MEDICAL MARIJUANA TO SELL FOR $5 PER GRAM

There is no question physicians will play a crucial role in implementing
Canada's new interim policy for providing medical marijuana, but many
questions remain about how they will do it.

Under the interim policy, announced July 9, the 582 Canadian patients who
have met requirements of the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR)
will be allowed to buy 30 marijuana seeds for $20, and then grow them for
medical purposes. They will also be able to buy dried marijuana for $5 per
gram, or about $140 an ounce. (Black-market marijuana costs $300 to $750 an
ounce, according to the RCMP.) Health Canada currently has 370 kg of
marijuana with a THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content of 10% ready for
distribution. Physician approval is required before patients can receive it.

The seeds and marijuana will be provided by Prairie Plant Systems Inc. in
Flin Flon, Man., which is under contract with Health Canada to produce
marijuana for clinical trials. The marijuana will be sent to participating
physicians for distribution purposes; only doctors who have signed a
patient's MMAR form will be asked to do this. Cindy Cripps-Prawak, director
of the Office of Cannabis Medical Access, said MDs "are acting as an
intermediary for Health Canada" in the distribution.

She said the amount provided "will be based on the dosage recommended by
the physician," and this could be as much as 4.2 g per day (about 6
cigarettes). There are no clinical guidelines. Setting the exact dosage is
a "challenge Health Canada and doctors share," Cripps-Prawak added. For
health reasons, patients will be encouraged to use the drug as a tea or in
baked goods instead of smoking it.

Ottawa was forced to put an interim policy in place after the Ontario
Superior Court ruled that the federal regulations were unconstitutional
because they did not provide a distribution method. The court gave the
government 6 months to act. If it had not, the 582 exemptions allowing
medicinal use of the drug would have become invalid.

Although Ottawa tried to put a positive spin on the policy, CMA President
Dana Hanson was less than impressed. "Our unease over use of medical
marijuana has been ignored in this new policy," he said.

However, Hanson also acknowledged that despite physicians' displeasure over
their unsought role in the medical marijuana debate, they must continue to
participate in it. "The government needs to get it right, so we continue to
be willing to work with them," he said.