MCLELLAN PRESCRIBES CLINICAL TRIALS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Drug's Distribution Delayed Indefinitely

Ottawa - Health Minister Anne McLellan won't release any of the marijuana
being grown for the government to distribute to sick and dying patients
until it has been tested in clinical trials, her spokeswoman said Monday.

The stipulation suggests the marijuana, being grown in an old mine Flin
Flon, Man., won't be made available to severely sick or dying patients for
years, if ever.

It also suggests McLellan is taking a much tougher line on the use of
medical marijuana than her predecessor Allan Rock.

Clinical trials usually involve giving one group of people a drug and
another group a placebo and observing differences. Such studies can take years.

And it's far from certain that clinical trials will in the end prove any
therapeutic benefit, which raises the possibility that the Flin Flon crop
will never be made available to sick people who claim it helps them.

When Rock announced the Manitoba pot-growing contract last July, he said
some would be used for research and some could be given to patients who
were severely ill or dying.

"It will ... be made available to authorized Canadians using it for medical
purposes who agree to provide information to Health Canada for monitoring
and research purposes," a news release at the time said.

The assumption implicit in McLellan's position is that the effectiveness of
medical marijuana must be proven by rigorous scientific standards before
patients who are dying can use it.

Farah Mohamed, McLellan's spokeswoman, insisted in an interview Monday that
the department is merely following steps set out at the beginning, and time
is not the main consideration.

"All of this goes to wanting to mitigate the risks associated with medical
marijuana, if there are some, and ensuring there is therapeutic value," she
said.

"Despite how much time it might take, if the goal is to ensure what you're
doing is in the best interests of people who need marijuana for medicinal
purposes ... then the time is well invested."

It's not known how long clinical trials will take, and Mohamed didn't say
when they will begin.

Rock had invited doctors to sign certificates that their patients needed
marijuana despite a lack of scientific evidence on its therapeutic
effectiveness, which brought protests from some medical groups.

But some doctors have signed the documents and as of April 2, Health Canada
had issued 205 authorizations for possession of marijuana. Those patients
now have no choice but to grow their own, or get someone to grow it for
them, with no legal seed source.