POT RESEARCH UP IN SMOKE

The announcement on Wednesday that the federal government is prepared
to begin selling marijuana to people authorized to use it for
medicinal purposes is a small victory for those who have long been
lobbying to make the drug available.

The announcement comes on the deadline set by an Ontario court judge
for the government to come up with regulations for distributing
medicinal marijuana, a decision the government is appealing. The
ruling gives about 500 Canadians the immediate right to access the
drug, but it is likely to be short-lived -- if the government wins the
appeal, it has made it clear that access will again be denied.

More troubling about the plan is that the government has yet to
complete a single study on the medical benefits of the drug, despite
spending a reported $10 million over four years since former health
minister Allan Rock announced a major effort to do just that.

For four years the government has grown marijuana at a special
facility in Flin Flon, Man., without making any available to
scientists for research.

Four years and no official confirmation of either the benefits or
potential harm of the drug. Ten-million dollars wasted so far.

While it hardly compares to the billion-dollar boondoggle of the
federal firearms registry, it is just another example of government
mismanagement.

Now, forced into making marijuana available -- primarily to people
suffering from the devastating effects of AIDS -- the government may
simply end up taunting them by taking away access pending the result
of the appeal.

Many of those patients insist smoking marijuana relieves their chronic
pain -- but just because patients think something is good for them,
doesn't mean it is. Besides, in the absence of government support, the
results of these personal trials -- no matter how successful -- mean
nothing.

To be sure, in the absence of any actual studies on the benefits of
the drug, the government runs the risk of doing more harm than good to
the people to whom access is granted.

It's about time the federal government stops blowing smoke, provides
some hard evidence one way or another as to whether marijuana has any
real medical benefit, and puts an end to the needless suffering of
sick Canadians.