MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE A COMPLEX ISSUE

Few of us would take medical marijuana away from the sufferers we read
about in a special report on the treatment in The Journal and Ottawa
Citizen - like the woman with multiple sclerosis and the former
soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Still, medical marijuana remains a problem for physicians and
governments. It is both an illegal street drug and a home remedy for a
variety of health problems, and the line between those two uses is not
always clear. As long as marijuana is an illegal high, there is a
possibility people will try to scam the system to get their weed.

As we learned in the special report, the number of applications for
medical marijuana made by people saying they have severe arthritis has
jumped 2,400 per cent in a two-year period. Severe arthritis is a
category that requires the OK of only one physician - unlike people
with hepatitis or ulcerative colitis, who must first get the approval
of a specialist. That appears to be a popular loophole. There are
others, and abuse is inevitable in a system that has the drug being
grown by individuals and small operators, not manufactured by large
pharmaceutical companies. That democratic nature of marijuana is both
its blessing and curse.

It's fascinating to hear the ways that patients themselves devise to
take the drug - puffers, capsules, tea, brownies, even a topical
cream. If the drug wasn't illegal, we could let people grow their own
and medicate themselves as they choose, without interference from
physicians or the government.

The reality is, though, that Canada cannot legalize marijuana unless
the United States follows suit. We share a long border with the
world's greatest power and if we want to preserve our easy access
across that border, our illegal drug laws need to be similar to those
in the U.S. That means pot is going to stay illegal for awhile, so its
medical use needs to be controlled by someone.

Currently, physicians and Health Canada jointly approve patients for
medical marijuana. Under proposals being considered by Health Canada,
the federal involvement would end and physicians alone would be able
to grant approval. Such a move would put the medical profession in a
difficult position as most physicians remain uneasy about approving
medical marijuana for their patients. The uses and efficacy of medical
marijuana have simply not been scientifically tested and defined
enough to confirm it as a legitimate treatment.

Indeed, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta states
flatly: "The college does not recommend physicians prescribe medical
marijuana to patients."

The scientific studies that physicians typically rely on might be a
long time coming in this case. Big drug companies appear disinterested
in marijuana, possibly because it holds little promise of
profitability. And the federal government terminated a medical
marijuana research project in 2006, which is a pity given the need for
better understanding of what marijuana can do for various ailments.

Health Canada might also replace the plethora of smallscale growers of
medical marijuana with licensed commercial producers. Currently,
12,000 people across the country are licensed to grow medical
marijuana. That proliferation has created problems for municipal
governments that find grow-ops in residential neighbourhoods causing
fire hazards and other safety concerns. Replacing all those growers
with fewer, larger commercial operators seems likely to reduce safety
concerns and improve control over the delivery of the marijuana to
approved patients.

What the federal government shouldn't lose sight of is that this drug
works for many people who suffer terrible pain and misery from cancer
and other debilitating conditions. While Ottawa attempts to tighten
the rules to prevent illegal uses, it should also take responsibility
for making sure people who need this drug can still get it legally.
Non-medicinal marijuana is illegal, but it's not cocaine or heroin.
Let's work on getting marijuana to those who use it for legitimate
medical reasons.