From the Ottawa Citizen
by Jeremy Mercer
Friday, December 19,1997

Marijuana 'no different than Aspirin,' Health Canada official says.Health Canada is prepared to approve the use of marijuana as a legal medicine in emergency situations.

Yesterday, the department turned down a request by an Ottawa doctor to provide an area AIDS patient with marijuana because of two technical flaws in the application.

But Dann Michols, the man in charge of regulating all drugs and medical devices in Canada, says Health Canada is ready to approve the use of marijuana on a case-by-case basis as long as these flaws are corrected.

"Yes, it would be approved if the changes are made," Mr. Michols said.

"There is no problem, basically, with marijuana as a medicine.

"We have said this all along and our minister (Allan Rock) has said it all along: Marijuana as a medicine is not an outlandish proposition. Marijuana is no different than morphine, no different than codeine, no different than Aspirin. There just has to be a process where we are able to say they have undertaken the right experiments and produced a result that shows the benefit is greater than the risk for the individual patients."

Dr. Don Kilby, a physician at the University of Ottawa health clinic, had been seeking Health Canada's permission to prescribe marijuana to Jean Charles Pariseau, a Vanier man who has AIDS.

When Dr. Kilby began treating Mr. Pariseau, the man weighed only 82 pounds and had a prognosis of three months to live. Doctors had prescribed dozens of different appetite stimulants and nausea fighters to help Mr. Pariseau keep down the 30-odd pills he takes a day to control his AIDS and help him eat food.

None of the them worked, so on the advice of a friend, Mr. Pariseau tried marijuana.

To the astonishment of Dr. Kilby, Mr. Pariseau's weight shot up to 100 pounds and he changed his prognosis from three months to live to three years to live.

But Mr. Pariseau was arrested by the RCMP in October and charged with possession of marijuana. The police also seized his supply of drugs.

After a month of research, Dr. Kilby, aided by a team of lawyers and medical assistants, discovered a legal way to get Mr. Pariseau his marijuana.

Dr. Kilby applied to Health Canada's Emergency Drug Release Program to have marijuana approved for Mr. Pariseau's use. This program allows unauthorized medicines to be approved on a case-by-case basis, usually within 72 hours of the application being made.

All Dr. Kilby had to do was prove that the unapproved drug -- marijuana -- helped his patient.

Dr. Kilby filed an application to the Emergency Drug Release Program on Wednesday. Yesterday, Health Canada announced it would turn down the application because of two technicalities.

The first was that Dr. Kilby doesn't have a research licence under the Controlled Drug and Substance Act. He said yesterday he would apply for one and Mr. Michols said it is likely that application would be approved.

The second problem may be slightly more complicated.

Under the Emergency Drug Release Program, each time a doctor applies for a drug to be approved, he must list the name of the "manufacturer" of that drug. Dr. Kilby listed Aubert Martin, an Ottawa man with 20 years' experience growing marijuana who has agreed to provide the drug for Mr. Pariseau.

But according to Mr. Michols, Mr. Martin also has to have a research licence under the Controlled Drug and Substance Act before marijuana can be approved as a medicine for Mr. Pariseau.

"Our challenge is to make sure that the product that the physician wants access to is safe and of quality," Mr. Michols said.

Mr. Martin would have to prove that he has a secure, safe environment to grow the marijuana and has a background in medical research, a situation Mr. Michols deems unlikely.

So, if Dr. Kilby is successful in his application for a research licence, he must find a different source for marijuana, one that has a Controlled Drug and Substance Act research licence.

"It's not that major of a hurdle," says Mr. Michols.

Most research institutes, universities and pharmaceutical companies in Canada have this research licence. If Dr. Kirby finds just one that is willing to ask Health Canada for permission to experiment with marijuana and then promises to become a supplier, Health Canada should approve marijuana as a medicine for Mr. Pariseau.

"I don't feel that bad about (the application) being shot down," Dr. Kilby said yesterday. "We knew we would have some hurdles that we'd have to go through yet and I'm optimistic that we're going to meet their requirements. There's a way around this problem and we're going to get around it."

Other controlled substances, including heroin and cocaine, are approved for medical use in Canada.

In a poll of 1,515 Canadians conducted by Angus Reid earlier this year, 83 per cent of those asked supported the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Aside from the Emergency Drug Release Program, which only applies to isolated case, marijuana could also be permanently approved for medical use in Canada if a strict set of tests are performed on the drug.

Mr. Michols says marijuana hasn't been granted permanent approval for medical use in Canada because it can cost millions of dollars and take up to ten years to put a drug through the Health Canada tests.

Commercial drug manufacturers, usually the only ones with the money to finance these tests, shy away from testing natural products such as marijuana because it is unlikely they will recover their money.

"I can only conjecture, but it probably has to do with the inability to ensure market exclusivity," says Mr. Michols. "You have millions and millions going into patented medicines because they can patent it and recoup their costs. (Marijuana) is not dissimilar to the situation with other herbal remedies: you go to all the trouble of proving a herb helps a common cold and then once you've spent the money, there's nothing to stop someone else from coming along and growing the same thing without the burden of the testing costs."