Doctors, Patients Back Marijuana Compassion Clubs

Ottawa offers only one strain of medical marijuana, and the only legal way to purchase it is through Health Canada. Medical users insist the different strains of marijuana provided by compassion clubs offer different kinds of pain relief, such as for epilepsy, multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury. However, there hasn't been any research testing those claims.

Since Canada became the first country to adopt a formal system to regulate the medicinal use of marijuana through the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations in 2001, more than 4,000 Canadians have gained a legal right to use it — if they grow it themselves, find someone to grow it for them or buy it from Health Canada through the mail.

"I think it's high time we cleaned up that kind of regulatory process and put some kind of quality control on the cannabis that's being provided, and give patients and physicians some reassurances that at least we know what the patients are using when they use this drug," said Dr. Mark Ware of the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids in Montreal.