Canada Health Minister
Won’t Challenge Medical Marijuana Ruling:
"We’re going to start making marijuana available to people for medical purposes
by the end of June"
See
Canadian Justice Runs
Out of Patience With Government
Before Patient Runs Out Of Time;
Exempts Wakeford From Marijuana Laws. Implications for Others
ROCK WON’T CHALLENGE POT RULINGMay 12, 1999
From The Toronto Star
lettertoed@thestar.com
http://www.thestar.com/
By Tim Harper, Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau
Guidelines On Marijuana Trials Expected Soon
OTTAWA - Health Minister Allan Rock will not appeal an Ontario
Superior Court ruling which allows Toronto AIDS activist Jim Wakeford to legally smoke
marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Rock said yesterday he is proceeding with plans to begin clinical trials on the
medicinal use of marijuana and will announce details and guidelines for the tests by the
end of June.
"I’ve read the judgment. I don’t want to appeal it," Rock said.
The court said Wakeford could carry and smoke marijuana in public
until Rock decides whether to grant Wakeford a special exemption under the Controlled
Drugs and Substances Act.
Rock said the court judgment affects only Wakeford and cannot be applied to other
victims claiming the need for marijuana for medicinal use.
Health Canada has 20 applications from Canadians who have chronic
or terminal illnesses who have applied to Rock for exemptions from marijuana laws.
"We’re going to start clinical trials, we’re going to start making
marijuana available to people for medical purposes by the end of June," he said.
"We’re on that timetable."
But an aide in Rock’s office later cautioned that that did not necessarily mean
the trials would be under way by that time.
Although Rock will eventually make a decision regarding the exemption, officials say he
will try to show flexibility for those who need marijuana for therapeutic purposes while
Health Canada is testing the drug.
Health Canada is still grappling with issues such as where the pot will be grown, by
whom and under what conditions.
Wakeford, 54, had asked the court in February, 1998, for permission to use marijuana.
He had applied to Rock for an exemption last September but his request has been in
bureaucratic limbo.
Carole Bouchard, a senior health department official, testified last week that although
Wakeford’s application would be fast-tracked, she couldn’t say when a decision
would be made.
Wakeford has been smoking marijuana daily since 1996. He has said
it is the only thing he has found that reduces nausea and makes him feel hungry enough to
keep eating.
(Marijuananews note: In DEAland he would be limited to just six
months under the IOM’s arbitrary limits. After that he would be forced to starve to
death for his own good.)
See
Column By
Authors of the IOM Report On Medical Marijuana
Shows Why The Public Does Not Trust The Medical Establishment –
And Why They Should Not! With Analysis by Richard Cowan
Copyright: 1999, The Toronto Star
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