ROCK OKS CLINICAL TRIALS OF MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

`We Want To Help' Dying Patients With Cancer, AIDS

Allan Rock, the Health Minister, gave the go-ahead yesterday for
clinical trials on the medical use of marijuana to determine whether
the drug can help ease the pain of Canadians suffering from terminal
illnesses such as AIDS and cancer.

The Bloc Quebecois, which has led a campaign to legalize use of the
drug for medical purposes, and pro-medical marijuana advocates
immediately applauded the move. The Reform party was reluctant to give
its support to clinical trials out of fear it might be the first step
toward full decriminalization of marijuana.

Mr. Rock said scientists from his department will gather evidence ``as
soon as possible,'' and develop appropriate guidelines for the medical
use of the drug, as well as provide access to a safe supply.

``There are people who are dying. They want access to something they
believe will help with their symptoms. We want to help. Clinical
trials would allow us to get research to know more about how we can
help,'' Mr. Rock told the House of Commons.

Grant Hill, the Reform's health critic and a medical doctor, said he
is concerned the announcement could open the door to legalized selling
of marijuana for recreational use.

``I'm open to compassion, and if marijuana is the only thing that
works for a patient, I would accept that,'' Dr. Hill said.

``[But] as a medical doctor, I treated young people who were
habituated to marijuana, whose marks had suffered, whose lives were
wrecked. That's my concern.''

Mr. Rock was quick to dismiss the idea that Ottawa is moving toward
wider legalization.

``This has nothing to do with legalizing marijuana. It has to do with
the fact that there are people in Canada now who are suffering from
terminal illnesses who have symptoms which are very difficult and who
believe that access to medical marijuana can help with those symptoms.''

Bernard Bigras, the Bloc Quebecois MP who will announce today a
cross-country campaign for the legalization of the drug for medical
purposes, said he hopes police officers will no longer charge
terminally ill people who use the drug to alleviate their pain.

``This is a step in the right direction, but the battle is far from
being won. This is a question of compassion,'' Mr. Bigras said.

Eugene Oscapella, a founding member of the Canadian Foundation for
Drug Policy, which supports the decriminalization of many drugs for
medical purposes, said Mr. Rock's decision was ``long overdue.''

Mr. Rock's announcement came more than a year after an Ontario judge
ruled it is legal to grow and use marijuana for medicinal use.

In December, 1997, Justice Patrick Sheppard said that Terry Parker, a
Toronto resident, was deprived of his ``right to life, liberty and
security'' by being charged with possession of marijuana.

Mr. Parker had been smoking marijuana for more than 20 years to ease
the severity of epileptic seizures. An appeal of the judge's ruling
has yet to be heard.