GOVERNMENT ADMITS: OUR MARIJUANA IS BAD WEED

Canada's First Crop of Officially Sanctioned Medicinal Marijuana Contains a Rainbow of Potencies and Purities

Ooops! The official supply of federal marijuana is bad weed.

So impure, in fact, that the first crop contains 185 different varieties of
marijuana. Hardly the stuff a health minister would want to provide to a
seriously ill patient to relieve their symptoms.

Health Minister Anne McLellan revealed the "problem" yesterday, saying it's
responsible for the delay -- which could last at least several more months
- -- in getting the department's much-heralded plan off the ground to provide
marijuana to Canadians who need it for medicinal purposes.

She said the unreliable marijuana stems from the seeds that were used.
Initially, the federal government had hoped to obtain a standardized seed
from the U.S. government, but the American Drug Enforcement Agency refused
to share the stuff.

That meant our officially sanctioned grower was left using seeds obtained
by police, who confiscated them during their law enforcement work.

Not surprisingly, then, the first crop from an underground mine in Flin
Flon, Man., of nearly 2,000 plants -- which was completed in the fall and
was supposed to be distributed early this year -- contained a rainbow of
varying potencies and purities.

The government is now having its marijuana tested to find the best strain
so that a "quality, standardized" seed can be used for the second crop of
plants, said Ms. McLellan. Until then, sick Canadians who were approved to
smoke the stuff and were counting on the official federal marijuana as
their supply will have to wait.

"It is a problem," Ms. McLellan told reporters about the delay. "I'm not
here to pretend."

But she said the government has an obligation to ensure that the marijuana
it provides people is of a consistent quality -- in part because the
marijuana would be given out as part of clinical trials to determine
whether the claims are true about the medicinal benefits. Without a
standardized crop, she said, researchers monitoring the sick patients would
have no way of knowing whether the marijuana is having the desired effects.

She urged people to remember that Canada is the first country in the world
to launch a program, based on compassionate grounds, to test the merits of
medicinal marijuana.

"So in fact, trial and error is going to be a part of this. I think people
have to be patient."

Nonetheless, the delay is an embarrassment for Health Canada. Its former
minister, Allan Rock, pushed the the department to adopt a more
compassionate approach to medical marijuana.

New regulations came into effect last summer that allow certain patients
with chronic or terminal illnesses to apply to Health Canada for permission
to use marijuana. The regulations apply to patients who have less than a
year to live; those suffering from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, spinal
cord injuries, severe arthritis or epilepsy; and to patients suffering from
other conditions, if marijuana is recommended by two specialists.

In each case, the application must be signed by a doctor, who must, among
other things, agree that the "benefits from the applicant's recommended use
of marijuana outweigh any risks associated with that use."

Those who qualify can grow marijuana on their own, have another approved
grower do it for them, or get the marijuana from the government.

As of April 5, the government had given permission to 205 sick Canadians to
smoke marijuana. Of those, 137 have permission to grow their own marijuana.
As well, 10 permits have been granted to people to grow the marijuana on
behalf of sick people who can't do it themselves.

Canadian Alliance MP Rob Merrifield questioned Ms. McLellan about the
apparent inconsistency in her approach. He noted that the government is
letting 137 people grow their own marijuana, with no indication of the
quality of their "backyard" crops. And yet it is demanding a higher
standard for those who will rely on the government crop.

The government gave a $5.7-million contract to Prairie Plant Systems to
grow the marijuana in Flin Flon. Last August, Mr. Rock announced that the
first crop was being grown.

In December, his department said the crop was ready to be shipped
throughout the country, and the only issues that needed to be addressed
were how the marijuana would be distributed to patients.

But by last month, there were news reports about the delay and suggestions
the department would never make the marijuana available.

Appearing before the Commons health committee yesterday, Ms. McLellan said
she wanted to clear up the confusion.

"This government's policy has not changed," she said. "The timelines have
changed."

Ms. McLellan denied to reporters that the first batch of pot is a "wasted
crop" because it "provides us with the opportunity to do quality testing to
reach our own level, if you like, of satisfaction as it relates to a
standardized product."

When asked why the department didn't just halt the project last summer when
it learned it couldn't get the seeds it wanted from the U.S. National
Institute of Drug Abuse, (which was conducting clinical tests and had the
only legal supply of pot), Ms. McLellan was circumspect.

"I was not there, but I think there was a desire to move forward with the
initiative."