GOVERNMENT RESEARCH ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA PRODUCES NO RESULTS AFTER FOUR YEARS

OTTAWA (CP) - Four years after former health minister Allan Rock
announced a major effort to assess the medical benefits of marijuana,
not a single study has been completed and the whole research program
is clouded with uncertainty.

Advocates of medical marijuana say the government has wasted millions
of dollars growing marijuana in a Flin Flon, Man., mine without making
any of it available to patients who need it, or to scientists for
research purposes.

"Health Canada over four years has spent almost $10 million on its
medical marijuana program and has yet to supply a single gram or seed
to a single sick Canadian," Philippe Lucas of Canadians for Safe
Access, said in an interview Tuesday.

In March, Health Canada terminated funding to the Community Research
Initiative of Toronto, which was studying whether smoked marijuana can
alleviate nausea and weight loss experienced by many people living
with AIDS.

The cut came just as the project was about to start enrolling
volunteer research subjects, said Derek Thaczuk, a spokesman for the
Toronto group.

"Why they would choose to throw such a monkey wrench into such a
major, pivotal trial at this point is beyond my understanding," said
Thaczuk.

Health Canada spokeswoman Jirina Vlk declined to say why the funding
was terminated, but she said there were hopes research might continue
with a new partner.

She would not comment on the government's other marijuana research
project, instead referring questions to Mark Ware, project leader at
the McGill University Pain Centre.

A McGill spokeswoman said Ware was unable to discuss the project, not
even to say whether clinical work had begun.

"He's not able right now to talk about what's going on with this
research," Christina Zeindler said. "It's due to the legislation
that's ongoing."

The government has introduced legislation that would decriminalize
possession of small amounts of pot for personal use, but it's not
clear why that would affect scientific research.

Although Health Minister Anne McLellan has stressed the importance of
research to assess marijuana's medical benefits, no new studies have
been approved under her watch.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) invited proposals
for marijuana research last year and three proposals were received,
but none were approved.

"Health Canada sets the criteria for the process and in the last round
none of the projects met their requirements," said CIHR spokeswoman
Janet Weichel-McKenzie.

The apparent stall in research comes amid mixed signals in the medical
marijuana file.

Six months ago an Ontario judge ordered Health Canada to broaden
access to medical marijuana, saying it's unacceptable that patients
must resort to the black market to get their treatment.

The department has not indicated how it will respond to that deadline
which is Thursday.