Canada Orders Clinical Trials Of Medical Marijuana



Pubdate: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 



Source: Reuters 



Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. 	



ubject: CANADA ORDERS CLINICAL TRIALS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA 	



OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Health Minister Allan Rock said Wednesday he has ordered 

officials to develop clinical trials for the medical use of marijuana and to determine how to grant 

safe access to the drug. 	



Rock insisted, however, that this was not the first step towards legalization of marijuana but an 

opposition member of parliament, Grant Hill, a medical doctor, immediately questioned whether it 

would not lead to more than pain relief.	



``There are Canadians who are suffering from terminal illnesses who are in pain or suffering from 

difficult symptoms who believe that smoking medical marijuana can help with those symptoms,'' 

Rock, a Liberal, told reporters. 	



The debate has echoes in the United States, where voters in seven states and the District of 

Columbia have approved the medical use of marijuana over the strenuous opposition of the federal 

anti-drug czar, Barry McCaffrey. 	



Dr. Hill, the health spokesman for Canada's opposition Reform Party, said he could go along with 

clinical trials but added: ''It's quite controversial, because it could lead to other things.''	



Rock's formative years were in the long-haired, free-smoking sixties. Asked if he had smoked 

marijuana, the prime ministerial aspirant merely gave a broad smile.