Pubdate: Wed, 06 Oct 1999 Source: Canadian Press (Canada) Copyright: 1999 The Canadian Press (CP). Author: Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press Looking For The Perfect Bogus Joint Researchers have been given the green light to go ahead with clinical trials of medicinal marijuana but must first overcome a pungent problem: perfecting a bogus joint. Health Canada will "spend several million dollars" funding clinical trials and longer-term research on the therapeutic value of smoking pot, Health Minister Allan Rock announced Wednesday. The clinical trials, said a government release, are to involve 250 patients in a "double-blind, randomized design." Double-blind tests require giving one test group the real goods and another a placebo, or fake, to determine the drug's effectiveness. "If we want to do a scientifically rigorous study it has to be a double-blind placebo control trial," said James Austin, a researcher with the Community Research Initiative of Toronto. "There are ways of coming up with a placebo marijuana cigarette. One of the suggestions from some clinician scientists is that we should develop a placebo and then pilot test it before we do a major study. That's something we're considering." Both the Community Research Initiative of Toronto and the Vancouver-based Canadian HIV Trials Network will handle clinical studies comparing smoked cannabis with a pill containing the synthetic version of the weed's active ingredient, THC. Both organizations work with HIV-positive or AIDS patients. Pot may relieve the wasting effects of these illnesses -- or the drugs used to combat them - -- by suppressing nausea and stimulating appetite. Health Canada notes that despite research by the Netherlands, Britain, the United States and the World Health Organization, "evidence of potential therapeutic effectiveness of marijuana is heavily anecdotal and inconclusive." Double-blind testing is "the standard that all other new therapies are measured against," said Austin, and that's why past research on pot has been inconclusive. But Austin recognizes the problems inherent in creating a perfect fake joint. "We may have to use the bigger clinical trial for people who are just naive," he said. Despite the medical conundrum, another 14 Canadians were officially granted federal exemptions Wednesday to use pot for medical purposes under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Two others were given exemptions by Rock in June. The Health Canada release suggests there may be room for some leniency in prosecuting those who supply marijuana to people with medical exemptions. The department also announced it has a business plan in place providing "all the necessary details with respect to the potential establishment of a legal and reliable source of affordable, quality, standardized marijuana products to meet Canada's needs." Initially, pot for the clinical trials will be bought from U.S. and British companies but a Canadian source is Health Canada's ultimate goal. Public Works may eventually put out tenders for suppliers. But the idea of using confiscated marijuana for clinical trials won't fly, Health Canada said. On the downside for those with exemptions, Health Canada announced Wednesday they could be revoked once trials get underway early next year. "The applications of patients who had received an exemption will be revisited in order to determine whether or not they could now be enrolled in a clinical trial and the Section 56 exemption revoked," said Health Canada. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake