CANADA STARTS SELLING MARIJUANA TO ELIGIBLE PATIENTS

OTTAWA -- Canada became the first country to start selling marijuana
Wednesday to several hundred seriously ill people but said the pot project
could be halted at any time.

The federal government announced in July 2001 that some patients can use
government-provided marijuana.

Under the program announced by Health Minister Anne McLellan, eligible
patients can buy just over an ounce of dried marijuana for $112 -- about
half the current illegal street market rate -- about once a month.
Authorized growers can buy packs of 30 seeds once a year for $15.

The government-grown weed has a THC content of 10 percent, compared with
between 3 percent and 18 percent in most street marijuana, said health
ministry spokeswoman Cindy Cripps-Prawak. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is
the psychoactive chemical in marijuana.

In January, an Ontario court ruling gave the government until Wednesday to
broaden access to medical marijuana, saying current laws made "seriously
ill, vulnerable people deal with the criminal underworld to get medicine."

Federal officials said more research into the claimed benefits of medical
marijuana is needed, and they would appeal the court ruling.

Despite the planned appeal, McLellan said, Ottawa would press ahead with
clinical trials to determine whether marijuana really benefits ill people.

The drug -- grown in a special federal facility in a mine shaft in central
Canada -- will be given to patients by their doctors. Officials recommend
that patients do not smoke pot but rather put it in food, drinks or use
other methods. Currently, 582 people are excused from criminal law to use
the drug.

The medical marijuana issue involves people with chronic or catastrophic
illness who say they need the soothing effects of THC to ease pain and
control nausea and other problems.

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 Supreme Court ruled last year that people
charged with violating federal drug laws cannot use medical necessity as a
defense.

U.S. authorities have strongly criticized Canadian plans to decriminalize
the possession of small amounts of marijuana, arguing it could result in
highly potent pot flooding across the border.