OTTAWA'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA PLAN 'FRAUGHT WITH DISASTER'

When you smoke marijuana to battle the effects of AIDS, it's no longer a
mindless pastime.

For a guy with a long criminal record and elaborate tattoos of dragons
wrapping around his neck and forearms, Rhodes takes his pot pretty seriously.

And he wants the federal government to do the same.

"They've got to make sure the weed's good enough," Rhodes said, before
lighting a joint at the John Street house he rents with his girlfriend.

If Ottawa is going to distribute marijuana to sick people, it should be
done right, the 25-year-old said.

Surprisingly, doctors and medical bodies across the country agree
completely with Rhodes - but for different reasons.

Forced into action by an Ontario court deadline, Health Minister Anne
McLellan announced last week a plan to supply marijuana to chronically ill
Canadians.

McLellan has said the court ruling essentially required the government to
meet a deadline to become a drug supplier, even though politicians aren't
yet convinced of marijuana's medical benefits.

Since the announcement, both physicians and sick pot smokers are
questioning the decision.

Rhodes worries about the quality and price of the government-grown weed.

He says the pot he buys illegally is stronger than the stuff Ottawa is
offering. His marijuana is 17-per-cent delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol - the
chemical known as THC that causes the high. Ottawa's is about 10 per cent.

Kingston-area doctors, on the other hand, are reluctant to prescribe a drug
they know very little about.

The Canadian Medical Association, which has 55,000 physician members, has
advised doctors to steer clear of pot prescriptions.

"At this point in time I won't be prescribing it. The whole thing is
fraught with disaster," said Dr. Laing McFadzean, a family physician in
Tamworth.

Whenever he decides on medicine for a patient, McFadzean weighs the drug's
benefits against its side-effects.

With hardly any scientific research on medicinal marijuana, McFadzean said
he could never prescribe pot to a patient.

Like most doctors, he said he doesn't know what other medications it's safe
to take with.

And if he prescribed pot even once, word would spread so quickly that a
host of pot smokers would end up on his doorstep looking for their ticket
to order the drug, he said.

"It looks to me like something they've pushed through quickly to comply
with a court order," he said.

Dr. Laurel Dempsey said she won't give her patients an opportunity to use
the drug. She's heard a lot of stories from patients who praise pot's
healing power, but not enough research that shows it's safe and effective.

She also took issue with McLellan's plan to have doctors distribute the
drug instead of pharmacists. If family clinics have stockpiles of marijuana
in their offices, it will invite a lot of trouble, she said.

"It doesn't make sense to isolate it this way," said Dempsey, who has a
practice in Verona.

"It's being dispersed in a completely different way than any other medical
drug."

Dr. Chris Milburn, a Kingston family doctor, said he's not entirely against
prescribing pot to ease chronic pain, but some things will have to change
before he writes a prescription.

Because marijuana is smoked, it could lead to lung cancer, he said. He
refuses to prescribe something that causes cancer, when there are so many
painkillers that don't.

"The potential for abuse is huge, and detrimental as opposed to helpful,"
Milburn said, adding that one of his patients has already asked him for a
prescription - and then asked if his friend could have one, too.

"It was pretty obvious that he didn't need it," said Milburn, who is the
Green Party's candidate for Kingston and the Islands in the provincial
election expected to be called as early as September.

Rhodes insists his need for weed is genuine.

He's started to fill out the 28-page application that Health Canada
requires for him to get a licence.

If he's approved, he'll be free to possess marijuana and order it through
his doctor.

He smokes about six joints throughout the day, from when he gets up in the
morning until night falls.

"I've lived with this virus in my head every day," he said.

"You wake up in the morning and take medication that makes you feel so vile
that you're puking every which way. You've got family members thinking that
you're dying.

"But if I smoke a joint, I'm not puking."

He knows that pot can cause respiratory problems and possibly lead to lung
cancer.

But when he thinks back to the way he was before he began using pot, with a
gaunt frame, no appetite and constant nausea, he's convinced it's the best
drug for him.

"I'm not stupid. I can still function. I can walk and talk. It helps me eat
and it helps me sleep," said Rhodes, who was diagnosed with HIV at age 14
while serving a sentence at the Brookside Youth Centre in Cobourg.

He's been out of medium-security Warkworth Institution for a year, where he
served a different sentence for aggravated assault and attempted murder.

He's under close watch by Kingston Police because of a court order and he's
trying to stay clean - but he has to smoke pot to keep on, he said.

"People say 'Oh no, it burns you out,' but I get energy.

"It opens up a pleasure thing in your head ... Having AIDS, it helps you
face everyday little stupid stuff that brings you down."