TORONTO AIDS PATIENT MAY USE MARIJUANA

TORONTO, - The Canadian government has indicated that it
does not intend to appeal an Ontario court ruling that permits a
Toronto AIDS patient from using marijuana for medicinal purposes.

However, federal Health Minister Allan Rock said today the Ontario
Superior Court ruling does not mean that smoking marijuana has been
legalized.

Rock was commenting on the court ruling handed down on Monday giving
54-year-old Jim Wakeford a constitutional exemption from being
prosecuted if he smoked marijuana to relieve his sympton.

Justice Harry LaForme also ruled that Wakeford would not have to
inform the government where he obtained the marijuana.

In March, Rock told reporters his department would carry out clinical
tests that could lead to the legalization of marjijana for medicinal
purposes.

Wakeford first applied in September for exemption from prosecution so
he could smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes, but LaForme rejected
his request then, after federal lawyers argued that he should apply
directly to Rock.

Last week, Laforme reopened the case after learning that the federal
government ad never had an application process until the eve of the
case being reopened.

The judge also criticized the government's slowness in dealing with
Wakeford's case, and said it was unfair for officials to have required
him to disclose the source of his marijuana supply.

Wakeford became the second person in Toronto to receive court
permission to used marijuana for medicinal purposes.

In 1997, a lower court stayed marijuana possession charges against
Terry Parker, who said he needed the drug to treat epilepsy symptoms.
The federal government has appealed that decision.

The federal health department has not said whether it has completed
its clinical tests, but says it plans to make an announcement next
month.