PRESCRIPTION FOR SUCCESS

Feds Eye Going Dutch

OTTAWA (CP) -- Under pressure from the courts to reform its medical
marijuana policy, Health Canada is considering a Dutch option in which
marijuana would be made available to needy patients at the corner pharmacy.

Senior Health Canada officials visited the Netherlands in February to learn
more about a new law that allows pharmacies to distribute government
marijuana to patients with a doctor's prescription.

The law, which became effective March 17, makes the Netherlands the first
country in the world to treat marijuana like an ordinary prescription drug.

An Option

"It's an option, like there are many options," said Beth Pieterson, a
Health Canada official who met with her counterparts in Amsterdam from Feb.
18-21.

Pieterson, director general of the drug strategy and controlled substances
program, cautioned that no decisions have been made.

Health Canada currently allows approved patients to smoke marijuana to
relieve symptoms such as pain and nausea. But there's no direct legal
supply of the substance, forcing patients to buy it on the street or from
growers who cultivate plants obtained from non-legal sources.

Fix Or Supply

In January, the Superior Court declared the Marijuana Medicinal Access
Regulations unconstitutional.

The government was given until July 9 to fix the regulations or supply the
pot itself. Health Canada has appealed the decision but the deadline remains.

"We are working towards having the appeal heard, with the hope that the
deadline would change," said Pieterson.

But if the federal government loses the appeal or can't change the
deadline, "we will be caught, and so we are looking at all our options."