DOPE STILL STINKS: MEDICAL USERS

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."