Cannabis News Students for Sensible Drug Policy
  Potency of Government Marijuana Questioned
Posted by CN Staff on May 16, 2002 at 07:25:50 PT
By Tim Harper, Ottawa Bureau Chief 
Source: Toronto Star 

medical A high-level dust-up about the quality of government-grown pot is creating a buzz in the capital. In fact, the marijuana mess threatens to spill over into Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's cabinet.

Senior government sources said yesterday they believed Health Minister Anne McLellan was deliberately misrepresenting the quality of the weed being grown in northern Manitoba because she has developed cold feet and does not want to follow through on a government plan to provide marijuana to Canadians who need it for medicinal purposes.

They also have the backing of Prairie Plant Systems Inc. president Brent Zettl, who wrote to McLellan, defending the quality of the marijuana he is growing for the government.

A week ago, McLellan told a parliamentary committee the federal marijuana was impure and the first crop contained some 185 varieties of pot.

She said the uneven potency and purity was a "problem'' and would delay delivery several months. She ascribed the problem to the government grower having to use seeds police confiscated from illegal growers.

She said Canadians waiting for medicinal pots would have to be patient.

"That's ridiculous,'' one source said last night. "It's legitimate marijuana and they have medicinal needs.''

McLellan appeared to place the blame at the feet of her predecessor in health, Allan Rock, when she told reporters the problem developed last summer after it was learned Ottawa could not get the marijuana seeds it wanted from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Making clinical marijuana available to those with less than a year to live, or to those who have AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries or epilepsy, with doctors' approval, was a major Rock health move.

More than 200 ill Canadians have sought and gained permission to use the government marijuana.

McLellan "may be looking for a way out. Her reaction has been puzzling,'' one source said. McLellan was in Europe, unavailable for comment. Zettl did not return phone calls.

Note: McLellan said to be misrepresenting Rock's weed crop.

Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Author: Tim Harper, Ottawa Bureau Chief
Published: May 16, 2002
Copyright: 2002 The Toronto Star
Contact: lettertoed@thestar.com
Website: http://www.thestar.com/

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Comment #3 posted by Floyd on May 16, 2002 at 14:31:22 PT:

We just have to keep the pressure on...
I am pretty disappointed about it, but I think if people make it clear that this is unacceptable, then its really just a bump in the road. I think even based on how much of a bad rap she has gotten for slowing the process is an excellent indication of whats in the works. Canadians will no longer tolerate being told they cant have marijuana when they are critically ill, and one health minister isnt going to stop the momentum of a country =)

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #2 posted by Naaps on May 16, 2002 at 13:02:40 PT
Inexperienced Growers and Distributors
Couldn’t the entire batch be standardized by converting it to hash or pot oil?

Didn’t they understand that using confiscated unknown seeds would result in a spectrum of cannabis?

Health Minister Anne McLellan is making excuses. I wonder what is the real problem. Did Radon gas affect the crop? Did pesticides pollute the crop?

How bad can the crop be for needy ill people who must purchase whatever they can get or afford off the street, if there’s no compassion club nearby?

Does someone have her arm bent behind her back, forcing the issue?

Meanwhile, after millions of dollars and a year later, Canada’s Flin-Flon pot crop looks to be wasted. Disgraceful.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by p4me on May 16, 2002 at 08:43:51 PT
let the people decide
If one of the 255 I believe it is that have passed over all the ridiculous hurdles the prohibitionist have put up want it, give it to them. If it does not help they can throw it in the trash. They may do better next time but a reasonable person does not throw away 6 million dollars worth of pot. Yeah, if the DEA seized that much marijuana it might come out as taking a $100 million worth of pot on the street.

The ministers credibility is 0.

VAAI



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