REEFER MADNESS

T

The420Guy

Guest
I wonder if Anne McLellan ever feels liked getting stoned. I wouldn't blame
her, especially after last week.

Somehow, this nice person from Edmonton got stuck with the marijuana file.

Bummer.

So, last week, the Health Minister tried to comply with a court decision
that struck down the government's medicinal-marijuana regulations by setting
up doctors as dealers.

The plan goes something like this: Health Canada will supply marijuana to
the approximately 500 people cleared to use it for medicinal purposes --
through their doctors. Cheap, too. Ottawa will sell patients a gram of Flin
Flon Gold (the federal pot farm is located in an abandoned mine shaft in
northern Manitoba) for $5, or a package of 30 seeds for $20 and they can
grow their own.

Minister McLellan's hand was forced when the Ontario Superior Court ruled
that Ottawa's Medical Marijuana Access Regulations were unconstitutional
because there was no legal distribution mechanism. The judge, who ruled in
January, gave the government six months to do something, and the deadline
expired on July 9. The minister's plan is -- at best -- an interim measure
while Ottawa appeals the Ontario court decision. "Keep in mind," she told
reporters, "that it was never our intention to supply the product."

Now, of course, everyone's furious. Odd, isn't it, how a drug that makes you
stare at the ceiling for hours and think about ice cream and how nice it
would be to have some, causes such anxiety.

The doctors are furious. The Canadian Medical Association is asking doctors
not to deal in grass because the government hasn't made the case for the
safety of medical marijuana. The minister must be asking herself: What's
with the doctors? They deal in billions of dollars worth of psychoactive
brain rippers on a daily basis without so much as wagging their tongue
depressors, and they're freaked out over dealing a little boo?

The doctors say they're worried about theft from the dispensary, which
brings to mind the old Reefer Madness scare -- crazed potheads breaking into
doctors' offices to get a fix. Your average pothead probably has a much more
reliable source of supply, and anyway, is too busy watching the ceiling to
budge.

The anti-drug warriors are furious. It's all part of the "slippery slope" as
Alliance MP Randy White likes to call it. Before long, people will be
sitting in the middle of intersections painting flowers on each other's bare
midriffs and there will be nothing we can do about it.

Sergeant Glen Hayden, an Edmontonian of a different stripe (three stripes,
to be precise), told a local newspaper the government "is putting the cart
before the horse," and "there are no medical tests or scientific foundation
proving benefits." While Mr. White and Sgt. Hayden should worry about the
long-term impact of thinking in clich=E9s, they really have nothing to worry
about on the benefits of medicinal marijuana.

A 1999 report called Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, by
the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, concluded: "there are some limited
circumstances in which we recommend smoking marijuana for medical uses."
Specifically, the data "indicate a potential therapeutic value for
cannabinoid drugs, particularly for symptoms such as pain relief, control of
nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation." Anyone for ice cream?

The full report, the result of two years of research funded by the White
House drug policy office (!) into all existing data on marijuana's
therapeutic use, is available for scrutiny online at
https://bob.nap.edu/books/0309071550/html.

It's a great piece of work and, on the strength of it, the U.S. government
has authorized seven people to use medical marijuana. No use running off
half-cocked.

Anyway, the medical marijuana advocates are furious, too. Hilary Black, of
something called the B.C. Compassion Club, "Canada's largest medical
marijuana buyers' club," says Ottawa's pot distribution plan is a
"smokescreen." The health minister, Ms. Black suspects, is pretending to
comply with the court order, but knows doctors won't play along. Paranoid?
Perhaps, but Ms. Black gets points for the most appropriate clich=E9.

There's little doubt the minister is stalling for time, as the Ontario Court
of Appeal upheld the lower court decision. She can't expect much different
from the Supreme Court of Canada, the most liberal court this side of
Sweden.

Back in the real world, people continue to smoke dope. According to one
survey, Alberta teens are more likely to smoke marijuana than cigarettes: 42
per cent of Grade 10 to 12 students have tried marijuana at least once in
the last year, while only 24.6 per cent tried cigarettes. Also, people
continue to get busted -- in 2001, 11,000 pot-related arrests were made in
B.C. alone.

Police are worried an unholy alliance of the Hell's Angels and Vietnamese
gangs are taking over. Although their prices aren't nearly as good as
Ottawa's, they don't have to rely on doctors to distribute the product.

After such a week, Ms. McLellan must be tempted to try some of her own
medicine. My advice, Minister? Just sit back, roll a giant spliff, fire it
up, and let your mind float downstream. According to a recent study at the
University of California at San Diego, smoking marijuana does not cause
permanent brain damage -- unlike drinking alcohol. And if your "interim"
plan to distribute medical marijuana is any indication, you're unfit to
operate heavy machinery anyway.


Pubdate: Monday, July 14, 2003
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Page: A15
Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca
Website: The Globe and Mail: Canadian, World, Politics and Business News & Analysis
Author: Paul Sullivan
 
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