MEDICINAL POT A BARGAIN AT $5

Critics say Ottawa's price will encourage abuse by criminals.

OTTAWA -- The federal government is in the medicinal marijuana business and
the pot is going for the bargain basement price of $5 a gram -- $10 cheaper
than it goes for on the street. It's a deal police say will open the door
to abuse by criminals, a charge medicinal users say is bunk.

Health Canada insisted yesterday it wasn't trying to be competitive with
the black market.

"What we did try to do is establish a price which is reasonable, based on
costs associated with the production and implementation of the program,"
Health Canada spokesperson Cindy Cripps-Prawak said.

Ottawa announced yesterday its program was only temporary and it will
provide pot for medicinal use for those who can't grow the weed, as well as
selling bags of 30 seeds for $20, until the outcome of its appeal of an
Ontario court decision.

But Staff Sgt. Marc Pinault, head of the RCMP's marijuana growth operations
section, said the cheap federal price is opening the door for abuse.

"Are there people who are going to try and get around the rules in order to
take advantage of that price? Yes, there are people who are going to try
and do that," Pinault said yesterday.

An Ontario court ruled Ottawa had until yesterday to come up with
regulations for distributing medical marijuana to allow broader access.

Cripps-Prawak said the federal government is proceeding with its appeal of
the Ontario ruling, which said it was unfair medicinal users had to turn to
drug dealers for their stash, despite being authorized to use it for health
reasons.

The federal marijuana is coming from a lab in Flin Flon, Man.

There are 582 Canadians with permission to have pot for medicinal purposes
- -- 413 of those are authorized to grow it. Health Minister Anne McLellan
said she's leery about the government being a supplier.

"There have been no studies anywhere in the world that have been able to
confirm medicinal benefit," she said yesterday in Edmonton. "We're not
convinced in terms of the medicinal benefits, which is why we are
supporting clinical trials."

Meanwhile, Pinault says Health Canada is putting people at risk by refusing
to give police a list of the 413 people the government has authorized to
grow pot. Pinault says police have failed in their attempts to convince the
federal government that providing the names and addresses of the people it
has issued pot-growing licenses could prevent injuries during dangerous
drug raids.

"(Health Canada's) legal advice is the privacy doesn't allow them to do
it," Pinault said, adding he's spoken directly to McLellan about the issue.

"I asked Health Canada, 'Who is going to take responsibility on the next
case where an officer kicks in a door and we shoot somebody or an officer
breaks his leg going up the stairs -- who is going to take responsibility?' "

Health Canada has set up a toll-free number police officers can call during
business hours to get the information.

But Pinault dismissed it as inadequate, adding it doesn't help officers who
are getting tips in the middle of the night.

Cripps-Prawak admitted the hours of operation of the line are a problem.

"We are exploring with the RCMP how we can make it . . . a 24-7 access,"
she said. "We can make the information available to them on an on-call
basis, but we're not prepared to give them the full list without having at
least had discussions about how that information will be used, how it will
be purged."