Canadian Health Minister Allan Rock (Liberal) said on 3 March before the House of Commons he has ordered officials to develop clinical trials for the medical use of marijuana and to determine how to grant safe access to the drug. The minister released few details of the tests, but said officials have been asked to set up the clinical experiments, as well as establish what kinds of patients would participate.

Reaction from opposition members was mostly positive, although Reform MP Grant Hill, a medical doctor, warned of risks if the testing was seen as a first step down the road to legalizing the drug for general use.

Bloc Quebecois MP Bernard Bigras introduced a motion in Parliament on 4 March urging the government to take every step toward legalizing medical marijuana. Bigras has Tory and NDP support. He accused the Health Minister of plotting to derail his Commons motion.

Bigras said he doubts the sincerity of Rock's announcement that he'll launch clinical tests of medical marijuana. He said if Rock honestly plans to move forward with the tests, he has to support the Bloc motion when it comes to a vote in June. Meantime, he said, Rock can prove his good faith by using Health Canada's powers to provide legal access to pot for AIDS and cancer victims.

In 1997 an Ontario court called the Narcotic Control Act unconstitutional as it applies to the therapeutic use of cannabis.