Medical Marijuana Officially Available in Canada; U.S. Officials Steaming Wed, Aug 27, 2003 The first bags of officially produced medical marijuana are finally making their way into the hands of medical patients in Canada. In response to a court order last January requiring Canada to provide marijuana to patients with doctors' prescriptions, the nation's top health agency, Health Canada, last month stepped up a program to grow the medicine for prescription sale. The move is considered a slap in the face to American officials, who heavily criticized Canada's medical marijuana program and recent decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Insisting that new marijuana laws will increase cross-border trafficking and crime, the U.S. Government threatened to establish a trade-inhibiting boarder crackdown earlier this year. In addition, the administration has made false claims that the marijuana coming from the northern nation is dangerously potent. "The kind of marijuana coming from Canada is essentially the crack of marijuana," Drug Czar John Walters recently told reporters at a news conference in Detroit. "It is dangerous. It is destructive." Although voters in eight states plus the District of Columbia have passed favorable medical marijuana ballot initiatives, the Bush Administration has continued to strengthen federal law enforcement crack downs on medical marijuana patients. Most recently, the Administration has appealed a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that blocked the federal government from punishing doctors who prescribe medical marijuana. http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=37020&l=4438