MDS, LAWYERS PLAN STRATEGY FOR LEGAL MARIJUANA

A group of four doctors and lawyers met in Ottawa yesterday to come up with
a strategy to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes in Canada.

"We’ve built the framework of the plan, now we just have to flesh it out,"
Dr. Don Kilby says.

"I’m very encouraged. I think the atmosphere is right in this country,
there’s enough people who support legalizing marijuana for medicinal
reasons. We just need to come up with the best means of doing so."

The group is studying both health and narcotics legislation looking for the
best way to implement a policy that would allow seriously ill patients to
have access to marijuana.

They have planned a second meeting two weeks from now, when the group hopes
to firm up a policy suggestion to present to the federal government.

Advocates of the medical use of marijuana contend that it promotes appetite
and suppresses nausea, making it a potential lifesaver for patients
undergoing chemotherapy for cancer or battling the wasting syndrome caused
by AIDS.

Dr. Kilby says that considering drugs like heroin and cocaine have been
approved for treating patients, it shouldn’t alarm anyone that marijuana is
considered beneficial as well.

"We have to make people realize we have far more serious controlled drugs
that have been approved. Marijuana works for certain patients and there is
nothing to fear from it."

Dr. Kilby says the group is also encouraged by recent statements by Justice
Minister Anne McLellan, who supports having a national debate on the issue.
Health Minister Allan Rock has also promised to examine "with an open mind"
whether to decriminalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

An Angus Reid poll of 1,515 Canadians conducted in the last week of October
found 83 per cent of respondents supported the legalization of marijuana
for medicinal purposes.