SLOW TESTING: "It's The Nature of the Beast"

"I think the battle for public opinion is basically over. A large majority
of people say if you can prove a medical need for marijuana, go ahead."
Fraser Valley MP Chuck Strahl says

Fraser Valley MP Chuck Strahl says he has no intention of debating the
issue of medical marijuana any further with local advocate Brian Carlisle
because he basically agrees with him.

"I agree with Brian on the need for better access to marijuana for medical
purposes, and I'm not sidestepping the issue as he suggested recently." The
MP asserts. In fact, Mr. Strahl says he fired off an information request to
the Office of the Health Minister Anne MacLellan to find out what the
status is of the crop grown underground last summer in Flin Flon Manitoba.
Canada's test crop was grown by Plant Prairie Systems Inc. for Health
Canada, and the company was given a mandate through a competitive process
to produce a reliable source of affordable, good quality standardized
marijuana to meet the medical and research needs of Canada. The first batch
was to have been ready last month.

"I'm hoping to get an answer (from the minister's office) by week's end.
I'm going to get to the bottom of this," he says. "If we disagree on
anything, it has to do with the speed of distribution of the test crop.
Brian's concern was that the harvest was just rotting away. He wanted it
all and he wanted it all yesterday." But health Canada gave Plant Prairie
Systems officials the mandate last summer to conduct the laboratory testing
and quality control, as well as packaging, storing and labeling of the
government bud. They will also be the ones responsible for the distributing
it to those authorized by Health Canada. "I think the battle for public
opinion is basically over. A large majority of people say that if you can
prove a medical need for marijuana go ahead," says Mr. Strahl.

"Government is saying it accepts that premise by saying they're ready to
test everything, including the best way to administer it, dosage and
frequency, and potential harm of smoke. It all just takes time. They do
that with drugs of all kinds and this is no different." The Fraser Valley
MP says the results of a straw poll at the recent public meeting for
medical uses for pot, were "fairly consistent" with national polling
results, which indicate that 80 per cent of Canadians are in favor of
marijuana for medical [purposes.

"Only a handful at the recent meeting were against the idea," he says. Mr.
Carlisle and Mr. Strahl met on Feb. 14 to discuss the broader issues of
when sick and dying Canadians can expect the Flin Flon crop to be
distributed and status of the pilot project.

"As far as I know, the federal government has a plan to produce a finite
amount, a total of 158 kg for a set number of people," he says. "Hopefully
it wont take the rest of the year to have it ready but the government is
correct in going slowly to ensure that growing and testing is done
properly. For Brian, I can understand his frustration, but that's the
nature of the beast." The only thing that could speed it up is something
like the private member's bill proposed recently by Dr. Keith martin, which
would decriminalize simple pot possession, he says.

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