Medicinal marijuana may soon be available in pharmacies, according to proposals being examined by a variety of special interest groups in consultation with Health Canada. Officials from Health Canada on 18 February met with pharmacists, medical experts, police and medicinal cannabis users behind closed doors to discuss access to medicinal cannabis.

Ray Joubert, of the Saskatchewan College of Pharmacies, said that there was a lot of support for bringing marijuana into local pharmacies. "I think there's growing interest."

Richard Viau, an official of Health Canada, said findings from those meetings will be examined and a series of recommendations will be published later this year. He expects the proposals to land in cabinet for final approval by the end of this summer. After that, a pilot project to get marijuana distributed through pharmacies could begin.

However, the process of getting all Canadian pharmacies on board could take some wrangling because the provinces are responsible for health care. "If the pilot proved to be successful, then the provinces and territories would have to look at it and modify their legislation to allow for this to happen," he said. Viau said that as of early February, there were 710 registered medicinal marijuana users in Canada.

(Source: Calgary Herald of 19 February 2004)