MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISTRIBUTION IS ABOUT TO BEGIN IN CANADA

OTTAWA - Doctors will be allowed to dispense medicinal marijuana from their
offices under a federal plan that drew criticism last week from medical
officials and patients. As early as Thursday, the government will start
delivering the drug to doctors treating up to 582 Canadians who have the
right to use it. The drug will be in the form of seeds - so patients can
grow it themselves - or mature cannabis cultivated at an abandoned mine in
Flin Flon, Manitoba.

The marijuana will sell for $3.64 (U.S.) per gram, well below the estimated
street value of $7.27 to $18.18, and the seeds for $14.55 per bag of 30.

The president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dana Hanson, denounced
the plan, saying the association will counsel doctors not to dispense the
drug because its effectiveness has not been proven.

Doctors may face increased liability if individuals suffer negative side
effects, and doctors' offices could be robbed, he said.

"Doctors don't deal in sacrificing the health and safety of our patients. We
would recommend that doctors not participate in dispensing marijuana,"
Hanson said.

Patients can begin applying for the drug immediately, said Cindy
Cripps-Prawak, director of the government's cannabis medical-access program.
The plan gave no details on how patients would pay.

Cripps-Prawak said she is certain that some doctors will distribute the
marijuana since many have already helped patients obtain exemption
certificates.

"It strikes me as unlikely that a physician will say (that) this is
important for his patient but he is not willing to proceed with the
process," Cripps-Prawak said.

Hanson acknowledged that his association cannot order doctors not to
participate.

Ottawa was forced to make the supply available to comply with an Ontario
court decision released in January. The government plans to appeal that
ruling.Health Minister Anne McLellan exhibited her own reluctance about the
plan when she said in Edmonton that the drug's therapeutic value has not
been proved.

"There have been no studies anywhere in the world that have been able to
confirm medicinal benefit," she said.

Asked if she would cancel the process if Ottawa wins its appeal, she said,
"It was never the intention of us to sell product."

Cripps-Prawak added that the distribution plan can be amended at any time.

Philippe Lucas, director of Canadians for Safe Access and a medical user of
the drug, called the move to distribute the drug a last-minute effort that
smacked of bad faith.

He added that the price may be out of reach for some Canadians and that
Ottawa should look at ways to defray the cost.

One of the key federal worries about the drug is that it is often smoked, a
habit the government is urging people to abandon. Cripps-Prawak said people
should consider consuming it in their tea or baking it in biscuits instead.

The marijuana will come from a crop grown by Prairie Plant Systems in Flin
Flon. The crop was the subject of controversy earlier this year when the
federal government questioned the consistency of the product and the level
of the active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC.

Cripps-Prawak said Wednesday that the government had to assure itself that
it was able to reproduce the plant consistently.

She said the cannabis will have a THC content of about 10 percent. Ottawa
will continue to research the efficacy of the drug, with a clinical trial to
begin next winter, she added.

Canadian Alliance health critic Rob Merrifield said McLellan has been left
out on a limb by her predecessor, Allan Rock, who came up with the
initiative. He said marijuana should have to go through the same scientific
testing as any other drug.

A few dozen people protested against the plan Wednesday on Parliament Hill.

A U.S. official said little about the plan, other than that the country will
continue its fight against illicit drugs.

"The U.S. Customs and Border Protection continues to work closely with its
counterpart agencies in Canada in protecting the border we share from the
terrorist threat," Jim Michie of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection
said in Washington.

"At the same time, we continue to enforce all laws at all our borders and
ports of entry that prohibit contraband from entering the United States."