Canada yesterday became the first country to legalise the use of cannabis for medical purposes, allowing those with chronic and terminal illnesses to grow their own and to smoke, inhale in some other way or eat the drug as they prefer.
The Canadian move drew immediate criticism from doctors who want proper research into efficacy and the dose needed, and from the Marijuana Party of Canada which argues that legalising the drug altogether would be a lot less bureaucratic.
Those with terminal illnesses, with the expectation of only a year to live, and those with certain specified conditions will be eligible, if their doctor and two other experts sign the legal forms. The conditions include AIDS, arthritis, cancer, MS, epilepsy and degenerative muscle and bone illnesses.
Patients will be allowed to grow their own cannabis or have someone grow it for them. It will still be illegal for anyone else to produce or sell the drug, but that could change. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments that criminalisation of cannabis is unconstitutional, as it poses no significant health risk.
The government is also pushing forward with research. In a mineshaft deep below a lake in Flin Flon, Manitoba, a cannabis plantation has been established under tight security.
The plantation, which is bigger than three football pitches, is expected to produce 185 kg of cannabis next month. This will mostly be used in clinical trials, although some is expected to go to those with official medical approval.
British scientists are currently running clinical trials using cannabis extracts, called cannabinoids, taken orally. The government has agreed to the trials to establish whether it has medical benefits and how cannabis, or extracts of it, can be taken without smoking, which itself damages health.
GW Pharmaceuticals, one of the British companies involved in trials, has been negotiating with the Canadian government. It is researching the use of a cannabis extract that is sprayed under the tongue.
In November 1998 a British parliamentary select committee urged that cannabis should be legalised for medical use. But since the trials began there has been greater willingness to wait for a reliable and safe cannabis pill to be approved.