GETTING MEDICAL MARIJUANA TO THE PEOPLE WHO NEED IT

The federal government is promising to create a new and improved
system of medical marijuana, but does it have the will to make that
system work for patients?

The current system is broken. Patients from around the country - a
Saskatchewanian with migraine, a Quebecker with degenerative disc
disease, a Nova Scotian with glaucoma - testified in an Ontario court
case that they had been trying in vain for years. The court said in
April that the system is unconstitutional because patients can't get
the medical marijuana that would give them pain relief. The
government is appealing that ruling.

Why doesn't the medical-marijuana system work? Partly because a
doctor's note is needed, and doctors have largely boycotted the
system. And partly because the patients who do obtain a doctor's note
need further approval from Health Canada, which has behaved,
according to Mr. Justice D.J. Taliano, with a "tight, almost miserly,
control." Some applications sat for as long as nine months without
approval or rejection. Health Canada says the program was meant for
"a small number of persons," but the judge points out that it is a
matter of constitutional rights, not a numbers game.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq's proposed new system contains at
least one big improvement: Health Canada will take itself out of the
game. A doctor's note will be enough for a patient to obtain the drug
- - this time from a licensed commercial grower. Also good: Doctors
will be consulted on the wording of that note, or declaration.

Therein lie some potential problems. Will doctors accept a role as
the system's gatekeeper? Or should that role be limited to merely
writing a note confirming that patient x has a particular condition?
Will the government be prepared to accept doctors' legitimate
concerns, and will doctors go into consultations with an open mind?

The licensing and regulating of commercial growers may help win over
doctors, and even help de-stigmatize marijuana, which would seem to
run counter to the government's larger agenda on drugs. But is it
necessary to bar patients (or their caregivers) from growing their
own supply, if they have found the right strain of the plant for themselves?

When Ms. Aglukkaq announced public consultations on improvements to
the medical marijuana system, she stressed the anti-crime agenda -
the need to "reduce the risk of abuse and exploitation by criminal
elements and keep our children and communities safe," rather than to
help sick people. As Paul Lewin, who represented a patient in the
court challenge, says, "I think there is a hostility to all things
marijuana and they're proud of this hostility. It's a badge of honour
they hold up." This anti-marijuana government will need to show
resolve to fix the system so it works for patients.