GOVERNMENT CANNABIS UNFIT FOR HUMANS, SAY CANADIAN PATIENTS

As a purveyor of marijuana, the Canadian government apparently has a
lot learn from drug dealers on the streets. Above all, it needs to
find out how to tell the good stuff from the dross.

So say the first customers of a federal programme started by Ottawa in
July to supply the terminally ill with state-sponsored weed. Only 10
people across Canada have signed up so far, and the reviews have not
been good. They are calling it "disgusting" and they want their money
back.

"It's totally unsuitable for human consumption," Jim Wakeford, 58, an
Aids patient in Gibsons, British Columbia, said. Likewise, Barrie
Dalley, a 52-year-old from Toronto who had hoped the legal marijuana
would ease the nausea associated with Aids. Both men are returning the
one-ounce bags. Mr Dalley is asking for a full refund.

The scheme is part of a wider attempt by the authorities to balance
the strictures of anti-drug laws with the demands of drug users. This
week also saw the opening of North America's first legal drug
injection clinic, in a notoriously drug-infested neighbourhood of Vancouver.

Canada is suffering stern rebukes from officials in the United States,
who complain that Ottawa's drug policies are too liberal. Washington
recently denounced Canada's decision to relax its approach to
marijuana as tantamount to "state-sponsored suicide".

Anger in the United States has been focused on moves in the Ottawa
parliament to decriminalise the possession of small amounts of
marijuana. Washington has warned that such a step will force US
customs authorities to tighten controls along the border.

But the clinic, in the downtown Eastside area of Vancouver, may be
seen as the last straw by US officials. Up to 800 people a day are
expected to use the facility. They will be given conselling and clean
needles to inject on site.