FEDS EASE LAWS FOR POT

Approved Smokers Can Now Pay Growers

By STEPHANIE RUBEC

OTTAWA -- In a bid to boost the availability of pot, the feds have softened
medicinal marijuana rules. Health Canada announced yesterday that it's okay
to pay a licensed grower for their weed. And the department also cut down
on the red tape in the application process. It now only requires a patient
to obtain the recommendation from one medical specialist -- not two.

Health Canada spokesman Catherine Saunders said the move responds to an
Ontario Court of Appeal ruling in October that criticized the federal
medicinal marijuana program for making it too difficult to get access to
pot. By striking down rules that require a licensed grower to provide
medicinal marijuana for free, Saunders said Health Canada hopes more people
might be willing to cultivate the crop.

"It might make it more available when you compensate the licensed grower,"
Saunders said. "Basically, you can pay a fee for a service rendered."

ONE USER

Saunders said there are no changes to the rule that licensed growers can
only provide pot to one user and a maximum of three people can pool their
resources to grow medicinal marijuana.

"It wouldn't become a business in that you can only grow for one person,"
she said.

The feds provide 30 seeds for $20. Dried marijuana is also being provided
by Ottawa for the bargain price of $5 a gram -- about $10 cheaper than it
goes for on the street.

Health Canada has okayed 697 Canadians for possessing marijuana for medical
purposes and another 530 people are allowed to cultivate pot -- most of
them in Ontario.

The feds have received and approved 75 requests for pot or marijuana seeds
from Canadians who have permission to possess it.