July 30, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

Canada opens door to marijuana

LONDON, July 30, Graphic News: Canada on Monday became the first country in the world to have a regulatory system governing the use of medical marijuana. 

Canadians suffering from terminal illnesses and chronic conditions such as arthritis can now legally grow and smoke marijuana, or designate someone else to grow it for them.

The new rules are part of the first system in the world that includes a government-approved and paid-for supply of marijuana, now being grown in a former mine in northern Manitoba. Commercial production, sale and non-medical use of marijuana will still be a crime.

The Canadian Medical Association opposes the new law, saying there is insufficient scientific research for doctors to properly prescribe dosage and its frequency or to be sure marijuana does not conflict with patientsÕ more traditional medicines. 

PatientsÕ groups have largely welcomed the legislation, which follows a year of permits being handed out on a case by case basis to people who are terminally ill. 

Now, those suffering from some chronic conditions -- including epilepsy and degenerative muscle and bone illnesses -- will also be able to use marijuana if their doctor and two other experts agree and sign the necessary forms. 

The Canadian system looks wonderful to U.S. medical marijuana advocates battling a zero-tolerance attitude. Eight U.S. states have taken some kind of step toward permitting the medicinal use of marijuana: California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada and Colorado. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, ruled earlier this year that there is no exception in federal law for people to use marijuana, so even people with state medical-exemptions could face arrest if they do.

In a 1999 report, the Institute of Medicine Ð an advisory panel to the U.S. government Ð said that there was no conclusive evidence that marijuana use leads to harder drugs. The report concluded that for some seriously-ill people, the benefits of cannabis outweigh its disadvantages. The active ingredients in marijuana can help fight pain and nausea and thus deserve to be tested in scientific trials.

But the panel warned that smoking marijuana can cause respiratory disease and called for the development of standardized forms of the drugs Ð called cannabinoids Ð that can be taken, for example, by inhaler.

The institute said that because cannabinoids in marijuana ease anxiety, stimulate the appetite, ease pain and reduce nausea and vomiting, they can be helpful for people undergoing chemotherapy and people with AIDS. 
/ENDS

Sources: Associated Press, Reuters