TOKING GESTURE

Canada's government is to sell marijuana to those legally entitled to
smoke it, but only in reluctant compliance with a court ruling.

The Canadian government is, officially, a drug dealer. Starting this
week, it will sell marijuana to more than 550 Canadians who have the
legal right to smoke the drug because of medical conditions such as
arthritis or Aids.

The move comes six weeks after Canada angered the US by moving ahead
with plans to decriminalise the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

However, this time the federal government is makinng its move
reluctantly, and only to comply with a court ruling.

In January, the Ontario superior court gave Ottawa six months to
secure a supply of marijuana for Canadians who have been given
exemption from drug laws because they suffer from serious illnesses
and can show that their nausea and pain is relieved by the drug.

Earlier court rulings had declared that it was unconstitutional to
deny ill Canadians access to a drug that helped them.

In its latest ruling, the Ontario court said that it was wrong to put
ill, vulnerable people in the position of having to deal with
criminals in order to obtain a drug that they had been authorised to
take.

The federal government is appealing that decision, and was hoping to
put off supplying marijuana while it prepared its appeal.

The court refused that request, but the government waited until the
last possible minute to announce that it was ready to supply the drug,
which has been grown in an abandoned mine in the small town of Flin
Flon, Manitoba.

It will deliver the drug to doctors treating the 582 Canadians who
have the legal right to smoke it. Patients will pay $4 (#2.50) for a
gram of a marijuana, and can also buy seeds at around $15 for a bag of
30, enabling them to grow their own plants. That is less than the
street value of marijuana in Canada, which is generally at least twice
that amount.

However, some patients are still upset, saying that legal marijuana is
out of their reach. Others see the move as a positive first step.

But this may not be a permanent programme. The federal health
minister, Anne McLellan, has signalled that the policy will be changed
if the government wins its appeal, saying: "It was never the intention
for us to sell the product."

Ms McLellan remains sceptical about the benefits of marijuana, telling
reporters: "There have been no studies anywhere in the world that have
been able to confirm medicinal benefit."

The country's doctors also remain unconvinced, and the president of
the Canadian Medical Association has urged his fellow physicians not
to take part in the programme.

The US is also unsure about Canada's new approach to marijuana,
especially the proposed legislation that would decriminalise the
possession of small amounts of the drug. Instead of getting a criminal
record, which makes it difficult to travel to the US or to get a job,
people caught smoking pot would get small fines.

Last week, a senior US official visited Ottawa to talk about a planned
border crackdown if the legislation is passed.

Canada has been in the US headlines lately because of its marijuana
ruling and plans to recognize gay marriages. A recent article in the
Washington Post dubbed Canada "Berkeley North", and said that the US
appeared "fussy, Victorian and imperial" by comparison.

The government's plans to grow and sell its own pot provide another
sign of the differences between the Liberal Canadian administration
and the Republican government of George Bush.