MDs WILL DISPENSE MARIJUANA

Federal Plan Will See Doctors Distributing Discount Cannabis From
Their Offices

OTTAWA -- Doctors will be allowed to dispense medicinal marijuana from
their offices under a federal plan that drew criticism yesterday from
medical officials and patients.

As early as a week from now, the government will start delivering the
drug to doctors treating up to 582 Canadians who have the right to use
it. The drug will be in the form of seeds -- so patients can grow it
themselves -- or mature cannabis cultivated at an abandoned mine in
Flin Flon, Man.

The marijuana will sell for $5 per gram, well below the estimated
street value of $10 to $25, and the seeds for $20 per bag of 30.

The president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dana Hanson,
denounced the scheme, saying the CMA will counsel doctors not to
dispense the drug because its effectiveness has not been proven.

Doctors may face increased liability if individuals suffer negative
side effects, and doctors' offices could be robbed, he said.

"Doctors don't deal in sacrificing the health and safety of our
patients. We would recommend that doctors not participate in
dispensing marijuana."

Patients can begin applying for the drug immediately, said Cindy
Cripps-Prawak, director of the government's cannabis medical-access
program. The plan gave no details on how patients would pay.

"Let's make the assumption that the application is complete; the
marijuana can be delivered within a week," she said. The drug will be
delivered to the offices of doctors who will hand it over to
authorized patients.

The drug will not be prescribed through a pharmacy because it has not
been federally approved.

Ms. Cripps-Prawak said she is certain that some doctors will
distribute the marijuana, since many have already helped patients
obtain exemption certificates.

"It strikes me as unlikely that a physician will say [that] this is
important for his patient but he is not willing to proceed with the
process."

Dr. Hanson acknowledged that the organization cannot order doctors not
to participate.

Ottawa was forced to make the supply available to comply with an
Ontario court decision released last January. The government plans to
appeal that ruling, which many critics said yesterday could lead to
the cancellation of the distribution process should the government
win.

"I find the government message today very contradictory," New Democrat
MP Libby Davies said. "If they win, they're leaving us with the
impression that they will drop the whole thing."

Health Minister Anne McLellan exhibited her own reluctance about the
plan when she said in Edmonton that the drug's therapeutic value has
not been proven.

"There have been no studies anywhere in the world that have been able
to confirm medicinal benefit," she said.

Asked if she would cancel the process if Ottawa wins its appeal, she
said, "It was never the intention of us to sell product."

Ms. Cripps-Prawak added that the distribution scheme can be amended at
any time.

Philippe Lucas, director of Canadians for Safe Access and a medical
user of the drug, called the move a last-minute effort that smacked of
bad faith.

He added that the price may be out of reach for some Canadians, and
that Ottawa should look at ways to defray the cost.

One of the key federal worries about the drug is that it is often
smoked, a habit the government is urging people to abandon. Ms.
Cripps-Prawak said people should consider consuming it in their tea or
baking it in biscuits instead.

The government had until yesterday to introduce the policy or watch
its exemption program die. Patients who can prove that they require
marijuana to alleviate suffering or symptoms of illnesses receive
exemptions from Canada's possession laws. They also have the right to
grow the plant or have someone else do it for them.

The pot will come from a crop grown by Prairie Plant Systems in Flin
Flon. The crop was the subject of controversy earlier this year when
the federal government questioned the consistency of the product and
the level of the active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinal, known as
THC.

Ms. Cripps-Prawak said yesterday that the government had to assure
itself that it was able to reproduce the plant consistently.

She said the cannabis will have a THC content of about 10 per cent.
Ottawa will continue to research the efficacy of the drug, with a
clinical trial to begin next winter, she added.

Canadian Alliance health critic Rob Merrifield said Ms. McLellan has
been left out on a limb by her predecessor, Allan Rock, who came up
with the initiative. He said marijuana should have to go through the
same scientific testing as any other drug.

A few dozen people protested against the plan on Parliament Hill
yesterday.

A U.S. official said little about the plan, other than that the
country will continue its fight against illicit drugs.

"The U.S. Customs and Border Protection continues to work closely with
its counterpart agencies in Canada in protecting the border we share
from the terrorist threat," Jim Michie of the Bureau of Customs and
Border Protection said in Washington.

"At the same time, we continue to enforce all laws at all our borders
and ports of entry that prohibit contraband from entering the United
States."