cannabisnews.com: Ottawa’s Marijuana Plan Fraught with Disaster





Ottawa’s Marijuana Plan Fraught with Disaster
Posted by CN Staff on July 16, 2003 at 07:17:57 PT
By Greg McArthur 
Source: Kingston Whig-Standard 
When you smoke marijuana to battle the effects of AIDS, it’s no longer a mindless pastime. For a guy with a long criminal record and elaborate tattoos of dragons wrapping around his neck and forearms, Rhodes takes his pot pretty seriously. And he wants the federal government to do the same. “They’ve got to make sure the weed’s good enough,” Rhodes said, before lighting a joint at the John Street house he rents with his girlfriend. 
If Ottawa is going to distribute marijuana to sick people, it should be done right, the 25-year-old said. Surprisingly, doctors and medical bodies across the country agree completely with Rhodes – but for different reasons. Forced into action by an Ontario court deadline, Health Minister Anne McLellan announced last week a plan to supply marijuana to chronically ill Canadians. McLellan has said the court ruling essentially required the government to meet a deadline to become a drug supplier, even though politicians aren’t yet convinced of marijuana’s medical benefits. Since the announcement, both physicians and sick pot smokers are questioning the decision. Rhodes worries about the quality and price of the government-grown weed. He says the pot he buys illegally is stronger than the stuff Ottawa is offering. His marijuana is 17-per-cent delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol – the chemical known as THC that causes the high. Ottawa’s is about 10 per cent. Kingston-area doctors, on the other hand, are reluctant to prescribe a drug they know very little about. The Canadian Medical Association, which has 55,000 physician members, has advised doctors to steer clear of pot prescriptions. “At this point in time I won’t be prescribing it. The whole thing is fraught with disaster,” said Dr. Laing McFadzean, a family physician in Tamworth. Whenever he decides on medicine for a patient, McFadzean weighs the drug’s benefits against its side-effects. With hardly any scientific research on medicinal marijuana, McFadzean said he could never prescribe pot to a patient. Like most doctors, he said he doesn’t know what other medications it’s safe to take with. And if he prescribed pot even once, word would spread so quickly that a host of pot smokers would end up on his doorstep looking for their ticket to order the drug, he said. “It looks to me like something they’ve pushed through quickly to comply with a court order,” he said. Dr. Laurel Dempsey said she won’t give her patients an opportunity to use the drug. She’s heard a lot of stories from patients who praise pot’s healing power, but not enough research that shows it’s safe and effective. She also took issue with McLellan’s plan to have doctors distribute the drug instead of pharmacists. If family clinics have stockpiles of marijuana in their offices, it will invite a lot of trouble, she said. “It doesn’t make sense to isolate it this way,” said Dempsey, who has a practice in Verona. “It’s being dispersed in a completely different way than any other medical drug.” Dr. Chris Milburn, a Kingston family doctor, said he’s not entirely against prescribing pot to ease chronic pain, but some things will have to change before he writes a prescription. Because marijuana is smoked, it could lead to lung cancer, he said. He refuses to prescribe something that causes cancer, when there are so many painkillers that don’t. “The potential for abuse is huge, and detrimental as opposed to helpful,” Milburn said, adding that one of his patients has already asked him for a prescription – and then asked if his friend could have one, too. “It was pretty obvious that he didn’t need it,” said Milburn, who is the Green Party’s candidate for Kingston and the Islands in the provincial election expected to be called as early as September. Rhodes insists his need for weed is genuine. He’s started to fill out the 28-page application that Health Canada requires for him to get a licence. If he’s approved, he’ll be free to possess marijuana and order it through his doctor. He smokes about six joints throughout the day, from when he gets up in the morning until night falls. “I’ve lived with this virus in my head every day,” he said. “You wake up in the morning and take medication that makes you feel so vile that you’re puking every which way. You’ve got family members thinking that you’re dying. “But if I smoke a joint, I’m not puking.” He knows that pot can cause respiratory problems and possibly lead to lung cancer. But when he thinks back to the way he was before he began using pot, with a gaunt frame, no appetite and constant nausea, he’s convinced it’s the best drug for him. “I’m not stupid. I can still function. I can walk and talk. It helps me eat and it helps me sleep,” said Rhodes, who was diagnosed with HIV at age 14 while serving a sentence at the Brookside Youth Centre in Cobourg. He’s been out of medium-security Warkworth Institution for a year, where he served a different sentence for aggravated assault and attempted murder. He’s under close watch by Kingston Police because of a court order and he’s trying to stay clean – but he has to smoke pot to keep on, he said. “People say ‘Oh no, it burns you out,’ but I get energy. “It opens up a pleasure thing in your head … Having AIDS, it helps you face everyday little stupid stuff that brings you down.” Complete Title: Ottawa’s Medical Marijuana Plan ‘Fraught with Disaster’Source: Kingston Whig-Standard (CN ON)Author: Greg McArthur Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Kingston Whig-StandardContact: whiged thewhig.comWebsite: http://www.kingstonwhigstandard.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Canadians for Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccess.ca/Canada To Supply Marijuana To Seriously Ill http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16809.shtmlCanada To Offer Marijuana To Medical Patientshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16807.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by Kegan on July 16, 2003 at 09:13:12 PT
How many of these do I have to send?
In your article on July 16, by Greg McArthur about Cannabis, Dr. Chris Milburn said that because marijuana is smoked, it could lead to lung cancer..... problem with that statement is: No one has EVER gotten cancer from smoking cannabis.Ever.In 5000 years, not one case of a cannabis-only user getting cancer. Look it up, Doc.He also said that he "refuses to prescribe something that causes cancer, when there are so many painkillers that don’t."Cannabis does NOT cause cancer, in fact, recent studies have shown that it actually has cancer-fighting potential. Look that up too, Doc.http://davidhadorn.com/cannabis/cancer.htm As for painkillers not causing cancer, maybe they don't, maybe they do, but it is well known that a lot of these medications will destroy your liver and kidneys, not to mention the other debilitating side effects.Perhaps Greg McArthur could do some more fact-checking. Because if I can find this info with very little effort, then so can he.Russell Barth
Medical Marijuana User
MMAR License Holder
Drug-War Survivor
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