JUSTICE MINISTER CALLS FOR NATIONAL DEBATE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Canada's justice minister thinks it's time for a national debate on whether
to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"I think that this is an issue that is gaining some momentum within
Canadian society. Therefore, I don't think we as Canadians should be afraid
to discuss the issue," Justice Minister Anne McLellan said in an interview.

Though careful not to express an opinion on decriminalization, she added:
"I think it's an issue that is worthy of study and I think we're kind of
kidding ourselves if we think the pressure to look at this issue will go
away. I think in fact it will probably grow."

Ms. McLellan's comments come as the RCMP in Ottawa investigates a network
of growers, patients and doctors that provides free or discount marijuana
to AIDS and cancer patients.

A group of doctors is planning to meet in Ottawa next week to come up with
a strategy on how to provide the drug to seriously ill patients.

And Reform MP Jim Hart has introduced a motion in the Commons to debate the
decriminalization of marijuana "for health purposes, explicitly for the
purpose of providing pain relief for the terminally ill."

Ms. McLellan, whose department is responsible for prosecutions under
Canada's drug laws, said the medical profession and health ministers
should lead the debate because it is essentially a health issue.

"It seems to me if you were going to make a case for the medicinal use of
certain drugs, you can only make that case on the basis of healthrelated
and scientific data, which means you've got to have the medical community,
the nursing community, the research community and the patient community
involved.

"It's probably healthcare professionals, patients and others in that area
who are best placed to help others of us understand the dimensions of the
debate and think about how, if at all, the tools we have might help provide
a solution to what is obviously a difficult social problem."

Ms. McLellan said she has discussed the issue with Health Minister Allan
Rock and officials from their two departments will discuss "where
potentially we should go."

Mr. Rock was unavailable for comment, but two doctors in the Liberal caucus
endorsed Ms. McLellan's call for a debate.

Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Hedy Fry said doctors can now
legally prescribe THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in pill form.

"If it is shown very clearly that THC is effective as a therapeutic drug in
treating terminally ill patients' nausea, why are we looking at restricting
it to only one mode of ingestion, the synthetic pill? We don't do that with
any other drug," said the minister, a Vancouver doctor.

"If it's useful why not use it in the other forms that we can use it, the
only other form we know of being the smokable variety? I think it's worth
looking at."

Carolyn Bennett, a Liberal MP and Toronto doctor, said she she has seen
multiple sclerosis patients get relief from spasms using marijuana.

"When things work for people, they use it, and I feel it's a shame that if
something actually makes people feel better that you're asking them to do
something illegal," Dr. Bennett said in an interview.

"I favour that there should be a discussion and obviously I think I would
push that we should be helping these people achieve it in a legal manner."

If the law is ever changed, Ms. McLellan said the use of drugs would
obviously be a matter between patients and their doctors.

"A law can't decide whether you are sufficiently ill and suffering and in
pain that the medicinal use of marijuana is something that is medically
necessary. It does seem to me those are the kinds of decisions that we
leave to doctors and patients once you make a policy decision that
medicinal use of certain heretofore prohibited substances is acceptable."

As to whether she favors a change in the laws, Ms. McLellan replied: "My
personal views don't matter.

"It's not one of those range of issues where I think a legislature, be it
federal or provincial, has a magic answer. I think in fact it is something
that implicates moral and ethical dimensions here and it's something that
Canadians need to talk about and I think it's healthy that they're starting
to."

She said the government "shouldn't presume we have the answer" but can help
facilitate, along with the provinces and medical community, a dialogue.

The justice minister did concede that until the laws are changed, those who
use marijuana for medicinal purposes may still face criminal charges.

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.

Advocates of the medical use of marijuana contend 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.