DRUGS: LOCAL DOCTORS LEERY OF DISPENSING MEDICAL POT

News that physicians will be allowed to distribute medical marijuana
from their offices has drawn mixed reaction locally.

"I'd take it in a second," said Richard Babcock, who suffers from both
AIDS and hepatitis C and is one of the 582 Canadians who has received
an exemption to use the drug.

The government announced on Thursday that as early as next week it
would begin delivering marijuana to the doctors who are treating
patients with medical exemptions.

The drug will be available for $5 per gram or in seed form so users
can grow it themselves.

Babcock has been relying on street marijuana while awaiting delivery
of marijuana grown for him by a sponsor on Vancouver Island but would
love to have access to the so-called Flin Flon marijuana grown in an
abandoned mine in Manitoba.

He said the street marijuana he's been smoking isn't strong enough to
keep his appetite up and nausea down.

"I've been puking most of my pills up in the last month," he said.
"I'm taking a chance with the street stuff but it's better to have
some weed than not have it."

Despite the government's announcement, there is still considerable
hurdles for patients to get the drug.

The Canadian Medical Association has counseled its members to refuse
to dispense the drug because it has not been proven effective.

Locally, Dr. Jan McIntosh, chief of staff at Kelowna General Hospital
said he knows of no doctors here who have said they will dispense the
drug.

"It's certainly not something I would be rushing out to do," he
said.

McIntosh said he understood the bureaucracy around dispensing medical
marijuana to be onerous.

"I would be more inclined to prescribe traditional medications," he
said.

"This is totally unlike methadone which has a lot of bureaucracy as
well but physicians are willing to do it because it has been proven to
work."

McIntosh said he doubts the security of marijuana stored in doctor's
offices would be an issue.

"The volumes of marijuana won't be worth it," he said.

"It would probably be a whole lot easier to get it in Kerry
Park."

McIntosh was quick to point out his view may not be shared by other
doctors in Kelowna.

"I'm not aware of any but that doesn't mean there are none," he
said.

"It they want to prescribe it, it's legal to do so and that's their
business."

Daryle Roberts, executive director of the AIDS Resource Centre, said
most of his clients who are interested in medical marijuana already
have their own supply.

"What this might do is shut down the Compassion Club and places like
that," he speculated.

"It's interesting what Health Canada has chosen to do."