Canadian debate over medical pot grows

OTTAWA, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Most Canadian doctors say they're wary of being responsible for giving patients access to medical marijuana a decade after the country made it legal.

The issue has come to the forefront as Health Canada has proposed removing itself as the final arbiter in approving or rejecting applications to possess medical marijuana, leaving the approval process entirely up to doctors, Postmedia News reported Monday.

The nation's largest doctors' group said that would put doctors in the position of controlling access to a largely untested and unregulated substance that hasn't gone through the normal regulatory drug review process.

"And they'd be kind of out there, without any infrastructure around them to assess it, to monitor it and to know if they were doing the right thing," Dr. John Haggie, president of the 75,000-member Canadian Medical Association, said.

"I don't think that's appropriate or fair."

Doctors fear doing harm, exposing themselves to legal action and becoming the "go-to" source for people seeking marijuana for recreational use, medical experts said.

As of Sept. 30, 12,216 people in Canada held authorization to possess marijuana for medical purposes, Health Canada said.