CANADA TO GIVE POT TO PATIENTS

TORONTO - The Canadian government announced on Wednesday an interim plan
that will provide marijuana on a regular basis to several hundred people
who are authorized to use the drug for medicinal reasons.

Coming six weeks after the federal government introduced a bill
decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana and only days
after it approved a trial "safe injection site" in Vancouver for
intravenous drug users, the marijuana plan was one more sign that Ottawa is
moving in a very different direction on drug policy from the Bush
administration.

Thousands of Canadians already visit so-called "compassion clubs" in
Vancouver and a few other cities, which distribute marijuana to those who
come with a note from a doctor saying that the drug can help their
condition. The police have occasionally entered some of the clinics and
seized marijuana, but for the most part they function in the open.

Cabinet divided

Wednesday's decision by the government to provide marijuana to people with
illnesses ranging from cancer to arthritis to epilepsy was forced by a
ruling in January by the Ontario Superior Court that federal marijuana
access regulations were unconstitutional because they did not provide
patients with a legal distribution system.

The government is appealing the ruling, meaning that Wednesday's
announcement may not stand.

"It was never our intention to sell the product," said Health Minister Anne
McClellan, a skeptic of medicinal marijuana use.

The Cabinet is divided on whether the government should be growing and
distributing marijuana, an activity that is otherwise illegal. McClellan
stated on Wednesday that there is a lack of clinical evidence that
marijuana has medicinal benefits. She added that the government will
conduct its own clinical trials, scheduled to begin this fall, to gauge
possible benefits.

The government says it intends to distribute the marijuana through doctors.
Some officials of doctors associations have raised cautions about doing so
before there is more study about the impact of marijuana use on people's
health.

500 patients

While the courts decide on the government's appeal, Ottawa will provide as
many as 500 people who have received letters from doctors saying the drug
offered them medical benefits with dried marijuana and marijuana seeds for
their own planting.

The marijuana will cost patients almost $4 a gram, or about half the black
market price.

The bags of seeds will cost about $15. The marijuana will come from an
underground laboratory situated in an old mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba.

Under a marijuana reform bill introduced in late May, adults caught
possessing less than 15 grams, or about a half an ounce, of marijuana will
face a fine of up to $300. Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said no one
deserves to have a criminal record for possessing small amounts of marijuana.

In the United States, marijuana is illegal under federal law. State laws in
California, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and
Washington allow marijuana to be grown and distributed to people with a
doctor's recommendation. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that people
charged with violating federal drug laws cannot use medical necessity as a
defense.