JURY STILL OUT ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Locals find good and bad in Health Minister Allan Rock's plan to test
illegal drug

Local reaction to federal Health Minister Alan Rock's plan to start
clinical trials on the medical use of marijuana is, not surprisingly,
mixed. On Wednesday, Rock announced that he has asked his officials to
draw up a plan for trials and to figure out how a safe supply of the
illegal drug could be provided to those who might need marijuana to
ease the pain.

"It's a step in the right direction and it's common sense really," said
Dustin Sunflower, a partner in Nelson's Holy Smoke Culture Shop and a
well-known pot crusader.

"The highest thing that a society can be based on is compassion because
that means that society cares for people and cares for the sick. So for the
government to deny
medicinal cannabis is uncompassionate...so it would seem we are
heading in the right direction if compassion is the highest ideal."

Nelson City Police Sgt. Dan Maluta does not view Rock's decision in
the same light. "I have a concern because people will get on the
bandwagon and say "you see even our federal health officials feel that
there is some validity to it." They will then think it legitimizes
their own use for whatever ails them in the broad sense," Maluta told
the Daily News.

Various lobby groups and individuals contend that marijuana can help ease
the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, advanced AIDS and a range of
other ailments.

Rock said Wednesday that Canadians support the use "on a compassionate
basis, if someone is dying." The health minister said before the government
makes any final
decision it wants scientific evidence and not just anecdotal testimony
on whether smoking pot can help relieve pain.

"I know quite a few people who use it for medicinal purposes in this area,"
said
Sunflower. "These people are sick. When they get cannabis it could be
their next meal or their next night of sleep, they don't function as
normal human beings without it."

One local resident who suffers from multiple sclerosis welcomed the federal
government's initiative. "I think it's really good for stress and for
being able to enjoy a good night's sleep," said the man who asked that his
name be kept
anonymous. "It helps with pain and the legal drugs I'm on now have
side effects and I find pot helps with the nausea that it causes.

" The man, who was diagnosed with the disease 15 years ago, said it may also
help take away the negative stigma often attached to marijuana. "Right
now doctors and nurses just don't want to talk to you about it," he
said. "At least this will open up the dialogue."

Kootenay-Boundary-Okanagan MP Jim Gouk said he's not making any judgment on
the decision at this point. "I don't have a problem with them doing some
proper scientific determination as to the effect of it," the Reform Party
MP said. "I
would hope that in doing that they don't limit it to smoking it
because my preliminary investigation suggests that any medical
advantage could be obtained through methods other than smoking it.

There are prescription drugs on the market which contain THC (one of
the psychoactive elements in cannabis) and are legal under the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Gouk said he hopes the government
looks into other types of similar solutions that do not include
actually inhaling smoke." "Putting the THC aspect of marijuana aside,
smoking is smoking," Gouk said. "It's pretty hard to promote the

ingestion of smoke coming off of burning refuse as a health product.

So if THC can provide relief to people in certain circumstances and
you can get all the benefits of that through something other than
smoking then we should be looking into that in this study." Gouk said
he has been contacted by a few of his constituents who inquired about
the potential of legally growing medicinal marijuana.

The local MP agrees with Rock that many people do have compassion for those
who use
pot to ease the pain of illness. "I did a survey about the concept of
medical marijuana and there does seem to be a level of support for
it," Gouk said. "So I think this is the next logical step. You don't
rush into something like that, but you don't blindly close your eyes
and ears to it either."

Maluta is not convinced. "What health practitioner would prescribe
marijuana, which has some 4,000 toxins and other substances in its smoke,
to try and cure or help someone would be beyond me," Maluta said. When the
federal government's trials
are complete, Maluta hopes the evidence will support the opposite of
what they are intended to do. "I'm hoping that part of what is driving
this is that they are going to find from the clinical study that no
practitioners are going to support actually inhaling raw marijuana in
order to treat illness," said Maluta. "It will refute it and then it
could no longer be raised as a defence in court." While the trials are
being planned, Rock said he is looking into the possibility of issuing
special permission for individuals to use the drug on a case-by-case
basis.