FEDS PANNED FOR POT MEDDLING

Health Canada Tries to Keep Daily Medical Marijuana Consumption
Low

Health Canada has been contacting doctors who prescribe medical
marijuana for their government-approved patients, advising them to
keep the dosages low.

Some users say that not only violates doctor-patient confidentiality,
it's also wrong for bureaucrats to make judgments about the medical
needs of people they've never seen.

"A person's medication should be between him and his doctor," said
Tony Adams, 60, a medical marijuana user in Victoria.

"There shouldn't be some bureaucrat in Ottawa that's never met me.
Everybody has different needs for medications."

Adams, a licensed user who's been smoking seven grams of marijuana
daily, recently applied to Health Canada to increase the dose to 10
grams, with his doctor's authorization. Official approval from Ottawa
is needed so that Adam can legally grow the appropriate number of
marijuana plants, set by Health Canada at five plants for each daily
gram.

But a program official in Ottawa challenged Adams' doctor in a
telephone call, saying most patients need no more than five grams.
Adams, who has severe arthritis and degenerative disc disease, later
received a new licence for just five grams a day.

"I'm just really (angry) about the whole situation. ... I need to get
to the bottom of this."

Similarly, Alison Myrden in Burlington, Ont., says her doctor was
challenged by Health Canada bureaucrats about her 20- to 28-gram daily
dose.

"They asked to lower it more than once, and my doctor and I both
refused," said Myrden, 43, who uses marijuana for multiple sclerosis
and another painful condition. Her message to Health Canada: "Back
off -- leave our doctors alone."

The department's recent campaign to keep doses to five grams or less
includes postings on its website referring to external surveys and
studies indicating most medical users need only one to three grams
daily, "whether it is taken orally, or inhaled or a combination of
both."

Another posting indicates more than 85 per cent of Canada's licensed
users take five grams or less each day.

And a fact sheet mailed to doctors warns that "an elevated daily
dosage of more than five grams may increase risks with respect to the
effect on cardiovascular, pulmonary and immune systems and psychomotor
performance, as well as potential drug dependency."

Health Canada also sent a letter recently to the Canadian Medical
Association advising doctors about appropriate daily amounts.

A spokesman for the department said dosage decisions are always left
to doctors.

"Occasionally, Health Canada contacts physicians to verify or clarify
some of the information provided in the application," Renee Bergeron
said.

"As part of this discussion, Health Canada provides the opportunity
for medical practitioners to obtain more information about the
program, including information available on the website with regards
to daily amount."

Recent efforts to restrict dosage levels may be related to concerns
about criminal activity. Last fall, for example, the department
received a letter of complaint from someone in Agriculture Minister
Chuck Strahl's riding of Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon, B.C.