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| A Modest Step |
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Posted by FoM on August 01, 2001 at 15:43:05 PT Editorial Source: Toronto Star 
There is a slightly farcical quality to Ottawa's well-intentioned efforts to make medicinal marijuana available to the severely ill. The government's new regulations authorizing individuals to grow and use the drug, with their doctor's approval and a licence from Health Canada, came into effect this week, along with dark warnings from the medical lobby about the possibility of abuse.Today, Health Minister Allan Rock visits Flin Flon, Man., to inspect the government of Canada's first marijuana growing operation, an underground farm in an abandoned mine, 1,000 metres below the earth. Top-level security clearance and special clothing are required to enter the site. All this angst and officialdom seems a bit odd for a drug that millions of Canadians smoke recreationally; that can be bought in almost any school-yard; that even the country's police chiefs want decriminalized. Rock is right to loosen Ottawa's restrictive drug laws to allow individuals who are terminally ill or suffer chronic pain access to marijuana, which appears to provide relief. (In fact, he had little choice. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled, a year ago, that it was unconstitutional to criminalize a person for using a substance that alleviates the symptoms of a serious medical disability.) But this is a modest step. It is not as if the health minister were allowing Canadians their first whiff of a dangerous new intoxicant. He is not putting a lethal painkiller into the hands of desperately ill people. He is not even advocating that Canada treat cannabis as a controlled substance, like alcohol. The grave misgivings voiced by doctors, the strict controls imposed by the government and the public sniggering that surround this measure are almost reminiscent of the Prohibition era, 80 years ago. And today's drug laws are almost as ineffective as the liquor laws were then. Rock deserves credit for responding humanely to the pleas of cancer patients, AIDS sufferers, epileptics and others with debilitating illnesses. But a little less sanctimony from all involved would be welcome. Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Related Articles & Web Site: Canadian Links Drug Approval is Going to Pot Allan Rock To Tour Manitoba Marijuana Mine CannabisNews Articles - Canada Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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