POT PROGRAM GAINS REPRIEVE

SAGUENAY, Que. -- Health Minister Anne McLellan backed down yesterday from
plans to snuff out government experiments to supply medical marijuana,
adding she'll wait for the results of clinical tests before making a decision.

"I have to be very concerned about the health and safety of Canadians," she
said.

"We are dealing with a drug that has not gone through the normal clinical
trials that one would expect in relation to a product of this kind."

McLellan said she won't make a move until she gets the results of the
clinical tests, which are expected to start late this fall or early winter.

McLellan told the Canadian Medial Association in Saint John Monday that she
felt uncomfortable with the idea of Ottawa providing pot to relieve pain.

She told the gathering she was considering putting an end to the federal
government's controversial $5.7-million project to grow medicinal-grade
marijuana in an underground mine in Flin Flon.