OTTAWA SET TO SELL ITS MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Update

The federal government is going to share its stash of marijuana, selling
the drug to hundreds of critically ill Canadians at bargain prices.

A Health Canada spokeswoman said Wednesday that more than 1,650 baggies of
the drug have been packaged and are ready to ship as soon as the
applications have been approved. The application form has been posted
on-line at the Health Canada Web site; people who fill it out properly
could have the drug in their possession in as little as a week.

"It's splendid product, with approximate THC content of 10 per cent," said
the spokeswoman, Cindy Cripps-Prawak.

But the flow could be stopped before the end of the summer. Ottawa has
appealed an Ontario Superior Court ruling that medical-marijuana access
regulations are unconstitutional. That appeal is expected to come to court
by the end of July.

"Any decision that's rendered ... will be reviewed in its fullness, and a
decision will be made at that time," Ms. Cripps-Prawak said, refusing to
speculate further.

In the meantime, Health Canada has revealed a plan - which Ms.
Cripps-Prawak stressed repeatedly is only an interim measure - to sell
dried marijuana and seeds to licensed users, with their doctors acting as a
go-between.

Dried marijuana has been set at only $5 a gram, between one-half and
one-fifth the price it usually sells for on the street. The price for a
package of seeds has been set at $20.

The drug - which will come from an underground facility at a Flin Flon,
Man., mine - has been priced to cover the cost of production and
distribution, Ms. Cripps-Prawak told a conference call.

She told reporters that seeds will be sold to people who have obtained a
medical certificate and have the ability and means to grow the plant.
People who are unable to grow a crop, cannot designate someone to do it on
their behalf or are not eligible to cultivate it will instead be able to
buy the dried product.