrimination in this country," he grinned. "And I
fully Intend to invoke that right."

Rock then teased reporters by saying there's one thing he can be very
clear about.

"I have never smoked marijuana," he said flatly, but then adding after
a pause, "for medicinal purposes."