MINISTER TO TIGHTEN RULES ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Citizen Report Spurs Aglukkaq to Assess 'Opportunities and Risks' Of
Abuse of System

Canada's medical marijuana licensing system is vulnerable to abuse and
needs to be tightened up, says the health minister after a Citizen
report exposed a surge in possibly fraudulent applications.

"We're aware that there are opportunities and risks of the system
being abused, which is why we are working to tighten up the system,"
Steve Outhouse, a spokesman for Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, said Friday.

Outhouse was speaking in response to the Citizen series looking at
medical marijuana licensing and use in Canada. The series was based on
electronic data the Citizen obtained from Health Canada through the
Access to Information Act.

The figures showed, for example, that between 2008 and 2010,
applications to Health Canada for medical marijuana based on severe
arthritis claims jumped 2,400 per cent.

There are two main changes Aglukkaq has proposed to prevent
exploitation of the government's Marihuana Medical Access Regulations,
said Outhouse.

They include better educating doctors on how to prescribe medical
marijuana and eliminating the right of patients to be granted a
licence to grow in their homes, he said.

"We want to be able to get more information out to doctors - because
often doctors don't have all the information they need to make an
informed decision as to whether or not to prescribe," said Outhouse.

"The other thing - we're proposing is that people wouldn't grow in
homes. That it would be available through a centralized location,
whatever company would grow it, to treat it as much as any other drug."

Outhouse said the health minister is concerned about the safety risks
involved with allowing people to grow marijuana in their homes.

He said it's also difficult to regulate plant growth in homes, and
there is a risk of people growing more marijuana than they are permitted.

"If we can reduce and eliminate that at the home level, then I think a
lot of these issues will be dealt with," said Outhouse.

However, under the proposed changes, Health Canada wants to remove
itself as the ultimate arbiter in approving or rejecting applications
to possess marijuana for medical reasons.

Instead, doctors alone would sign off on requests.

The nation's largest doctors' group - the Canadian Medical Association
- - has said the proposals would put even greater pressure on doctors to
control access to a largely untested and unregulated substance, a drug
that hasn't gone through the normal regulatory review process. Their
licensing bodies have told doctors that they are under no obligation
to complete a medical declaration under the current regulations and
that anyone who chooses to do so should "proceed with caution."

The CMA fears that the changes being proposed would essentially
off-load all responsibility for using and monitoring marijuana to the
doctors who sign an authorization.

Health Canada is appointing an expert advisory committee that will be
charged with assembling the most up-to-date information on the use of
marijuana for medical purposes. The group will also look at how to
share that information with doctors.

Outhouse said the Health Department recently wrapped up consultations
on the issue, and is in the process of presenting its findings to
different groups, including medical marijuana compassion clubs, police
chiefs and fire marshals.

The government has said that the proposed changes to the program would
make it less complicated for seriously ill Canadians.

He expects the new regulations to be finalized in 2012.

Outhouse admitted it's difficult to take a "balanced approach" when
looking to fix abuses of the system.

"We want to make sure that the people who need (medical marijuana)
continue to access it, and then those who are abusing the system
aren't able to do that, as best as we can."