7/13/04

Lay over day in Corner Brook.  A local newspaper story illuminates the cultural divide between Canada and the US

From:
"The Western Star" -- "Something New Every Day!"
"Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador"
"Over 30,000 Readers Daily"
"$1.00 HST Included"

Medical users spurning new batch of Health Canada marijuana

  OTTAWA (CP) -- Some patients are spurning a new batch of government-certified marijuana, dismissing Health Canada claims that it's a stronger, better quality smoke.
    "It's no good," Marco Renda, 45, said Monday from his home in Dundalk, Ont. "I took two puffs and I put it out.
    "It has a chemical taste to it.  It didn't taste right to me and it didn't burn properly.  It had no effect."
    Prairie Plant Systems, which produces medical marijuana on contract for Health Canada, began shipping a second batch of its product on May 21 after getting bad reviews about the initial harvest.
    Users complained the first batch last summer was too dry and powdery, and seemed far less potent than the package claim of THC content at 10.2 per cent.  THC is the primary active ingredient in marijuana.
    Health Canada says the new batch is 12 per cent THC, plus or minus 1.5 percentage points, has fewer leaves and twigs and more flowering tops, making it a purer smoke.
    "We've listened to complaints ... that we've received from stakeholders about the moisture content in the product and the potency," said Catherine Sanders, spokeswoman for Health Canada.
    "Informally, I've been told ... that the feedback (on the second batch) has been positive overall.."
    But Renda, who runs a website for medical users, said that "whoever has tried it has given me the feedback that it's not worth it."
    And a spokesman for Canadians for Safe Access, a Victoria-based group representing medical users, is warning all patients away from the new dope at least until it completes new lab tests.
    "Nobody should smoke this stuff until we see test results ourselves and until we get an explanation from Health Canada about what happened with the first batch.," Phillip Lucas said Monday.
    "We've called now for a moratorium on the use, research and distribution of this cannabis by all legal medical users."

--- There you have it, the news for the day from Newfoundland.  ---