WINNING OVER DOCTORS

Thumbs down to the federal government's bungling of its own attempt to make
marijuana available to Canadians for medical use.

For four years the feds have operated an underground grow operation in Flin
Flon to test medical uses for pot. To date, no testing results have been
made available, nor has any of the stash grown there been passed on the
roughly 500 Canadians the feds have cleared to use it.

Only now, under pressure from an Ontario court deadline, will federal Health
Minister Anne McLellan reluctantly allow weed from Flin Flon to passed on to
those 500, but only until an appeal of that court ruling can be heard.

While the feds are anxious to control medical marijuana use, they have
produced no research into its merits, no actual marijuana for consumption
and still allow too few Canadians to participate in trials. "You can almost
smell the bad faith," said Senator Pierre Claude Nolin.