CANCER PATIENT ALLOWED TO USE MARIJUANA, BUT CAN'T GET IT LEGALLY

An Eilat resident who received permission from the Health Ministry to use
marijuana for medicinal purposes is nevertheless unable to obtain the drug
without breaking the law.

The man, who suffers from cancer, is one of eight terminal patients who
received an unusual ministry permit to grow, possess and use marijuana to
ease their pain.

But the drug is not legally available in Israel, and the ministry refused
to supply them itself. Furthermore, the permit to grow the drug applies
only to the patient himself rather than to his wife - and the bedridden
terminal patient is physically incapable of doing so. The Eilat patient's
wife even tried asking the police to give her husband some of the marijuana
they had confiscated during drug raids, but they also refused.

Having thus exhausted all her ideas for obtaining the drug legally, the
wife yesterday asked Eilat's regional radio station for help in publicizing
her plight.

Major General Yoav Sieglowitz, the commander of the Eilat Police, said that
though he was sorry for the couple, he could not legally help them. "The
permit was given to the bedridden husband, not to her," he explained - and
therefore, it would be a criminal offense for police to give her marijuana
from their stock of confiscated drugs.

Health Ministry spokesman Ido Hadari said there is currently no way to
supply the drug legally. However, Hadari added, the ministry is working on
ways to import it from the Netherlands, where it is available legally.