Canada Legalizes Marijuana For Medicinal Purposes
By Jim Burns
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
July 30, 2001

(CNSNews.com) - The Canadian government has made it legal
for terminally ill patients and those with chronic conditions to use
marijuana to relieve their symptoms. That makes America's
neighbor to the north the first country to allow marijuana use
for certain medical conditions.

Effective today, under Canada's new rules, patients will be allowed
to apply for licenses to grow marijuana for medicinal use or appoint
someone to grow it for them.

Insiders say it is the first system in the world where the national
government will be directly involved in the production and
supply of the drug for medicinal purposes.

The government has awarded a $3.5 million dollar contract to
Prairie Plant Systems to farm the marijuana in a vacated copper
mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba. A Health Canada official said
specially trained technicians would begin harvesting 185 kilograms
of marijuana starting in August.

The government's action is the result of a decision last year
by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which said current drug laws
regulating marijuana use by sick people were unconstitutional.

The Canadian Medical Association opposes the new rule,
saying there has not been enough scientific research for doctors
to properly prescribe dosage. CMA officials also worried about
people who might take marijuana along with other prescription
drugs - combinations that may carry unknown risks.

The Canadian Medical Association says medicinal marijuana
usage should be regulated.

"There remains a lack of comprehensive and credible scientific
evidence on the benefits of medical marijuana, the known and
unknown effects of its use when smoked, and the implications
of an unregulated supply on the quality, consistency and
contamination of the drug," CMA said in a statement in Ottawa.

The CMA statement concluded, "We acknowledge the unique
requirements of those individuals suffering from a terminal illness
or chronic disease for which conventional therapies have not
been effective. However, the CMA believes that it is premature
for Health Canada to expand broadly the medicinal use
of marijuana before there is adequate scientific support."

Government officials said that commercial production and sale
of marijuana and the non-medical use of it would remain illegal.

Even so, Canada's decision has unwelcome implications for this
country," conservative groups say.

Robert Maginnis, the vice president for policy for the Family
Research Council, said, "Giving someone marijuana for medicine
is like giving them pond water when pure bottled water is available."
In other words, he said there's plenty of good medicine out there
to treat people without resorting to marijuana.

"When you look behind all these issues, ultimately, this comes
down, in my opinion, to the legalization of marijuana
for recreational use," Maginnis said.

"It's basically a stalking horse for outright legalization.
I really do see a clear agenda to legitimize for recreational
use a bad substance that is highly correlated with crime.
It would have an extremely high medical cost for this country,"
he said.

Pot Proponents Watching Canada Closely
According to NORML, the National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws, the United States spends $1.2-billion annually
incarcerating drug offenders and another $6-9 billion tracking
them down and arresting them.

Keith Stroup, executive director of NORML, said he is "excited"
about the Canadian move and he predicted it could bode well
for the end of "marijuana prohibition" in the United States.

"Most of the progressive changes that have been occurring
in marijuana policy have been in Europe and our government
does a pretty good job of misrepresenting what happens
over there," Stroup said.

"Because of the Canadian action, our own government leaders
will no longer be able to ignore the experience because we share
a common border, culture and language. Because Canada will
start providing marijuana to their seriously ill patients who need it
as a medicine, I think it will put a fairly short time line on
how much longer the United States can refuse to provide the
same level of medical help to patients in this country."

Stroup added that if the Canadian government goes one step
further and decriminalizes the recreational use of marijuana
over the next year or so, "the experience they have with that
is going to be totally relevant to what the United States could
be doing. And I am confident it would be favorable. I am
extremely excited over what is happening in Canada."

SOURCE: Cybercast News Service
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200107\CUL20010730a.html

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