HEALTH CANADA BEING RIPPED OFF BY MEDICAL POT USERS

Government Agency Sends Stern Letters In Bid To Recover $168,879 In
Unpaid Bills

(CP) Like any dope dealer, Health Canada has its share of marijuana
customers who just don't pay their bills.

But unlike street pushers, the department avoids tire irons and
switchblades to recover its bad debts, in favour of stern letters and
collection agencies.

As of last month, 127 people authorized to buy government-certified
marijuana for various medical problems were officially in arrears,
with bills unpaid for more than 90 days.

That's almost half the 278 patients who receive Health Canada
marijuana or seeds, most of them buying 30-gram bags of ground buds
for $150. A package of 30 seeds goes for $20.

Altogether, patients in arrears now owe $168,879 to Health Canada for
medical marijuana, produced on contract by Prairie Plant Systems Inc.
for the federal government.

The arrears amount has swollen by more than $100,000 over the past
year alone, as department officials realized that their medical
marijuana policy never indicated to patients the consequences of not
paying their drug bills.

Spokesperson Chris Williams says the patients now receive reminder
letters and telephone calls from civil servants in the department's
corporate services branch, and are given an opportunity to set up a
repayment schedule.

"If all that is rejected, the supply would be halted," he said. So
far, 19 users have been cut off from further shipments because of non-payment.

After 180 days, a final letter is sent and if no money arrives within
10 days, the matter is turned over to a collection agency, as would
any other individual's stale account with Ottawa.

One medical marijuana user and activist slammed the Health Department
for requiring often-impoverished patients to buy the product, saying
taxpayers have already footed the bill once.

"The Canadian people have already paid for it - I think it's
absolutely horrible that we're charging them twice," said Alison
Myrden of Burlington, Ont., who has lived with multiple sclerosis for
more than a decade.

"We have no money as it is. Most of us are on full disability for
life. It's a choice between marijuana or food for most of us."

The first shipments of government pot in the fall of 2003 were of
such poor quality that many medical users gagged, coughed and
promptly returned the product.

The batch was weak, dry, ground up too fine and included the less
potent leaves and stems.

In May 2004, a new batch was released, eliminating the stems and
leaves. Made of flowering tops only, the new dope had a higher
moisture content and stronger levels of THC, the main active
ingredient, though the buds were still ground up to ensure consistency.

Some users complained but others appeared to be content about the
improved quality, though Myrden says the new batch still falls short
of what's available on the street. She does not buy government dope.

Prairie Plant Systems, which grows the weed in Flin Flon, Man.,
recently got a six-month extension of its $5.75-million contract with
Health Canada, to June 30. The extension is worth another $670,000.

The federal government plans to put out the next contract to tender
later this year, though it's unclear how the entire medical marijuana
program will fare under the new Tory government that will be sworn in today.

Former Tory health critic Stephen Fletcher declined to comment when
asked about the new government's policy.

"I can't speak for the party any more on these issues until the
leader picks the new health minister," he said.

Health Canada is also trying to set up a pilot project that would
allow regi stered users to buy government marijuana at pharmacies
without a prescription.