MEDICINAL MARIJUANA USE DIVIDES PHYSICIANS

A Brandon doctor says he has no qualms about dispensing medicinal marijuana
from his office and doesn't see why so many medical officials are speaking
out against the federal government's new policy.

Doctors now have the authority to dispense medicinal marijuana from their
offices, under the latest plan from Health Canada.

"If it was legal for me to do that, I wouldn't hesitate," says Dr. Paul
Conyette, a family physician at the naturopathic clinic Canadian Biologics
in Brandon.

"It's a very good herb. I welcome the use of medicinal marijuana by the
medical community, because it validates what naturopathic physicians and
complimentary alternative medical practitioners have been saying for years
- - herbs are strong, herbs have use, herbs have benefits."

Health Canada will start delivering marijuana seeds or mature leaves, grown
in Flin Flon, to doctors' offices as early as next week.

Only about 600 Canadians are authorized to legally buy the drug for
medicinal use.

The Canadian Medical Association is decrying the plan, advising doctors not
to dispense marijuana because, it says, the drug has not gone through
adequate clinical trials.

Dr. Bill Pope, registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Manitoba, disapproves of medicinal marijuana and of the government's plan
to send the drug to doctors' offices for dispensing.

"I don't know that it's at all clear that (marijuana) is a particularly
good drug for anything," Pope says.

Pope acknowledges marijuana may be helpful for certain people with certain
illnesses at certain times, but says it should only be given when "a whole
pile" of other treatments have failed.

"It certainly shouldn't be given right off the bat."

Pope is concerned about the form in which the drug will be dispensed.

"You're taking a leaf, crumpling it up, and smoking it," he says, adding
he'd rather see the drug in a regulated, pharmalogically-tested form such
as a capsule.

Several other Brandon physicians contacted by the Brandon Sun refused to
comment on the new policy.

Conyette says he can't understand why the College and the Canadian Medical
Association are having such a negative reaction to the new policy.

"I think it's interesting that so many clinical trials are necessary before
a prescription can be signed for medicinal marijuana, because there are
many drugs that are being used that have never passed double-blind placebo
controlled studies," he says.

"Why would medicinal marijuana be singled out, when 80 per cent of many
hospital procedures have never been studied with double-blind, placebo
controlled tests?

In order to be eligible to apply for the legal supply of marijuana,
Canadians must meet detailed criteria, such as having a terminal illness.

Conyette says he'd like to see people make their own decisions about
medicines with less restrictions.

"In North America, we're plagued with rules and regulations. Rules and
regulations are good, but not if people don't have any say in what happens
to them in their last days.

"I'm all in favour of people taking charge of their own pathway to health,
as long as there is knowledge and professional guidance behind it."