DUTCH GOVERNMENT CAN'T SELL ITS POT

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - There's a whiff of crisis in the air at the
Dutch Health Ministry: It's sitting on a pile of pot that it just can't
sell.

The Netherlands rolled out a program last year that allows patients to
buy prescription marijuana at any pharmacy. Some medical insurance
policies cover at least part of the cost, but often not enough to
offset the pharmacy price. In a country where any adult can walk into
a "coffee shop" and smoke a joint for much less than the government
price, many say the experiment is a bust.

"I think it's a shame that they can't deliver a cannabis product a
little bit cheaper than the coffee shops," said David Watson, head of
Hortapharm, an Amsterdam-based company licensed to research and
develop cannabis for pharmaceutical use.

"Why is it that a legal commodity is more expensive than an illegal
commodity?"

The government says packaging and distribution push up its prices, and
acknowledges its program may be foundering. Of some 450 pounds in
anticipated sales, only about 175 pounds have been sold, said Bas
Kuik, spokesman for the Office of Medicinal Cannabis, an arm of the
Dutch Ministry of Health.

The government sells two varieties ranging from about $10 to $12 a
gram - enough for up to four joints. Coffee shops sell it for $5 a
gram, with only the highest-quality weed fetching prices comparable to
the government's.