THE POT THICKENS

Big Pharma Budding into Medical Pot Plan With Pill for the Ill

The med grass community is fuming. Not over the Libs' lousy pot
legislation, but over Health Canada's sneaky new regs requiring them to get
their official pot at pharmacies. At first glance, doling out Prairie Plant
Systems' stockpiled "dirtweed" through drug stores seems like a wonderful
idea. But many users are worried that the plan is intended to grease the
way for Big Pharma to monopolize the med-grass supply, thus ending licensed
users' right to grow their own safe, cheap, effective stash, and
threatening compassion clubs with police crackdowns.

There certainly is a lot of room for paranoia. The appearance of new
players on the horizon -- like the UK's GW Pharmaceuticals, which is hoping
to get the nod from Health Canada for its synthetic cannabis spray, Sativex
- -- has only fed fears that the Libs are bent on a private-enterprise solution.

Then there's Canuck company CannaSat, backed by Moses Znaimer, which is
angling to get permission for clinical trials of Prairie Plant Systems'
"mine swag." What is freaking out medgrass folks big time is that the lead
consultant for CannaSat is none other than pot's highest-profile courtroom
champion, lawyer Alan Young.

Intrigue all around. Not least of which is Health Canada's stealth in
ramming through the changes mandating drugstore purchase to the Medical
Marijuana Access Regulations (MMAR). Instead of allowing for parliamentary
scrutiny, the department published the new regs in the parliamentary
journal Canada Gazette. This makes these amendments to the Narcotics
Control Act legit after a 30-day public comment period -- no debate in the
House required.

Health Canada envisions a program in which cardholders "present their
prescription to a pharmacist to obtain dried marihuana." Fewer than 100
people now receive their "swag in a bag" from Prairie Plant Systems, and
the sub-par product is delivered directly to their homes.

By contrast, some 8,000 Canadians use compassion clubs to acquire
medicinal-grade marijuana to treat terminal or chronic illnesses. Much of
this is illegal, though many clubs demand a doctor's prescription to score.

One million Canadians claim their marijuana use is medicinal. Many people
seem to be using the drug-warrior slogan "Just say no" when it comes to
pharmaceuticals. "Pot, not pills!" is their mantra.

Unlike taking large helpings of opiates, toking the reefer to treat my
chronic debilitating oseteoarthritis allows me to go from disabled to able.

Toronto Compassion Club member, MS sufferer and MMAR cardholder Alison
Myrden, a long-time activist, echoes these sentiments. The herb, when it's
the right strain, gets her mobile, chatty and helps her keep her dinner
down. The idea that the feds may be remodelling the system rattles her
completely. "It's making me freak," she says, confiding that the added
stress is causing her to vomit more than usual. "I'm panicked. I'm so
worried that they're trying to phase out growing our own, and that they'll
go after compassion clubs."

Currently, the feds have given 572 users permission to produce their own
cannabis or designate someone to do it for them. Says Philippe Lucas of
Canadians for Safe Access, "I want to make it clear that these people
didn't join the program to become cannabis farmers. They want the right to
have multiple strains, multiple methods of ingestion, and growing methods
that are safe. Health Canada is not talking about doing something
beneficial for the end user."

HC, for its part, vehemently denies that it'll ask for the return of the
personal production licences. Still, HC spokesperson Cathryn Saunders does
admit that the forthcoming amendments "could change the marijuana base."

It's Young's opinion that the community's fear of losing the right to grow
is a very valid one, though he sees no move afoot to get rid of compassion
clubs.

Young, meanwhile, finds himself at the centre of a raging controversy
because of his new corporate connection to CannaSat. The lack of
information regarding CannaSat's intentions -- a press conference keeps
being put off -- has sparked an incredible amount of speculation that a
select few are going to corner the market. Some have accused Young and a
group of MMAR cardholders who are supposedly investing in CannaSat of
"selling out" or profiting off illnesses.

Young answers the criticisms by telling me, "CannaSat welcomes the
decentralized system. We encourage and support what is currently available
in production licences and designated producers, and I personally support
compassion clubs.

"But Health Canada," he adds, "has already announced that its long-term
goal is to get rid of all distribution except through pharmacies and
Prairie Plant Systems. That's its policy."

CannaSat is talking with Health Canada about conducting clinical trials.
"Because so little is known about cannabinoids, we feel it would be futile
to start extracting synthetic compounds and derivatives. We value the
plant." The goal of CannaSat is to do research on various strains to
identify which can target certain symptoms.

By law, the marijuana for clinical trials has to come from Prairie Plant
Systems, which currently provides only one strain.

While Canadians for Safe Access claims Prairie Plant Systems grass is
unsafe, Young says he would not be using it if it were. "I'm convinced that
the product is safe. Whether it's effective -- I'll work on that. It turns
out the elevated levels of heavy metals (reported by Canadians for Safe
Access earlier this year in the government-issued grass) are no different
than those found in grocery store products."

The cannabis from Prairie Plant Systems has been improving since Canadians
for Safe Access began its own independent tests without the consent of
Health Canada. That's good news, but Lucas insists the weed is still unsafe
and unusable. While its THC count has risen to 12 per cent, Lucas says the
grind is too fine and the twigs too big.

GW Pharmaceutical grows its own marijuana in a controlled environment for
its cannabinoid medicine, Sativex. Though the company can identify the
exact plant that goes into each individual puffer, Sativex is not an herbal
product.

"There's no way for a precise amount of cannabis to be baked into, say, two
mouthfuls of cake," says GW spokesperson Mark Rogerson. "It isn't a
pharmaceutical. Anyone can bake a cake, but there's a huge problem with
dosage."

The company has sidestepped the whole medical marijuana debate by seeking
to have Sativex approved like any other pharma product.

Its clinical trials have been submitted to Health Canada, and the company
hopes to be issued a Drug Identification Number and a Notice of Compliance
within the next year and a half. This would allow doctors to prescribe
Sativex without going through the lengthy MMAR process and allow
pharmacists to fill the script without requiring any of the proposed
changes to the Narcotics Control Act.

In the future world of DIN numbers and dried marijuana distributed by
pharmacies, will both agencies renew their efforts to shut us grassroots
pioneers down?

Says Young, "Marijuana's a very complex plant. A great deal of research
needs to be done. There is a role for the underground to play. Its members
have a lot of experience."