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Feds' pot pooh-poohed - About one-third of users send it back
By: Sutton Eaves, The Province (CN BC), 03-03-05

OTTAWA -- Touted by some as the worst weed on the market, marijuana sold by the government of Canada has been rejected by 30 per cent of people who received it for relief from illness.

Documents obtained by CanWest News Service indicate that, while 93 medicinal marijuana users received pouches of the dried herb between August 2003 and the end of March 2004, 29 of them sent them back. Nineteen patients even refused to pay the $150 price tag per sack.

Now, the Office of Cannabis Medical Access can't seem to get the sticky green off their hands.

Of the 1,788 kilograms harvested for the government since 2000, around 28 kg have been sent to patients for consumption. While some marijuana was used for research, 1,127 kg remained in storage last December, according to government records released under the Access to Information Act.

"Of the [people] that I have spoken to that have tried or who are using government cannabis, I think two are still using it who like it," said Lynne Belle-Isle of the Canadian AIDS Society.

Bad bud is just one of a few fundamental flaws in Canada's controversial medicinal marijuana program, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. Critics say the program is difficult to access and unresponsive to demands for change, so much so that two members of the government have asked for an auditor-general's investigation.

"There isn't enough known about how the program is being run," said NDP House leader Libby Davies. "I think there are some very serious concerns and complaints about it."

A list of gripes was recently pulled from the Canadians for Safe Access website after the government's exclusive grower, Prairie Plant Systems Inc., threatened to sue for libel.

Lawyers for the Saskatoon manufacturer disputed the advocacy group's claims that federal marijuana was low in potency and high in heavy metals. Despite the $5.7-million grow operation's location at the bottom of an abandoned zinc and copper mine in Flin Flon, Man., the clinical-grade marijuana undergoes stringent testing to make sure it is no more toxic than tobacco, say company officials.

All the hype seems to have damaged the federal crop's reputation, leaving officials wondering why they haven't received more requests for medicinal marijuana.

"I've been told by Health Canada that they are surprised more people with HIV aren't applying [to the program], and then with the product itself, why they are not buying into it," said Belle-Isle.

"Until they can supply something that is at least comparable to what people can get elsewhere, it's hard to get buy-in from the public."