MEDICAL DOPE STILL A JOKE, SAY USERS

OTTAWA -- Some patients are spurning a new batch of
governmentcertified 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." And 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 by all legal medical users." 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.
Fortyseven 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

Almost 600 users have been given permission to grow their own
marijuana from seeds or to have designated growers cultivate it for
them. Most such users and growers obtain their seeds from the black
market