MARIJUANA TRIALS TOO LATE FOR AIDS SUFFERER

OTTAWA - Jim Wakeford has fought hard to get marijuana into medicine
cabinets, but he finds little to celebrate in Ottawa's announcement that it
will start clinical tests of marijuana.

Wakeford, a 54-year-old Toronto man living with full-blown AIDS, said the
move is only ``a baby step.''

It won't help him, he says, or hundreds of other sick Canadians who have
found pot helps ease their symptoms. He nearly died twice last year.

``I don't expect to live long enough to participate in, let alone benefit
from, clinical trials,'' he said bluntly.

Besides, he added, ``I don't have time, or interest, or patience in these
clinical trials.''

Wakeford has been smoking marijuana daily since 1996. It's the only thing
he has found that reduces nausea and makes him feel hungry enough to keep
eating.

He asked the government some 20 months ago for access to legal, safe and
affordable marijuana. He also has asked the courts for help.

He's still waiting - impatiently - for something to happen.

Health Minister Allan Rock announced last week that he has asked his
officials to come up with a plan for research into marijuana and its
possible medical benefits.

There's some evidence the drug helps with pain, nausea and appetite loss
associated with glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, chemotherapy treatment for
cancer, epilepsy, AIDS or arthritis.

Clinical trials can take years. And while a number of medical organizations
and activists said clinical trials are a move in the right direction, they
want more.

Health officials said they are also looking at ways to make marijuana
available to people like Wakeford before the research is wrapped up.

It's not yet clear how that will happen. An official promised details
within a few months.

But advocates for the medicinal use of marijuana remain skeptical.

``They've been telling us that they're going to be addressing this issue
forever,'' said John Goodhew, a Toronto doctor with a large number of
HIV-infected patients.

He worries he's still not much closer to being able to prescribe marijuana.

``What we need is something here and now and today for the people who need
this product,'' he said. ``I want my patients to be able to get the
treatment they need.''

Some also wonder about the timing of Rock's announcement, just a day before
Bloc QuE9bE9cois MP Bernard Bigras introduced a private member's motion on
making marijuana available to sick people on compassionate grounds.

``I sure hope that they have the details, and that it's not just window
dressing to try to knock the wind out of the Bloc QuE9bE9cois motion,'' sa
id
lawyer Eugene Oscapella of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.