UN WARNS CANADA TO TIGHTEN POT PROGRAM

Justice Minister Robert Nicholson said Wednesday the government's
medical marijuana regulations are under review after the UN's drugs
watchdog warned Canada needs to tighten up the system.

The International Narcotics Control Board said Canada is operating
outside international treaty rules aimed at minimizing the risk
criminals will get hold of cannabis grown under the program. "The
whole question of medical marijuana is being looked at by the minister
of health with respect to the options that she has," said Nicholson,
whose ministry serves as the umbrella agency for the government's
anti-drug efforts.

The warning in the INCB's annual report accompanies praise for the
government's National Anti-Drug Strategy, which the board said it
notes "with appreciation."

Nicholson said he took heart from that, adding it "plays very well"
into government efforts to push through a crime bill containing
tougher drugs-offences sentencing provisions that has been held up in
the Senate.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews also argued the report "provides
further proof that Canada is recognized internationally as a leader in
crime prevention."

Canada increased the number of cannabis cultivation licences a person
can hold last year after court decisions stated patients' earlier
access had been too restricted. Health Canada has issued almost 4,900
permits allowing people to possess medical marijuana they get from
more than 1,100 licensed growers, some of whom are growing it for
their own use.

"Canada continues to be one of the few countries in the world that
allows cannabis to be prescribed by doctors to patients with certain
serious illnesses," said the INCB report.

But the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics, which Canada has signed,
says the government must be the sole distributor of the substance. The
opportunity for misuse of the system is reflected in an RCMP review
identifying 40 cases in which licensed growers were also trafficking
marijuana for profit.