LEGALIZING POT FOR THOSE IN PAIN

If there is any case to be made for the legalization of marijuana, it is a
medical one. Clearly, pot can help those suffering from serious, painful
illness. The evidence by now is strong. Marijuana can cut the incidence of
epileptic seizures, relieve nausea and ease the pain of AIDS and cancer
patients. It has been a Godsend for glaucoma sufferers, helping to ease the
painful pressure that builds up behind the eyeball. Even those suffering
from multiple sclerosis report that marijuana can provide welcome relief
from the spasms that afflict them.

Doctors already can legally prescribe the active ingredient in marijuana,
THC, in pill form. Many cancer specialists believe that legalizing the
medical use of marijuana would help their patients, and Canadians clearly
think so, too.

In an Angus Reid poll conducted in the last week of October, 83 per cent
supported the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes.

So it's not surprising that the federal government is now willing to
discuss the issue publicly. Justice Minister Anne McLellan last week said
that it's time for a national debate, led by the health community, on
whether or not to legalize marijuana for therapeutic purposes.

Ms. McLellan's timing is right. As long as the medical use of marijuana
remains a criminal offense, we will be witness to ridiculous spectacles
such as the RCMP investigating a group in Ottawa that supplies marijuana
free to doctors and cancer patients.

Under current Canadian law, the punishment for distribution of marijuana
can range up to life imprisonment.

This week, a group of doctors is planning to meet in Ottawa to discuss the
question of how to supply marijuana to seriously ill patients. Among the
issues to be discussed are how marijuana for medical use could be grown
under government supervision and how it would be distributed to patients.
There is also the question of who would pay for testing patients to
determine if they should be treated with the drug.

Nor are Canada's doctors alone in their concern. In California, the
birthplace of the marijuana culture back in the 1960s, pot can now be
legally prescribed by a doctor. The British Medical Association last week
called on police forces and courts to be lenient with medical users of pot.
Dr. Vivienne Nathanson, head of the association's health policy branch,
called for "compassion and understanding" on the issue.

If the Canadian government determines, after public consultation, that
marijuana can be legally used as a medicine, then there are obvious legal
questions to answer. How do we determine whether a patient is sufficiently
sick to warrant a cannabis prescription? Should the decision be left to the
doctor and patient, or should government step in with rules and regulations?

Some may argue that if doctors are given the legal freedom to prescribe in
any circumstances, they will abuse the privilege or be coaxed into writing
prescriptions for trivial reasons. This argument assumes the worst of our
physicians. It assumes that doctors don't care about the implications of
drug use or that they will confuse compassion with convenience.

The use of marijuana for medicinal purpose is clearly legitimate and it
deserves to be decriminalized. But there's no credible claim to be made
that this would lead to wider use of the drug in the general population.

Marijuana can be a very potent drug with strong psychological effects on
the user. Its place is in the hospital beds of the nation, not in its
living rooms.