MEDICAL POT PANNED

OTTAWA -- The president of the Canadian Medical Association says he fears
the government policy of allowing medical marijuana use may also encourage
recreational use, which he strongly opposes. "We have to be very careful
that it's not going to end up being thought that this is a normal societal
behaviour to smoke marijuana," Henry Haddad told a Senate committee yesterday.

Still, the association has long favoured decriminalizing simple possession,
and Haddad supplied a new argument, saying a criminal conviction damages health.