Over the last year, and especially the last few days, I have been struck by the incredible difference between the media here and true North. There is a book in there somewhere.)

March 10, 1999
From The Toronto Star
lettertoed@thestar.com
http://www.thestar.com/
Page: A2
By Valerie Lawton, Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau

MARIJUANA TRIALS TOO LATE FOR AIDS SUFFERER
See
Canadian AIDS Patient Again Sues For Medical Marijuana;
This Will Test The Canadian Government’s Claim That They Will Give
Immediate Compassionate Access For Patients With Greatest Need.
and links

OTTAWA - Jim Wakeford has fought hard to get marijuana into medicine cabinets, but he finds little to celebrate in Ottawa’s announcement that it will start clinical tests of marijuana.

Wakeford, a 54-year-old Toronto man living with full-blown AIDS, said the move is only "a baby step."

It won’t help him, he says, or hundreds of other sick Canadians who have found pot helps ease their symptoms. He nearly died twice last year.

"I don’t expect to live long enough to participate in, let alone benefit from, clinical trials," he said bluntly.

Besides, he added, "I don’t have time, or interest, or patience in these clinical trials."

Wakeford has been smoking marijuana daily since 1996. It’s the only thing he has found that reduces nausea and makes him feel hungry enough to keep eating.

He asked the government some 20 months ago for access to legal, safe and affordable marijuana. He also has asked the courts for help.

He’s still waiting - impatiently - for something to happen.

Health Minister Allan Rock announced last week that he has asked his officials to come up with a plan for research into marijuana and its possible medical benefits.

There’s some evidence the drug helps with pain, nausea and appetite loss associated with glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, chemotherapy treatment for cancer, epilepsy, AIDS or arthritis.

Clinical trials can take years. And while a number of medical organizations and activists said clinical trials are a move in the right direction, they want more.

Health officials said they are also looking at ways to make marijuana available to people like Wakeford before the research is wrapped up.

It’s not yet clear how that will happen. An official promised details within a few months.

But advocates for the medicinal use of marijuana remain skeptical.

"They’ve been telling us that they’re going to be addressing this issue forever," said John Goodhew, a Toronto doctor with a large number of HIV-infected patients.

He worries he’s still not much closer to being able to prescribe marijuana.

"What we need is something here and now and today for the people who need this product," he said. "I want my patients to be able to get the treatment they need."

Some also wonder about the timing of Rock’s announcement, just a day before Bloc Québécois MP Bernard Bigras introduced a private member’s motion on making marijuana available to sick people on compassionate grounds.

"I sure hope that they have the details, and that it’s not just window dressing to try to knock the wind out of the Bloc Québécois motion," said lawyer Eugene Oscapella of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.