MEDICAL POT COULD ENCOURAGE RECREATIONAL USE, SENATORS TOLD

OTTAWA -- The president of the Canadian Medical Association says he fears
the federal policy 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
this is a normal societal behaviour to smoke marijuana," Dr. Henry Haddad
told a Senate committee yesterday.

Still, the association has long favoured decriminalizing simple possession
and Haddad supplied a new argument.

"Each year thousands of teens and adults receive criminal records for
possession," he said. "To the degree that having a criminal record limits
or handicaps employment prospects, the impact on health status is profound."

Arguing against recreational use, Haddad said marijuana damages lungs, can
be addictive in about five per cent of users, is associated with lower
school marks and may cause lost opportunities.

Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, chairperson of the committee studying the use
of illegal drugs, said a third of medical students have tried marijuana and
asked Haddad if they failed in their lives.

Medical practitioners have the same problems as the rest of the population,
Haddad countered. He said decriminalization must be tied to a national drug
strategy promoting awareness, prevention and treatment as well as research
and monitoring.

He also argued demand for medical marijuana to help dying patients reflects
the poor job Canada does providing palliative care.

Marijuana is never requested by dying patients in his home town of
Sherbrooke, Que. He said the reason is staff at Sherbrooke provide good
palliative care for terminal patients, something he believes is lacking in
many communities.

"I ask (medical staff) 'has a single patient requested marijuana?' (They
say) 'No.' Because the palliative care is done well. I think it's important
to look at the whole context" in which marijuana is offered."