cannabisnews.com: Health Minister is On a Bad Trip

Health Minister is On a Bad Trip

Posted by CN Staff on August 26, 2002 at 08:41:43 PT
By Penni Mitchell
Source: Winnipeg Free Press

What has federal Health Minister Anne McLellan been smoking? Last week, she appeared to forget that when she was justice minister she created an exemption that allows people with specific conditions to possess marijuana. Ms McLellan told an audience of pot-leery docs at a meeting of the Canadian Medical Association that the idea of smoking pot for medicinal purposes made her uncomfortable. She went on to say that she hoped the Supreme Court would provide clarity on the issue.
Either the minister didn't explain herself properly or she's been taking too many trips to Flin Flon lately. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled two years ago that it was legal for terminally ill people to use marijuana for pain relief. Ms McLellan decided not to appeal that ruling and introduced the exemptions in response. But a year later, the move has turned into a bad trip for doctors -- many are worried about the liability of recommending an untested substance that it is illegal to buy. The solution appears to be simple. Remove the sanctions against buying pot as well as possession. Former health minister Allan Rock favours looser restrictions. Last week, he likened the prescription of pot to heroin, morphine "and all kinds of other drugs which otherwise are unlawful and actually quite dangerous." What he didn't mention is that the "quite dangerous" drugs doctors prescribe are approved by Health Canada after clinical trials. And you buy them at a pharmacy. Mr. Rock also gave the impression that his $5.7 million plan to grow weed in an abandoned mine in Flin Flon included clinical trials. But Canada has no independent drug-testing branch, thanks to Heath Protection Branch cuts under the Chretien administration. The only pockets deep enough to fund clinical trials are huge pharmaceutical companies that have secured a patent for the substance they want approved. Ottawa rubber-stamps the paperwork. One of the stumpers here is that no one has a patent on THC, marijuana's active ingredient. The safety issue could be addressed if Health Canada established a branch to test natural substances for their effectiveness, safety and quality. As things stand, Health Canada now says that the 250 kilograms of pot in Flin Flon will be used for non-human research. What a waste. And yet some would argue that Ottawa can't get into the business of selling pot if it intends maintain a criminal ban on others who traffic. A Supreme Court case slated for later this fall is expected to decide whether the federal government has the right to ban the recreational use of pot. Perhaps Ms McLellan's comments weren't so far off the mark, after all, as the medicinal and recreational aspects of the industry can not be kept entirely separate. For example, can Ottawa justify the creation of medical exemptions for pot smokers who are dying of AIDS, but not those living with arthritis or multiple sclerosis? Women have used marijuana tea to ease menstrual cramps for centuries -- Queen Victoria among them. A friend swears that eating pot-laced cookies alleviates her anxiety. Winnipeg's Cannabis Devout Mission Café would argue that their religious right to worship the plant is at least as important as a dying man's right to live pain free. Is it possible to draw a line between medicinal and recreational use? Probably not. That's probably why the new justice minister, Martin Cauchon, is looking at decriminalization, as Britain has just done. There, police will no longer charge people for possessing small amounts. Traffickers still face up to 14 years in prison. According to books such as Pot Planet: Adventures in Global Marijuana Culture, pot smoking was associated with the 1960s counter-culture movement because rock stars like Bob Dylan used it. And Jack Kerouac dreamed of mind-expanding drugs as a radical antidote to Cold War America. But like, that was 50 years ago. Today, heavy long-term use of marijuana is more likely to be associated with a pronounced tendency to dress badly. Real badly. Not to mention bouts of binge eating and paranoid thoughts. Carleton University researchers reported in the April issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal that heavy users had lower IQs compared to non-users. The worst effect of the inevitable decriminalization of pot may well be its social effects: Smoking pot won't be edgy anymore. Golfers will use it. I hope the hipsters on the Senate committee looking at the issue take this into account when they release their pot report next month. In the meantime, the 806 Canadians who are allowed to possess the marijuana that it is illegal to buy are holding their breath. Perhaps the senators will recommend giving Ottawa's stash away, to avoid the trafficking charges. I mean, it's taxpayers' money, right? Power to the people. And the golfers. Newshawk: puff_tuff Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)Author: Penni MitchellPublished: Monday, August 26, 2002Copyright: 2002 Winnipeg Free PressContact: letters freepress.mb.caWebsite: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/Related Articles: Smoke Out the Politicians http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13880.shtmlFlin Flon Mine Questions Pot-Growing Futurehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13844.shtmlHow To Stall On Medicinal Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13823.shtmlPot Planet: Adventures in Global Marijuana Culturehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13110.shtml

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Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 26, 2002 at 14:34:37 PT

News Brief from The Canadian Press
Feds to Push Ahead with Pot Program

Monday, August 26, 2002

EDMONTON -- Federal Health Minister Anne McLellan is bristling at reports her government is shelving its medical marijuana program.

She insists her department hopes to move ahead with clinical trials later this fall on the medical effects of marijuana.

Speaking in Edmonton, McLellan blasted media reports last week that Ottawa had all but snuffed out its medical pot program with clinical trials that could take years.

She says some of the 855 Canadians who have legal exemptions to smoke pot for medical reasons flooded her department with calls.

The minister says they had to be reassured they were not about to lose their legal exemptions.

McLellan says clinical trials can now go ahead, because it appears the second crop of pot from an underground facility in Manitoba doesn't have the impurity problems the first crop had.

The Manitoba company that has a five-year contract to grow medical marijuana is looking at branching out because of doubts about the future of the program.

Comment #6 posted by FoM on August 26, 2002 at 10:38:55 PT

Thanks Naaps!
That's the program! That is so cool now I can watch it again! I love the Internet!
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Comment #5 posted by Naaps on August 26, 2002 at 10:32:42 PT

Answers for you, FoM!
CBC has a show entitled, ‘Country Canada’. A grower named Doug, located in Ontario near Thunder Bay, confides to the film crew, and ultimately the viewers, his techniques for growing pot in the bog.I thought it was an excellent show. It can be found here, on POT-TV list of best rated shows. http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-1205.html Here’s this diminutive fellow, with his own health problems, who has twenty years of outdoor growing experience. He doesn’t drink or steal, but enjoys using marijuana. Using guile and stealth, he plants his crop on crown land, hidden as best as possible, especially in the bug-infested, soft land bog. Against him is the Ontario police with their taxpayer supported helicopters, backed up by a Crimestoppers Campaign pledging rewards. Meanwhile, Doug’s principal customers are members of a local compassion club, and you know Ottawa isn’t on their side. So, in a battle akin to David versus Goliath, Doug struggles to improve the world, while loutish career authoritarians and swaggering police attitudes mostly prevail.

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Comment #4 posted by FoM on August 26, 2002 at 09:59:06 PT

Thanks puff_tuff
For the article and the cartoon. I have a question. Yesterday we were watching the news and it was the same old, same old and we switched to another news channel and stopped on News World International. Is that the CBC?They had a piece on growing Cannabis in Canada. I felt so sorry for the man that had to go through deep mud to hide his garden so no one finds the crop. I can't remember his name but it was a good show.Is it on line anywhere? I looked and couldn't find it but I get lost real easy in many of the Canadian web sites.
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on August 26, 2002 at 09:45:31 PT:

Thank you, puff-tuff :)
You made my day with that cartoon. Very succint, and to the point.
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on August 26, 2002 at 09:40:27 PT:

They always do this
People who write on the continuing controversy surrounding cannabis can be said to fall into 3 categories: The Lazies, who get all their information from 'official' (and therefore, suspect) sources such as the police PR buddy they go out drinking with. Who between swilling his lager, puking on the floor and starting a fight in the saloon with other 'social drinkers' will regail you about the comically mythical dangers of cannabis.Then we have the 'Almosts'. These are people who, when they write, seemingly have all their ducks in line...and then make some fantastically dumb remark that takes all the good work they did and trashes it. Today, heavy long-term use of marijuana is more likely to be associated with a pronounced tendency to dress badly. Real badly. Not to mention bouts of binge eating and paranoid thoughts. Carleton University researchers reported in the April issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal that heavy users had lower IQs compared to non-users.We've been through this months ago. The study said no such thing. If anything, the reverse was true. Yet this piece of misinformation shoots the author in the foot at the very end of the article. And negates the body of what was until that moment a half-way respectable job. This qualifies the author as a 'Almost'.Oddly enough, it seems that those for whom journalism is not their vocation have done of better job of it than those receiving a paycheck for their 'art'. I call these people the 'Wise Aamateurs'...because they make up for a lack of experience with dogged honesty and unswerving adherence to the facts...and are quite capable of admitting to all and sundry when they've goofed. Richard Cowan's a good example of this.I'd rather have a slew of Wise Amateurs rummaging about as the Press than the blow-dried vacuum skulls on The Tube or the equally vapid writers posturing as 'journalists' nowadays. I am more likely to get factual information that way than I am fluff-and-buzzes.
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Comment #1 posted by puff_tuff on August 26, 2002 at 09:27:35 PT

Editorial Cartoon
This is the cartoon that was published with this article.
Editorial Cartoon
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