FEDS TO TIGHTEN MEDICAL POT RULES

Canada's medical marijuana licensing system is vulnerable to abuse and
needs to be tightened up, says the health minister after data emerged
this week revealing a surge in possibly fraudulent applications.

"We're aware that there are opportunities and risks of the system
being abused, which is why we are working to tighten up the system,"
Steve Outhouse, a spokesman for Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, said Friday.

Outhouse was speaking in response to an Ottawa Citizen series looking
at medical marijuana licensing and use in Canada. The series was based
on electronic data obtained from Health Canada through the Access to
Information Act.

The figures showed, for example, that between 2008 and 2010
applications to Health Canada for medical marijuana based on severe
arthritis claims jumped 2,400 per cent.

There are two main changes Aglukkaq has proposed to prevent
exploitation of the government's Marihuana Medical Access Regulations,
said Outhouse.

They include better educating doctors on how to prescribe the drug and
eliminating licences for patients to grow their own, he said.

"We want to be able to get more information out to doctors - because
often doctors don't have all the information they need to make an
informed decision as to whether or not to prescribe," said Outhouse.

Outhouse said the health minister is concerned about the safety risks
involved with allowing people to grow pot in their home. He said it's
also difficult to regulate.

The Canadian Medical Association has said the proposals would put even
greater pressure on doctors to control access to a largely untested
and unregulated substance.

The new regulations are expected to be finalized in 2012.