FEDS SAY TIME FOR MEDICAL POT REVIEW

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,"
said Steve Outhouse, a spokesperson for Health Minister Leona
Aglukkaq, on Friday.

Outhouse was speaking in response to the Ottawa Citizen's recent
series looking at medical marijuana licensing and use in Canada. The
series was based on electronic data the Citizen 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 Marijuana Medical Access Regulations,
said Outhouse.

They include better educating doctors on how to prescribe medical
marijuana and eliminating the right of patients to be granted a
licence to grow in their homes, 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.

"The other thing ... we're proposing is that people wouldn't grow in
homes. That it would be available through a centralized location,
whatever company would grow it, to treat it as much as any other drug."

Outhouse said the health minister is concerned about the safety risks
involved with allowing people to grow marijuana plants in their home.

He said it's also difficult to regulate plant growth in homes, and
there is a risk of people growing more marijuana than they are permitted.

"If we can reduce and eliminate that at the home level, then I think a
lot of these issues will be dealt with," said Outhouse.

However, under the proposed changes, Health Canada wants to remove
itself as the ultimate arbiter in approving or rejecting applications
to possess marijuana for medical reasons.