PHARMACIES in British Columbia may soon be dispensing medicinal marijuana alongside antibiotics and birth-control pills. The pilot project, which will eventually extend to the whole of Canada, is based on a similar programme in the Netherlands that has been running for a year.
In 2000 an Ontario court ruled that banning cannabis outright was unconstitutional, after hearing testimony from a man who used marijuana to ease the symptoms of epilepsy. The following year, the government agreed to allow people to use marijuana to ease a variety of conditions, including AIDS and multiple sclerosis. To date, 717 people across Canada have been granted 鈥渁uthorisation to possess鈥�.
To make the drug more easily accessible to such users, Health Canada, the federal health ministry, is now planning to supply it through pharmacies. Robin O鈥橞rien, a pharmacist working on the project, says many pharmacists welcome the move: 鈥淭heir response seems to be 鈥榳ell, it鈥檚 about time鈥�.鈥�
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