MPS BACK MOVE TOWARD LEGALIZED MEDICINAL POT

The House of Commons voted last night to urge the federal government to
"take steps" toward legalizing marijuana for medical use.

Governing Liberals united with opposition MPs to approve, by a 204-29 vote,
a diluted version of a Bloc Quebecois motion calling for legalization of the
street drug so those ill with cancer, AIDS and epilepsy can ease their
suffering without fear of prosecution.

The reworded motion reflects Health Minister Allan Rock's commitment in
March to begin clinical trials of medical marijuana, but like Rock it makes
no commitment as to whether the drug will be made available to patients as
treatment rather than research.

Rock has promised to unveil his "research plan" next month. His spokesman,
Derek Kent, played down the importance of last night's vote: "That timetable
remains the same."

But Bloc MP Bernard Bigras defended the Commons' vote as necessary, arguing
that little has happened since Rock's initial announcement and the sick who
use marijuana are still being harassed by police.

Bigras urged Rock to use his power to exempt individuals from Criminal Code
prosecution on compassionate grounds, noting that the Commons has now joined
the Ontario Superior Court, which this month gave Toronto AIDS activist Jim
Wakeford the legal right to grow and use marijuana. Rock has said the
federal government won't appeal that court ruling.

After the vote, Bigras said the Bloc "will now ensure that the government
keeps its word on this question."

"We still don't have the research protocol," he said. The Bloc voted against
the Liberal amendments, but turned around and supported the watered-down
version, arguing that it still sends a message to the government.

"I'm sure I'll have ill people coming to see me in the coming days, saying
that these clinical trials won't give them access to marijuana for three
years, so what we're saying is we favour clinical tests but we need
immediate access to marijuana," Bigras said.

Wakeford won the right to grow and smoke marijuana for his own use under a
constitutional exemption from prosecution granted by an Ontario Superior
Court judge, who criticized Ottawa for foot-dragging in handling exemption
applications from dying patients.

He is only the second Canadian to use the drug with legal immunity. Terry
Parker of Toronto, who has epilepsy, won the right in November 1997, but the
Crown has appealed that ruling.

In the United States, some states allow pot use by the terminally ill,
despite some warnings from experts that it may not be the wonder drug
advocates say it is. The medical establishment has noted that, as a
painkiller, marijuana is not that potent and it has side-effects like
confusion and sedation.