Patients Turn Up Their Noses at Marijuana

When Canada agreed to provide legally grown marijuana for certain patients, the US condemned it for going soft on drugs. Now the scheme has come under fresh attack - from users themselves.

The first batch of the official, government grown weed, they say, is "disgusting". So bad, in fact, they are sending back their supplies and asking for refunds. "It's totally unsuitable for human consumption," Jim Wakeford, 58, an Aids patient in Gibsons, British Columbia, told Associated Press.

A court order this summer required Health Canada, the national health service, to sell marijuana to patients suffering from Aids, cancer, and other diseases, some of whose effects doctors believe can be alleviated through the drug.

The aim was to allow patients to obtain the drug without having to resort to illegal dealers. But the issue of poor quality marijuana had not been foreseen by the courts.

The drug is being grown officially for Health Canada in a vacant mine section in Manitoba by Prairie Plant Systems which has a contract worth around C$5.75m (US$4.2m). Health Canada spokeswoman, Krista Apse, said the department would not accept returns or provide refunds.

So far, 10 patients have registered with Health Canada to buy marijuana for treatment of ailments and a further 39 applications are pending.

Outrage was expressed by Bush administration officials in the US when the Canadian courts initially insisted the government provide the drug.

In the US, the battle over medical marijuana continues, with voters in a number of states choosing to allow its use under medical supervision, a move strongly opposed by the federal government which has brought criminal prosecutions against growers who had been approved by local councils to grow the drug.