Pubdate: Sat, 10 Feb 2001
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2001 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  200 Granville Street, Ste.#1, Vancouver BC V6C 3N3
Fax: (604) 605-2323
Website: http://www.vancouversun.com/
Author: Glen McGregor

RESEARCHERS TO GET WEAK GRADE OF MEDICAL POT

Low-THC marijuana could force test subjects to inhale more toxic 
smoke, critics say

OTTAWA - The federal government will provide researchers with a 
weakened grade of medical marijuana that could force test subjects to 
ingest more toxic smoke to gain any benefit from the drug.

Health Canada recently gave out a $5.75 million contract to a 
Saskatchewan firm to produce marijuana for use in clinical trials. 
The pot will allow researchers to test the drug's effectiveness in 
treating the symptoms of serious illnesses like AIDS, cancer and 
multiple sclerosis.

But in tendering the contract, Health Canada specified an allowable 
concentration of the active ingredient, THC, between five and six per 
cent --lower than the concentration typically found in the home-grown 
variety which can be more than five times as potent.

"It baffles me why they would go to the trouble of creating marijuana 
at a lower level than the natural plant," says Steven Bacon, a 
Hepatitis C sufferer who is one of 140 Canadians to receive a special 
exemption from the government to smoke cannabis to control symptoms.

"You must get out of your sickbed and go smoke sub-standard marijuana 
in order to get it at all," Mr. Bacon said.

The marijuana produced for Health Canada would also be available to 
those, like Mr. Bacon, who receives a special exemption based on 
medical need.  In return for the free pot, they will be required to 
provide feedback on the effect of the drugs on their illness.

But anyone who gets the government grass will have to smoke much more 
than home-grown marijuana to get the same medicinal benefit as 
home-grown, Mr. Bacon says. They will also have to inhale more of the 
2,000 chemicals and toxins contained in cannabis smoke.

"I would have to smoke more, and my lungs would get filled with more 
crap," Bacon said.

"That's not compassionate access to marijuana that (Health Minister) 
Allan Rock talks about all the time."

According to the U.S. National Institute of Health, the average 
concentration of THC in a marijuana plant runs about three per cent.

But the variety favoured by most medicinal smokers, made from just 
the buds and flowering tops of female plants, has an average 
concentration of 7.5 per cent and can be as high as 24 per cent.

"It certainly is an inferior product," said Loren Wiberg, whose 
Alberta-based company ZYX Corp. unsuccessfully bid on the production 
contract.

"The stuff that some of these people are growing for medical purposes 
can be up to 25 per cent THC," Mr. Wiberg said. "They're saying why 
would the government want them to smoke four times as much? It 
supposed to be for health and they have to get all this tar and other 
stuff at a rate of 4:1."

But Roslyn Tremblay, of Health Canada, says it was important to 
establish a consistent THC concentration for research purposes. The 
level was based on previous scientific research.

"The five to six per cent was decided upon on the basis of most of 
the literature we could see," she said.

The production contract does allow Health Canada to ask for higher or 
lower THC concentrations after the first year of production.
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe