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Newsbrief:
Canadian
Government
to
Distribute
Medical
Marijuana
7/11/03
Scrambling to keep its tattered
marijuana laws from collapsing entirely, the Canadian government announced
Wednesday that it would begin distributing marijuana to registered patients.
The move came on the last day of a six-month grace period granted by an
Ontario judge who ruled Canada's marijuana laws unconstitutional because
they did not provide a mechanism for medical marijuana users to legally
obtain their medicine. Health Canada announced Wednesday that it will sell
ounces of contract-grown marijuana to registered patients for $112 once
a month, and packets of 30 seeds to registered growers for $15 once a year.
According to ministry spokeswoman Cindy Cripps-Prawak, the weed grown in
an abandoned mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba, has a THC content of 10%.
Health Canada will make its
marijuana available to physicians who will then distribute it to the 582
patients registered with the ministry so far. That could happen as early
as next week, Cripps-Prawak said. New patients can begin applying for the
drug immediately, she added. "Let's make the assumption that the application
is complete; the marijuana can be delivered within a week." The drug will
not be prescribed through a pharmacy because it has not been federally
approved.
Ottawa acted to comply with
the Ontario court decision in which the court invalidated a law that makes
"seriously ill, vulnerable people deal with the criminal underworld to
get medicine." The Canadian government plans to appeal that decision and
has suggested it could cancel the medical marijuana program if it should
win on appeal.
-- END --
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Issue #295, 7/11/03
Editorial: More Than One Kind of Pain |
Alaska Court Rules Marijuana Possession Okay -- Judicial Day of Reckoning Coming |
Doctors' Group Advises Physicians to Avoid Treating Pain with Opiates, Cites Persecution of Pain Doctors -- Tucson Case Illustrates Point |
DRCNet Interview: Brazilian Antiprohibitionists Luiz Paulo Guanabara of Psicotropicus and Cecilia Szterenfeld of the Integrated Programs on Marginality |
Medical Marijuana Bill Introduced in Argentina |
In Memoriam: Don Topping, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii |
Newsbrief: Feds Appeal Ed Rosenthal Sentence |
Newsbrief: Ruling Expected "Soon" in Santa Cruz Medical Marijuana Suit |
Ashcroft Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Overturn Free Speech Ruling on Physician-Patient Discussion of Medical Marijuana |
Newsbrief: Oregon Appeals Court Overturns Asset Forfeiture Reform |
Newsbrief: Canadian Government to Distribute Medical Marijuana |
Newsbrief: New DEA Administrator Karen Tandy Approved by Senate Judiciary Committee Following Medical Marijuana Controversy |
Newsbrief: Former Scottish High Court Judge Says Legalize It |
Newsbrief: British Doctors Don't Say Legalize It |
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