cannabisnews.com: Pot Advocates Diss Official Gov't Weed





Pot Advocates Diss Official Gov't Weed
Posted by FoM on January 12, 2002 at 08:30:03 PT
By David Schmeichel -- Winnipeg Sun
Source: Winnipeg Sun 
A local compassion club is taking pot shots at Manitoba's crop of medicinal marijuana, claiming the government-sanctioned weed will only be half as potent as the stuff available on the street. "I've heard from more than one source that they've got some extremely weak cannabis up there," said Geoff Hughes, spokesman for the Manitoba Compassion Club. "It's like half the potency of what I would consider to be acceptable, and that's a shame -- it's like they're growing baby Aspirins up there." 
The Manitoba Compassion Club was formed last November to dispense marijuana -- without government approval -- to people with serious medical conditions. The club has 17 full-time members, all of whom were screened beforehand to ensure they weren't just looking for a recreational high.  Crummy Cannabis  "Most young people already know where to get cannabis," Hughes said, noting more than half his club's membership is over 40. "But one of our members is in her 50s ... and it was very hard for her to get any, because people didn't trust her." Recently, Ottawa announced plans to begin dispensing medicinal marijuana to Canadian residents suffering from chronic illnesses. But Hughes said the government bud has been deemed bunk by several sources, including Cannabis Culture magazine and national activist Marc Emery. "It's like they'll just have to smoke twice as much," Hughes said, admitting he's never actually sampled from the federal stash, which is being harvested in an underground mine in Flin Flon. Hughes said part of the problem lies with the government's reluctance to involve active growers in the development of the medicinal strain. "To use a wine analogy, it's like one guy told them, 'Look, I'll grow you guys a nice Beaujolais,'" Hughes said. "They said, `No, we'll just take these grapes from here in the closet and throw 'em in and see what we get.'" Hughes is also worried the government might start targeting compassion clubs once they settle on their own means of distribution. "It's too bad they don't just (work with) the people who have already put the effort into creating these distribution systems," he said. Health Canada spokeswoman Paige Raymond Kovach said the government-grown crop will likely have THC levels of five to six per cent. THC is the active ingredient in marijuana. Hughes said marijuana available on the street -- and through the Compassion Club -- can have THC levels ranging from 12% to 18%. But Raymond Kovach also pointed out the government weed is being grown primarily for research purposes, and that it won't be the only available option for people with personal-use authorization. "They can grow their own ... they can designate somebody to grow for them, or they can make use of the research-grade medicinal marijuana," she said. Raymond Kovach said there are currently 714 Canadians authorized to use medicinal marijuana for compassionate reasons. Source: Winnipeg Sun (CN MB) Author: David Schmeichel -- Winnipeg SunPublished: January 12, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Canoe Limited Partnership Contact: editor wpgsun.com Website: http://www.fyiwinnipeg.com/winsun.shtmlRelated Articles & Web Site:FTE's Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmPotent Pot Promisedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11722.shtmlMedicinal-Pot Users Fuming Over Delays http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11623.shtmlLegal Pot Available on Jan. 1http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11622.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on January 12, 2002 at 13:22:34 PT
Isn't there a THC aversion reaction?
I thought I read in some scholarly pub somewhere that THC causes an aversion reaction at a certain dosage. This was done with rodents but it made me think of how people normally just put the joint down and decide it's enough at some point and that more than that will be too much.Anyone who watches potheads could not possibly miss the fact that they are always leaving unfinished joints lying around. Why? It must be that more than enough THC is perceived by the brain as being too much. The drug is a really smart drug, it seems to know how to turn off the desire for more at some point.If alcohol worked that way, the world would be such a safer and happier place. Hopefully eventually ethical science will win out and this hysteria over marijuana potency will resolve itself into common sense informed by observation.It sure is taking a long time though...
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Comment #2 posted by bruce42 on January 12, 2002 at 10:26:04 PT
sad
The best thing that could be done for medical marijuana users is high potency weed. Smaller doses = less smoke. This is a really obvious point to make, but it seems unfair to me that the government is pushing poor quality medicine on the ill. Consider what would happen if a major news org. uncovered a story that some large pharm. corp. was passing off vital drugs as "prescription strength" when in reality they were "watered" down. There was a recent case on the news about a pharmacist who did just that to increase profits. Yet when the government does it, its hunky-dory. My fear is that any studies done with the bunk weed will show unfairly incresed side affects from increased smoke inhalation. Wouldn't the anti's just love to get their spin doctors' claws on that?! 
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on January 12, 2002 at 09:57:16 PT:
Feast or Famine
This controversy is fascinating to me. 6% THC cannabis is receiving criticism in Canada, but will soon be available to qualified patients. Compare that to the situation in the USA, where NIDA cannabis provided to the 7 IND patients tops out below 4% at best, and no one else can get it at all. We have a long way to go to be able to catch up to even Canada's level of support for clinical cannabis.
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