CANADA ORDERS CLINICAL TRIALS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Health Minister Allan Rock said Wednesday he has
ordered officials to develop clinical trials for the medical use of
marijuana and to determine how to grant safe access to the drug.

Rock insisted, however, that this was not the first step towards
legalization of marijuana but an opposition member of parliament, Grant
Hill, a medical doctor, immediately questioned whether it would not lead to
more than pain relief.

``There are Canadians who are suffering from terminal illnesses who are in
pain or suffering from difficult symptoms who believe that smoking medical
marijuana can help with those symptoms,'' Rock, a Liberal, told reporters.

The debate has echoes in the United States, where voters in seven states and
the District of Columbia have approved the medical use of marijuana over the
strenuous opposition of the federal anti-drug czar, Barry McCaffrey.

Dr. Hill, the health spokesman for Canada's opposition Reform Party, said he
could go along with clinical trials but added: ''It's quite controversial,
because it could lead to other things.''

Rock's formative years were in the long-haired, free-smoking sixties. Asked
if he had smoked marijuana, the prime ministerial aspirant merely gave a
broad smile.