CANADA TO TEST MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Rock denies trials are step toward legalization

The federal government plans to conduct human clinical tests to determine
if smoking marijuana can reduce pain in terminally ill patients, a first
step toward legalizing the drug for medical purposes.

Health Minister Allan Rock made the announcement yesterday in the House of
Commons, explaining later that it should not be seen as a step toward
legalizing marijuana use.

``This has nothing to do with legalizing marijuana,'' he told reporters.

``This has to do with the fact there are people in Canada suffering from
terminal illnesses who have symptoms which are very difficult and who
believe (smoking marijuana) can help.''

Mr. Rock said there is plenty of anecdotal evidence from individuals
suffering from cancer and AIDS who say the drug can alleviate pain and
combat nausea, but no strict scientific evidence.

The minister released few details of the tests, but said officials have
been asked to set up the clinical experiments, as well as establish what
kinds of patients would participate and look into how patients could be
guaranteed access to a safe supply of the drug.

A spokesman for the minister said it may take a month or two before
officials draw up plans for the clinical tests, determining the size of the
tests and the duration.

The government does not plan to change the Criminal Code for the trials,
but will use a section of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that
allows the minister to exempt people from prosecution for special
circumstances.

The exemption is a sore point for advocates of medical marijuana use, who
have complained that the minister had turned a deaf ear to compassionate
applications in the past.

``We made an application 15 months ago for a person with AIDS who was
literally starving to death and they did not allow it,'' said Eugene
Oscapella of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy in Ottawa. He said the
sufferer -- Jean Charles Pariseau of Vanier -- was advised by his doctor to
take marijuana to fight nausea and stimulate appetite.

``If the government is sincere this time and that's a big if, then we're
happy with the announcement,'' Mr. Oscapella added.

``I have a hard time understanding why we are not allowing responsible
adult Canadians who have led responsible lives access to this potentially
therapeutic thing that may reduce the pain in their lives, that may help
them.''

Mr. Rock and Justice Minister Anne McLellan had pledged to initiate a
national debate of medical marijuana more than a year ago, but yesterday's
announcement was the first concrete step toward legalizing the drug for
patients.

Pressure has been building on the issue in both Canada and the U.S. for
years and last November voters in six U.S. states joined California in
approving referendums to legalize medical marijuana use.

Bloc Quebecois MP Bernard Bigras plans to introduce a motion in Parliament
today urging the government to take every step toward legalizing medical
marijuana.

Reaction from opposition members yesterday were mostly positive, although
Reform MP Grant Hill, a medical doctor, warned of risks if the testing was
seen as a first step down the road to legalizing the drug for general use.

``As a medical doctor, I have treated young people who were habituated to
marijuana, whose (school) marks had suffered and whose lives were
wrecked,'' he said. ``But I'm open to compassion if marijuana is the only
thing that works.''

But some advocates of medical marijuana use were not impressed by what they
saw as a grudging baby step by the federal government.

``It's a waste of taxpayers' money,'' said Terry Parker, a Toronto man who
says smoking marijuana daily eases the severity of epileptic seizures he
has suffered since 1963.

Mr. Parker, 43, who in 1997 won a landmark court decision allowing him to
grow and smoke marijuana for medical use, said clinical tests are
unnecessary because the drug has already proven its value to people
suffering from a range of medical conditions.

Advocates said the drug is effective in reducing spasms for multiple
sclerosis sufferers, epilepsy seizures, as a pain killer and in reducing
symptoms of nausea which helps patients undergoing chemotherapy.