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Weeding out feds’ position on medical pot
By Hempology | August 26, 2002
From the Weekend Edition, August 23rd, 2002
By Don Descoteau
Federal Health Minister’s statements confuse local proponents of using pot as medicine
About 250-kgs of marijauna has been harvested for medicinal use by Health Canada’s lone
supplier, but to date, none of that federal pot crop has reached the people it was intended
for.
Now, federal Health Minister Anne McLellan is saying she feels “uncomfortable” with
the idea of distributing marijuana before the pot can be clinically tested, in the same
manner as other prescription drug, before it reaches patients. Such a process has been
known to take between five and 10 years.
Phillipe Lucas of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, a downtown Victoria-based
supplier of medical marijuana, says having to wait for results of such testing could force
sick people – many of whom currently rely on pot secured from compassion clubs to ease their
pain and suffering – to resort to more illicit sources. “I think not enough people are
showing concern for the people who could benefit and need it right now,” says Lucas.
While the health minister claimed her department’s policy has not changed, her predecessor
and current federal Industry Minister Allan Rock added fuel to the internal political fire
Tuesday when he defended his decision in 2000 to distribute marijuana while trials were
being undertaken.
“It seems like the federal government is sending a lot of mixed messages,” Lucas says.
What makes the minister’s comments even more confusing, says Lucas, is the fact various courts
around the country have been reluctant to clamp down on people such as himself, who supply
terminally ill patients or chronic pain sufferers with pot, until the federal government
determines its final policy on the matter.
In giving Lucas an absolute discharge on pot-related charges earlier this year, B.C. judge
Robert Highinbothman said while Lucas did indeed break the law, “his actions were intended
to ameliorate the suffering of others”.
Alex Swann, special assistant to McLellan in Ottawa, contends there has been no change to
the ministry’s plans for medicinal pot. “The minister’s comments signaled in no way a
change to our program,” he says. “We’re moving down a road map that has always included
clinical trials.”
The department’s goal, says Swann, is to reach a point where the crop being grown in a
Flon Flon, Man. mine shaft by Prarie Plant Systems is standardized enough to do testing.
He cannot give any indication when that testing might begin or when the pot might find its
way into the hands of any of the more than 800 patients with Health Canada exemptions for
marijauna. Anyone with an exemption will, however, be able to apply to be involved in the
trials, he adds.
Ted Smith, founder of the Cannabis Buyers Clubs of Canada and consultant to Victoria’s
Hempology 101 Society, calls the government’s testing rocess “a joke”.
In the City of Victoria, where city councillors endorsed in principle making marijuana
available for medicinal purposes, a meeting with Health Canada officials was expected to
set straight the policy regarding its use.
Acting Victoria Mayor Coun. Helen Hughes says they have been told the meeting would take
place sometime in September, but no date has been set.
Hughes says despite McLellan’s statements, city council will likely continue to press
Health Canada to send someone to Victoria to explain its position on medical marijuana.
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