MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUE BLOOMS AGAIN

On March 3, Allan Rock told the House of Commons that Health Canada
would soon launch clinical trials to test the medical benefits of
cannabis. Southern Ontario medical tokers and activists were
underwhelmed by the announcement.

Toronto AIDS patient Jim Wakeford, who smokes cannabis to relieve
vomiting and stimulate his appetite, points out that he'll probably be
dead by the time long-term trials are over.

At present, a grand total of one person -- Terry Parker, of Toronto --
is legally allowed to use marijuana in Canada. In December, 1997,
Parker convinced a judge his constitutional rights would be violated
by denying him cannabis, which he uses as a muscle relaxant to prevent
epileptic seizures.

Everyone else who uses pot as medicine faces six months in jail and/or
a $1,000 fine for a first offence of simple possession. The threat of
jail time is no joke: according to a study by the Canadian Centre on
Substance Abuse, roughly 2,000 Canadians are incarcerated each year
for possessing a few joints.

Bearing in mind that pot trials might take years, Rock said he's
considering granting legal exemptions for legit medical pot users who
aren't taking part in tests.

Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act allows the feds
to exempt people from criminal prosecution for using illicit drugs,
explains Derek Kent, Rock's spokesperson. Rock's office has received
maybe "a dozen" applications from medical pot users to get exemptions,
Kent says.

"We fully intend to have a flexible approach that is compassionate,"
says Kent.

If they're looking for a model to follow, Rock's office would be wise
to check out an American initiative called the Compassionate
Investigative New Drug Program (IND).

Thanks to Compassionate IND, people such as Bob Randall, a glaucoma
sufferer who became America's first legal pot smoker in 1976, have
access to free dope.

Randall and maybe nine others receive monthly packages of 300
pre-rolled government-issue joints stocked with pot from an
experimental farm in Mississippi.

Unfortunately, in 1991 Compassionate IND stopped accepting new
patients. The War on Some Drugs was in full swing at that point and
the U.S. didn't want to be seen as pushing pot.

Now that the American government is out of the compassionate cannabis
business, it's Canada's turn to take the lead and hold clinical trials
while granting exemptions for medical pot use.

The need for pot exemptions was highlighted two days after Rock's
statement to the Commons, when police raided a London, Ont., medical
cannabis club.

"We were closing the centre anyway, because of Rock's announcement,"
reports London resident Lynn Harichy, who smokes pot to relieve the
pain of multiple sclerosis. "The police knew this and were desperate
to make a score before we closed."