OTTAWA'S RULES FOR POT SPUR PROTEST

Even Those Who Have A Legal Exemption To Smoke Pot For Medical Reasons Are
Forced To Break The Law, Opponents Argue.

TORONTO (CP) -- A motley band of seriously ill people crowded into court
yesterday to do battle with Ottawa over a scheme to permit the use of
medical marijuana they say violates their constitutional rights.

The group, with conditions ranging from AIDS and hepatitis C to epilepsy
and multiple sclerosis, wants to strike down federal rules governing
medicinal pot, as well as the law that makes possession a criminal offence.

"This is about the right to make fundamental personal decisions," Toronto
lawyer and longtime cannabis crusader Alan Young told Superior Court
Justice Sidney Lederman. "The right to make personal decisions has been
called fundamentally deserving of the highest protection."

Canada's Medical Marijuana Access Regulations, or MMARs, were supposed to
honour previous court decisions by allowing those with serious illnesses to
choose marijuana as a means to treat their symptoms.

Instead, they're laden with obstacles and red tape that prevents more
deserving people from exemption than it permits, Young said.

The regulations demand medical declarations that few doctors are willing to
provide given the legal consequences, he argued. And they make it
impossible for a doctor to recommend a dosage, since the drug remains
unregulated in Canada.

Even those who do win a legal exemption -- more than 300 people in Canada
are permitted by Ottawa to smoke pot for medical reasons -- are forced to
break the law, resorting to black-market weed because the government is
dragging its heels on efforts to cultivate a pure supply for clinical trial.

"They're exposed to the criminal sub-culture; they're exposed to rip-offs,"
Young said of his clients. "They're exposed to an unknown substance called
marijuana, which can contain contaminants and adulterants."

There are seven marijuana consumers included in Young's group of
applicants, along with a caregiver, the Toronto Compassion Centre. Three
other applicants are also participating in the hearings.

If they can't get the regulations thrown out, the group is willing to
settle for access to the federal government's stash: pot grown in a
Manitoba mineshaft under a $5.7-million contract for clinical trials.

Federal Health Minister Anne McLellan has refused to allow the marijuana to
be distributed because she says it simply isn't pure enough.

The whiff of weed was unmistakable during a mid-morning break in the
proceedings, as several of the applicants took advantage of the 15-minute
recess to light up a joint on the courthouse steps.

"It's very difficult for us to get permits, since doctors won't sign the
necessary forms," said Marco Renda, a 42-year-old Ontario man who uses pot
to combat the symptoms of hepatitis C.

"The government should honour what the court has decided and make it easier
for medical patients to receive medical marijuana."

Renda said he doesn't worry about the quality of his marijuana because he
grows his own. Those forced to buy from a dealer aren't so lucky, applicant
Alison Murden complained.

"It's nothing but sticks and stems and seeds one day, and it's a whole bag
of bud the next," said Murden, who suffers from medical ailments, including
multiple sclerosis.

"This is absolutely outrageous, what they're doing to these Canadian
people. These are sick and dying people."

For those suffering from serious illnesses, marijuana is invaluable as an
anti-inflammatory and a mild painkiller, as well as battling nausea and
stimulating appetite, said Young. "AIDS patients and cancer patients who
basically can't eat because of their medication can smoke a joint, and then
they are able to eat," he said.