cannabisnews.com: Drug Approval is Going to Pot





Drug Approval is Going to Pot
Posted by FoM on August 01, 2001 at 12:35:52 PT
Editorial
Source: Montreal Gazette
Last fall, Grant Krieger of Calgary went to court to fight a charge of cultivating marijuana. He told the judge that pot alleviated his symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Judge Darlene Acton was sympathetic, and then some. She threw out the charge, said it violated Krieger's security rights under the federal Charter of Rights and Freedoms and gave Parliament 12 months to amend drug legislation so that sick people could get medicinal cannabis. 
It's because of the Acton judgment and others like it since 1997 that Canada this week has become the first country in the world to allow people to possess marijuana for medicinal purposes. The new regulations, which took effect Monday, allow sick and dying people to take marijuana for pain or symptom relief, provided they can get one doctor (in some cases, two are required) to prescribe it after attesting that other remedies have been ineffective. The government is to begin supplying pot to those who qualify this fall, when the first crop is harvested at the new marijuana plantation in Flin Flon, Man., which it chose as its official supplier. Doctors' organizations don't like the new regulations, and for good reason. The alleged medicinal benefits of marijuana have never been subjected to analysis in clinical trial. The way the drug process works in Canada, testing precedes approval, not the other way around. When you have courts forcing legislators to approve drugs that haven't been tested yet, something's wrong. "We're being asked to be gatekeepers for a product that hasn't gone through any rigorous testing," says Peter Barrett, president of the Canadian Medical Association. If marijuana, heretofore a recreational drug, is to be rebranded as a medicinal herb, then assertions of its therapeutic value have to substantiated by clinical trial first. Until then, the Quebec College of Physicians and Surgeons is quite properly threatening fines and temporary license suspensions for any Quebec doctor who prescribes marijuana before a recognized mainstream research group examines its medical benefits, side-effects and, above all, its interaction with other drugs. Just such a major study on the effectiveness of marijuana as a pain-relief medication is to begin in January at the Montreal General Hospital. Anecdotal evidence suggests marijuana might well have medicinal value. If clinical trials corroborate these claims, fine. If they don't, then the flurry of recent pot-as-medicine defences in Canadian courts starts to look more like rearguard lobbying for eventual decriminalization. There's considerable sympathy in Canada for the idea of decriminalization of possession, including at this newspaper, but that's a parallel issue. Police rarely bust people any more for possession, yet the prohibition of possession is still there on the statute books. The contradiction reflects the fact that Canadians aren't really sure what to think about marijuana any more. You know your country is confused when your central government approves the drug for use without bothering to study it properly first. Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)Published: Wednesday, August 1, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.Contact: letters thegazette.southam.caWebsite: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmGrant Kreiger Cannabis Researchhttp://gwkcannabisresearch.org/Marijuana Regulation Draws Firehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10483.shtmlCanada Legalises the Compassionate Joint http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10477.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Canadahttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=canada 
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Comment #3 posted by mayan on August 01, 2001 at 15:59:04 PT
GREED
If, after thousands of years, sufficient studies have not been done then it seems that there must be a prejudice against this plant. But as Dr. Russo pointed out, there have been many studies which prove the efficacy of cannabis. All you have to do is take off the blindfold to see them. It is unfortunate that money & power have corrupted the field of medicine to the point of caring for profit over people. 
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Comment #2 posted by J.R. Bob Dobbs on August 01, 2001 at 15:02:50 PT
The first?
>>It's because of the Acton judgment and others like it since 1997 that Canada this week has become the first country in the world to allow people to possess marijuana for medicinal purposes.  Don't forget the Dutch nederviet program, which allows special medical cardholders to purchase cannabis at half price...
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on August 01, 2001 at 12:56:50 PT:
Wrong: Try Again
"The alleged medicinal benefits of marijuana have never been subjected to analysis in clinical trial."I have a file cabinet full of articles that disprove this. Sir William Osler was a Canadian, the founder of "modern medicine" and a longterm, devoted cannabis prescriber at the turn of the last century. Too bad no one is thinking of him, but rather merely rabid propagandists such as Emily Murphy, aka Janey Canuck.Why is it that these "authorities" claim to know the facts, and manage to ignore volumes of history? Why is it so much easier to remember the alleged brain damage, male breasts, marijuana madness and other lies, unless of course, the media is succumbing to brainwashing?"Until then, the Quebec College of Physicians and Surgeons is quite properly threatening fines and temporary license suspensions for any Quebec doctor who prescribes marijuana before a recognized mainstream research group examines its medical benefits, side-effects and, above all, its interaction with other drugs."This is absurd. Firstly, the premise is untrue. Cannabis has been extremely well studied and reasonable answers are available to all these questions, but only to those willing to listen. In virtually every society, physicians are honor bound to alleviate suffering, educate themselves, and do anything that is reasonable to achieve those ends. Often in the future, that will include helping patients with appropriate conditions in the use of a safe and effective herb called cannabis. The danger for Canada is that if current protest continues, the courts have the power to yank all existing cannabis law. Wouldn't that be interesting? Let the games begin!
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