Pot times
Research Furthers Marijuana's Move Into Mainstream
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1093/a01.htmlNewshawk: CMAP http://www.mapinc.org/cmap
Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jul 2005 RESEARCH FURTHERS MARIJUANA'S MOVE INTO MAINSTREAM
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2005, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:
letters@globeandmail.ca
Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Robert Matas
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm
(Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
VANCOUVER -- Eric Nash and Wendy Little have 45 marijuana plants that they grow
at a secret location for two people who are registered with the federal
government to receive medicinal marijuana.
They have another 45 plants that they hope will become the source for the
world's first certified, organic cannabis-based medicine for patients with pain
from multiple sclerosis and AIDS.
After two years of consultations with Ottawa, the Vancouver Island couple have
received federal government approval to expand their fledgling business and
begin research on developing the organic, cannabis-based medicine.
The research project is the most recent development in the gradual movement of
marijuana from counterculture to mainstream of Canadian society.
Jirina Vlk, a media relations officer for Health Canada, declined to comment on
the Vancouver Island project, saying Canada's privacy law prohibits the
government from providing any information about research or about suppliers for
the medicinal marijuana program.
Mr. Nash, 47, worked for the City of Victoria's parks department and the
B.C. Ministry of Forests before becoming a provider of medicinal
marijuana. Ms. Little, 44, was a high-school teacher.
The federal government recognized their company, Island Harvest, as a producer
of medicinal marijuana in 2002, Mr. Nash said.
Since then, Health Canada received requests from 54 patients for their
marijuana. However, Health Canada has allowed the firm to supply only two
people, he said.
An Ontario Court of Appeal decision in 2003 allowed ill people to obtain
marijuana from designated growers. The ruling was initially believed to
open the door to large-scale private cultivation.
However, the federal government has restricted private production, despite the
court ruling, Mr. Nash said. Patients are encouraged to obtain their
marijuana from Prairie Plant Systems, a government-backed biotechnology company
growing marijuana in an unused mine outside Flin Flon, Man., he said.
The development of an organic, cannabis-based medicine would exempt their
company from restrictions placed on medicinal marijuana, he said. The
product would be available at pharmacies in unlimited supply through
prescription.Mr. Nash said a company called PhytoCan Pharmaceuticals will
do research over the next 12 to 18 months on whether the medicine should be a
spray, liquid or solid and how to standardize the ingredients.
Federal approval for research by PhytoCan was given three months after Health
Canada approved Sativex, a cannabis-based drug for relief of neuropathic pain in
adults with multiple sclerosis.
Sativex, manufactured in the United Kingdom by GW Pharmaceuticals, is
administrated by a spray pump under the tongue or inside the cheek.
Mr. Nash's project has received the endorsement of Vancouver's chief
public health officer, John Blatherwick, who has often been among the first to
advocate controversial positions on health care that more traditional
authorities eventually adopted.
Dr. Blatherwick, who was invested in the Order of Canada for his
public-health advocacy, depicted the research as part of the move toward
legalization of marijuana.
"We supported the group because they say we need to do proper
research," Dr. Blatherwick said yesterday in an interview.
"That is one of the cop-outs people [who oppose legalization of marijuana]
always use. So fund proper research and get some of the answers."
"It is pretty clear you have to go a little beyond decriminalization,"
he added. "We have it decriminalized now, essentially, and it is
still not working. . . . There is still huge profits
being made in having illegal grow-ops and selling marijuana."
Dr. Blatherwick was an early supporter of smoking bans, safe-injection
sites for hard-drug users, needle exchanges and making condoms available in
schools.
