cannabisnews.com: Anne 'Stalling' on Pot Anne 'Stalling' on Pot Posted by CN Staff on August 21, 2002 at 07:45:58 PT By Stephanie Rubec and Susy Trace, Sun Media Source: Edmonton Sun Health Minister Anne McLellan backed down yesterday from plans to snuff out government experiments to supply medical marijuana, adding she'll wait for the results of clinical tests before making a decision. "I have to be very concerned about the health and safety of Canadians," she said. "We are dealing with a drug that has not gone through the normal clinical trials that one would expect in relation to a product of this kind." But Edmontonian Bob Burrill, who has been granted permission by the federal government to use medicinal marijuana, is frustrated by the latest delay. He said because he's in pain, he can't sustain his own crop. "A lot of times I'm just too sick to get up and tend to my crop," said Burrill, who has severe arthritis of the spine. "It's a living hell, I'm a 42-year-old man and without my medicine, without marijuana, I'm a non-human. A second-class citizen. That's the way I feel, like I don't matter." But McLellan said she won't make a move until she gets the results of the clinical tests, which are expected to start late this fall or early winter. McLellan told the Canadian Medical Association in Saint John on Monday that she felt uncomfortable with the idea of Ottawa providing pot to relieve pain. She told the gathering she was considering putting an end to the federal government's controversial $5.7-million project to grow medicinal-grade marijuana in a Manitoba mine. McLellan also said she hoped the Supreme Court would tackle the issue soon for clarity's sake. But yesterday McLellan denied ever suggesting the project might not go forward. "No one was more surprised than I was when ... I saw a headline that said we intended to shelve our plan around medical marijuana," she said. "In fact there have been no changes of policy." McLellan said she is concerned for the quality of the pot and whether it will be safe for those sick Canadians who have received a ministerial permit to purchase it. John Conroy, an Abbotsford lawyer for the B.C. Compassion Club and one of the lawyers going to the Supreme Court in December to challenge the prohibition of marijuana, said more clinical testing is just a way for the government to stall. He said pot should not be categorized as a pharmaceutical drug but as a natural health-care product. "You have to look at it in my opinion like a (natural product) people can use with or without their doctor's consultation," said Conroy. "It's a way to stall, it's a way to cater to the medical profession, the pharmaceutical industry. The people who control the manufacturing of drugs." He added that McLellan is also stalling to appease pressure from the U.S., which is opposed to the idea of medicinal exemptions. Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Author: Stephanie Rubec and Susy Trace, Sun MediaPublished: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Canoe Limited PartnershipContact: sun.letters ccinet.ab.ca Website: http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtmlRelated Articles & Web Sites:Health Canadahttp://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/Canadian Medical Associationhttp://www.cma.ca/Squabbles Erupt Over Policyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13824.shtmlHow To Stall On Medicinal Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13823.shtmlMcLellan Denies Plan To Shelve Medicinal Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13819.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by FoM on August 21, 2002 at 17:41:57 PT Related Article Here's another short article that must be snipped. Marijuana Plan is Taking Too Long Edmonton Journal Wednesday, August 21, 2002 Copyright 2002 Edmonton Journal Health Minister Anne McLellan admits to being uncomfortable with the idea of people smoking marijuana to relieve pain and other conditions. The minister, however, has little choice but to proceed. The courts have ruled that the sick have a right to take marijuana. Ottawa must either get on with setting up a system of regulated marijuana use, or give up on controlling marijuana use altogether. Ottawa has promised a regulated system, but getting it going seems to be taking forever. The government's first official crop, grown in an abandoned mine in Manitoba, contained too many strains of marijuana to be used in clinical trials that are key to reassuring physicians about prescribing the drug for medical conditions. As McLellan has said, such trials must use marijuana of consistent quality so researchers know what they're measuring. Key to the government's regulation plan is use of physicians as the gatekeepers for who will be allowed the drug. That is a role doctors rightly feel comfortable with only when there's scientific evidence on which to base their decisions. Sufferers who do get their doctor's blessing still face the challenge of supply. Not everyone wants to grow their own plants and a government supply seems a long way off. Fortunately, there are more marijuana sources for the sick than there once were. Groups like Vancouver's Compassion Club, which supplies pot to 2,000 members, are springing up. Complete Article: http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=7110084F-54D9-4282-818A-EF5C26FF0368 [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on August 21, 2002 at 17:14:13 PT Related Article This one is too small to post on the front page and snip so here it is!Double-Talk on Weed National Post Published: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 Copyright 2002 National Post We never thought we'd say this, but we're beginning to miss Allan Rock as federal health minister. In general, he didn't do much with the job, but at least he pushed the medicinal marijuana file forward. Under Mr. Rock's tenure, the health department developed rules that allow sufferers of certain medical conditions to grow and smoke their own pot. His department also hired a firm to produce marijuana cigarettes for delivery to hundreds of sick Canadians.But Anne McLellan, his successor, is dragging her feet. Speaking at a meeting of the Canadian Medical Association on Monday, she said Ottawa will not distribute marijuana for medicinal purposes until clinical trials are completed. (Yesterday, she claimed her comments did not signify a change in government policy. But how can that be? The clinical trials she speaks of as a precondition have yet to begin, and will likely take years to complete.)Ms. McLellan is reportedly apprehensive that any move to make marijuana available would antagonize the Americans. She also argued on Monday that abetting marijuana use might put the Health Department in an "ironic" position -- because it would conflict with her campaign to fight tobacco.Two points are in order: First, there is no "irony" in letting sick people use marijuana even as we discourage others from taking up nicotine. Medicinal marijuana can help alleviate the nausea associated with AIDS wasting syndrome and chemotherapy, as well as the symptoms of glaucoma and epilepsy. Complete Article: http://www.nationalpost.com/utilities/story.html?id=E87001C4-98BF-4EDB-AB6C-00DC75456B95 [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by WolfgangWylde on August 21, 2002 at 10:43:40 PT Bottom line... ...The Ontario Court of Appeals ruling means nothing. Nada, Zip, Zilch. I gotta hand it to them, they played us for suckers, big time. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Ethan Russo MD on August 21, 2002 at 08:27:46 PT: It's Ignorance and Fear Both of these are curable. I would love to educate physicians in Canada on this issue. So far, I've not had the opportunity, but people are trying very hard. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Windminstrel on August 21, 2002 at 07:55:11 PT Dr. Russo Any idea why your Canadian colleagues are so opposed to medicinal cannabis? Seems strange to me... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on August 21, 2002 at 07:52:49 PT: It's Nationwide This just keeps getting better and better. This movement is akin to the cataclysmic fall of the Iron Curtain. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment