POTPOURRI

SMOKING POT can lead to lethargy and indecision, which makes one wonder
whether the feds aren't breathing in too many second-hand fumes from the
medical marijuana debate.

Ottawa can't seem to make up its mind how to proceed. After an Ontario
court ruling two years ago, which allowed terminally ill Canadians to smoke
marijuana for pain relief, the federal government decided not to appeal.

Instead, it bowed before the court and changed the criminal law, making a
medical exception for the ailing. Patients, however, still had no one they
could buy cannabis from legally, so the Health Department stepped in and
started growing its own. Ultimately, the marijuana was supposed to make its
way to the 800 or so people on the approved list. Don't hold your breath.

Anne McLellan, who was justice minister when the decision not to appeal was
made, is now backtracking in her new capacity as health minister.

She told doctors at the annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association
in Saint John this week that she's now hoping for a medical marijuana case
to make it to the Supreme Court of Canada "so we can get some clarity about
what is happening here." But there is no such case pending. Besides, the
time to take it to the highest court in the land was two years ago, before
$5.7 million was spent on the alternative - growing grass in a mine shaft
in Manitoba and devising a system to distribute it for medicinal purposes.

She also said the government-grown marijuana won't be available until
clinical trials are through. Such trials have not even begun. Doctors are
legitimately concerned - from both the liability and medical perspectives -
about prescribing cannabis if they don't fully understand all the
ramifications or interactions with other drugs.

Moreover, she had a potpourri of other misgivings. She's uncomfortable with
folks smoking pot to relieve pain and fears that if the Health Department
is in the business of selling joints, it could undermine its anti-smoking
campaign.

Again, we ask: Should these issues not have been sorted out before millions
were spent and the government committed itself to buying 400 kilograms of
cannabis a year for the next four years from the company producing the plants?

The way things are going, Ottawa is going to end up with a whole lot of pot
on its hands that only a small minority of doctors will agree to prescribe.
The patients with chronic or terminal conditions will be no further ahead
in the battle to alleviate their suffering. And taxpayers will be further
behind because Ottawa couldn't see the forest for the trees - or rather the
grass for the blades.