cannabisnews.com: Canada Orders Clinical Trials of Medical Marijuana





Canada Orders Clinical Trials of Medical Marijuana
Posted by FoM on March 03, 1999 at 15:20:44 PT

OTTAWA,  Canadian Health Minister Allan Rock said on Wednesday he has ordered officials to develop clinical trials for the medical use of marijuana and to determine how to grant safe access to the drug. 
Rock insisted, however, that this was not the first step towards legalisation of marijuana but an opposition member of parliament, Grant Hill, a medical doctor, immediately questioned whether it would not lead to more than pain relief. "There are Canadians who are suffering from terminal illnesses who are in pain or suffering from difficult symptoms who believe that smoking medical marijuana can help with those symptoms," Rock, a Liberal, told reporters. The debate has echoes in the United States, where voters in seven states and the District of Columbia have approved the medical use of marijuana over the strenuous opposition of the federal anti-drug czar, Barry McCaffrey. Dr. Hill, the health spokesman for Canada's opposition Reform Party, said he could go along with clinical trials but added: "It's quite controversial, because it could lead to other things." Rock's formative years were in the long-haired, free-smoking sixties. Asked if he had smoked marijuana, the prime ministerial aspirant merely gave a broad smile. http://www.cnn.com/
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