Wall Street Journal - November 26, 2002
Joel Baglole, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

At the same time, Canadian justice officials are studying the possibility of decriminalizing pot as early as next year -- a prospect that alarms drug-enforcement authorities in Washington, who worry that such a move would increase supplies and depress prices for the drug in the U.S.

Canada already is the third-largest supplier of marijuana to the U.S., behind Mexico and Colombia, according to the Canadian government.

On the medical front, Canada's Liberal Party government in 1999 amended the country's drug laws to allow citizens with serious illnesses, such as cancer, to cultivate and possess marijuana without fear of criminal prosecution. Some believe the drug can help ease pain and seizures, reduce nausea from chemotherapy and stimulate the appetite. So far, 1,098 people have been given authorization to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

But the initiative has run into all manner of problems.

For starters, Ottawa awarded Saskatchewan biotechnology company Prairie Plant Systems Inc. a five-year contract, valued at 5.8 million Canadian dollars ($3.7 million) to grow 880 pounds of marijuana annually in an abandoned Manitoba mine. The government said it planned to use the pot to study the plant's medicinal benefits, and that it might distribute some of the crop to people authorized to use the drug.

But the government, uncertain where to acquire the seeds needed for Prairie Plant to grow marijuana, decided to use seeds confiscated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in drug raids. The seeds were of varying strains and strengths. Some marijuana plants turned out to be more potent than others. This made the pot useless for medical trials, where a uniform supply is required. (Prairie Plant is trying to grow a suitable marijuana supply from the first crop.) Most of the crop was put in storage, and the government said it won't distribute the marijuana to ill people.

So, for Canada's first medical marijuana study -- an examination of pot's ability to stimulate appetite in AIDS patients, which began in Toronto last month -- the Health Ministry turned to an unlikely supplier: the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Opposition political parties had a field day deriding the ruling Liberals for shelling out taxpayers' money to import pot from the U.S.

"Like any new project, there are bumps along the way," says Farah Mohamed, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Anne McLellan.

Meanwhile, the government authorizations allowing sick people to use marijuana have angered both doctors and pot supporters. Authorization requires a doctor's prescription. But the Canadian Medical Association, which represents 54,000 physicians, says there isn't enough scientific evidence supporting marijuana's medicinal benefits to allow doctors to credibly prescribe the drug.

"If a doctor doesn't know a drug, know its effects, or know the proper dosage to administer, then that doctor shouldn't prescribe the drug," says Dana Hanson, CMA president.

Many doctors are against prescribing marijuana because they feel smoking the drug is unhealthy and constitutes a "dirty delivery system." They want a different means of taking marijuana developed, such as a pill or injection.

Marijuana advocates complain that the authorization process denies too many people access to pot. And they are furious that the government decided against distributing its marijuana crop to the sick. This forces users to obtain the drug illegally, they say. They also say the strain of drug imported from the U.S. is too weak for medical trials.

"It's like testing aspirin using baby aspirin," says Marc-Boris St-Maurice, leader of the Marijuana Party of Canada, a fringe political party trumpeting marijuana legalization.

Angry pot users have launched legal challenges to the government's marijuana laws. One such case will be heard by Canada's Supreme Court on Dec. 13. In the case, pot proponents argue that Canada's marijuana laws should be struck down because pot is a relatively harmless substance.

"We're aiming for decriminalization because if that happens, legalization will inevitably follow," says Alan Young, the proponents' lawyer.

Canada's government may beat the courts to a decision on decriminalizing pot, however. The government is studying the issue and Justice Minister Martin Cauchon has said he would like to make a decision by the spring. In September, a Senate committee recommended outright legalization of marijuana, arguing the drug is less harmful than alcohol and should be treated the same as beer and wine.

A spokesman for Mr. Cauchon says the government has no plans to legalize pot, but is open to decriminalization. That would make possession a civil offense, like a traffic violation, instead of bringing jail time and fines of as much as C$2,000. A survey by polling firm Compas Inc. found 65% of Canadians feel decriminalizing marijuana is a good idea.

Yet some groups that previously supported pot decriminalization are backing away. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for example, had openly supported decriminalization, saying it would free up resources to tackle so-called hard drugs, such as heroin. Now, the Mounties say they might support "alternative measures," which could include decriminalization, provided certain provisions, such as government-funded drug-treatment facilities, were implemented.

Marijuana advocates say the backpedaling reflects U.S. pressure. U.S. drug czar John Walters warned recently that the U.S. might tighten border checks if Canada decriminalizes marijuana, a move that could slow crucial trade flows.

While eight U.S. states, including California and Maine, allow some use of medical marijuana, the U.S. federal government retains a zero-tolerance policy on pot, putting federal laws in conflict with some state laws.

Medical-marijuana distributors in states such as California are frequently raided by police enforcing federal laws.

Dave Murray, an analyst at the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, says the Bush administration is concerned about events in Canada, and has been making its worries known. "To hear that a near and dear neighbor is slipping into greater drug use is not good news," he says.

Write to Joel Baglole at joel.baglole@wsj.com

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