FEDS EYE OPTION OF PHARMACY POT

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 pharmacies.

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.

'Many Options'

"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 to 21.

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

"Yes, we're looking at this but we're looking at everything else, too," she
said in an interview.

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.

In January, Justice Sidney Lederman of Ontario's Superior Court declared
the Marijuana Medicinal Access Regulations unconstitutional.

"Laws which put seriously ill, vulnerable people in a position where they
have to deal with the criminal underworld to obtain medicine they have been
authorized to take violate the constitutional right to security of the
person," Lederman wrote in a 40-page ruling.

He gave Ottawa until July 9 to fix the regulations or supply the pot
itself. Health Canada has appealed the decision but the deadline remains.

The Dutch have also been promoting co-operation between the two countries
on the issue of medical marijuana.

Health Canada currently has a $5.7-million contract with a Flin Flon
company that is growing certified marijuana for clinical trials only, but
there have been production problems.

The Netherlands has contracted out marijuana production to several growers,
who must turn over all their crop to the government. Pharmacies are
expected to stock the packaged product by September.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon has said he hopes to introduce
legislation before the Commons' summer recess to decriminalize the
possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana.