PERMITTED TO USE POT

Nova Scotia Has Highest Percentage of Authorized Medical Marijuana Users

NOVA SCOTIANS use more medical marijuana per capita than anyone else
in the country, the latest Health Canada figures show.

About one person for every 1,914 Nova Scotians is authorized by the
federal government to use the drug, compared to one for every 8,013
people in Ontario and one for every 4,420 in British Columbia.

The ratios are based on Statistics Canada's population number of
940,744 for Nova Scotia, and its figures for Ontario and British Columbia.

The feds have approved 491 Nova Scotians to use the drug, while there
are 159 doctors in the province who support prescribing it, according
to figures from Health Canada's website.

In Ontario, 1,631 patients have been cleared to use marijuana for
medicinal purposes, backed up by 801 doctors. In B.C., there are 1,008
approved medical users and 536 physicians who support access to it.

In pure numbers, Nova Scotia places third in the country for
authorized medical marijuana use behind Ontario and B.C., Health
Canada tables show. The province has held third place since 2007.

Just over 4,000 Canadians (4,029) have been green-lighted by Ottawa to
have dried pot. The dried form of the drug is the only kind allowed
for medical use under Canadian law, aside from seeds sent to
authorized growers.

The higher numbers are not surprising to John Cook, who runs the
Cannabis Buyers' Club near Halifax.

He points to Nova Scotians' high rates of disease and disabilities as
the most likely reason.

"I would probably correlate it with the disability rates," Cook said.
"It's due to my own investigating."

He suspects the numbers are even higher because many decide to buy
privately rather than going through the federal authorization process.

Most of his customers suffer from serious conditions. "Mostly it's
pain-related illnesses, glaucoma. It goes from one spectrum to the
other," said Cook. "A lot of more elderly people are now open to it."

Cook's club has about 150 members. Only about 10 per cent of them are
authorized by the feds to use pot.

A Health Canada spokesman wasn't available Friday to provide a reason
for the higher Nova Scotia numbers.

But this province has among the highest cancer rates in the country,
more per 100,000 people than both Ontario and B.C., the two other
provinces with large numbers of authorized medical pot users.

Current figures from Statistics Canada, based on 2006 surveys, show
615.9 cases of cancer per 100,000 people, or 5,789 Nova Scotians.
(Newer numbers are expected in July.)

Medical marijuana is often used to help ease pain from several
diseases, including cancer and multiple sclerosis.

Aside from cancer, Health Canada also recognizes AIDS or HIV
infection, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury or disease, severe
arthritis and epilepsy as diseases for which medical pot may be used.

Those with symptoms that correlate with end-of-life situations may
also be granted the drug. Those suffering from other conditions must
have a medical specialist conduct an assessment, Health Canada said.

Medical marijuana became legally available in July 2001 to Canadians
with serious illnesses.

Applications to sue marijuana for medicinal purposes have also climbed
in the country since the program's inception. Federal statistics show
numbers have increased from under 20 seeking it in August 2001, the
month after Ottawa OK'd its use, to about 220 applications in April
2009. The numbers represent new applicants, not renewals.

In order to be authorized, grow it for one's own medical purposes or
get pot from a designated grower, an applicant must not have been
convicted of a criminal drug offence before May 14, 1997, the rules
state. Those who grow the product are provided with marijuana seeds.

All of Canada's legal medical marijuana comes from Prairie Plant
Systems, which has a four-year, $14.6-million contract to grow the
drug in Manitoba.

Health Canada recoups some cash by charging authorized users about $5
per gram plus GST and seed buyers $20 per package of 30 seeds plus
GST, a Health Canada spokesman said in an email Friday.

The federal government is reviewing the cost of the Medical Marijuana
Access program, and a Health Canada official said Ottawa couldn't
provide a cost breakdown by region.

So far, the RCMP in Nova Scotia have not investigated anyone for
abusing the program, said Sgt. Dan MacGillivray with the Mounties'
drug division.

"There are occasions (we hear) of a possible grow-op and then we learn
that there is a licence at a particular address," the sergeant said.