OTTAWA WANTS POT USERS TO PAY UP

OTTAWA (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 currently 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 last
year alone, as department officials realized that their medical
marijuana policy never indicated to patients the consequences of not
paying their drug bills.

Spokesman Chris Williams says these 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 in an
interview. 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 marijuana in the fall of 2003 were
of such poor quality, 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 stem 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 a Flin Flon, Man.,
mineshaft, 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 to be sworn in Monday.

Former Tory health critic Stephen Fletcher, who has raised tough
questions about the program in the Commons, 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 in an interview.

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

The already delayed project, which was to have begun early this year,
has been delayed again until at least the summer.

"A lot of these policies were put on hold until the election is
over," Williams said.