MEDICAL USERS SPURNING 'STRONGER' MARIJUANA

OTTAWA (CP) - Some patients are spurning a new batch of
government-certified marijuana, dismissing Health Canada claims that
it's a stronger, better quality smoke.

"It's no good," Marco Renda, 45, said Monday from his home in
Dundalk, Ont. "I took two puffs and I put it out.

"It had a chemical taste to it. It didn't taste right to me and it
didn't burn properly. It had no effect."

Prairie Plant Systems, which produces medical marijuana on contract
for Health Canada, began shipping a second batch of its product on May
21 after getting bad reviews about the initial harvest.

Users complained the first batch last summer was too dry and powdery,
and seemed far less potent than the package claim of THC content at
10.2 per cent. THC is the primary active ingredient in marijuana.

Health Canada says the new batch is 12 per cent THC, plus or minus 1.5
percentage points, has fewer leaves and twigs and more flowering tops,
making it a purer smoke.

"We've listened to complaints . . . that we've received from
stakeholders about the moisture content in the product and of the
potency," said Catherine Saunders, spokeswoman for Health Canada.

"Informally, I've been told . . . that the feedback (on the second
batch) has been positive overall."

But Renda, who runs a website for medical users, said that "whoever
has tried it has given me the feedback that it's not worth it."

A spokesman for Canadians for Safe Access, a Victoria-based group
representing medical users, is warning all patients away from the new
dope at least until it completes new lab tests.

"Nobody should smoke this stuff until we see test results ourselves
and until we get an explanation from Health Canada about what happened
with the first batch," Philippe Lucas said Monday.

"We've called right now for a moratorium on the use, research and
distribution of this cannabis."

Lucas says his group had the first batch tested by independent labs,
which found the THC content to be less than half the advertised level
of 10.2 per cent.

Internal documents from Health Canada also suggest the material
contains other potentially harmful contaminants, he said.

Health Canada disagrees, saying its own testing shows the marijuana
has acceptably low levels of contaminants and is as potent as claimed.

Currently, there are 70 licensed Canadians who have received Prairie
Plant Systems marijuana, which costs $150 plus GST for a 30-gram bag.
Forty-seven licensed users have also received the company's seeds to
grow their own.

Patients say marijuana helps relieve a variety of symptoms caused by
AIDS, hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis and other medical conditions.

Health Canada - which was required by the courts to provide the
marijuana - says the medical case for marijuana remains unproven.