WEED PERMITS GROWING

More sick and terminally-ill Canadians are blowing off traditional
treatments, instead growing their own government-sanctioned medicine
through new marijuana laws.

Since July 30, 2001, when Health Canada introduced new access regulations
allowing ailing Canadians to smoke dope, 315 new patients have been granted
authorization.

That's almost one permit issued per day.

"(The numbers) keep going up every month," said Health Canada spokesman
Andrew Swift.

In June, 15 Canadians were granted permits to smoke weed, while 44 new
patients signed on in May.

Prior to the new laws, Canadians had to apply for exemption from criminal
prosecution under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Some 472 people
still remain permitted to toke under those laws, bringing the total number
of permitted pot users to 786.

Of those, 208 are plying their own weed-green thumbs with personal
production licences.

Swift credited the new regulations for allowing more Canadians faster
access to medicinal marijuana than was possible under the old regime.

"It's a system that's working very well," Swift said.

Meanwhile, Prairie Plant Systems, the Saskatchewan-based outfit growing
marijuana crops for federal research, is cultivating several strains of weed.

What is cultivated from those will be shipped to scientists hunting for the
best suitable strain for public consumption, but Swift said that could
still take months.