Pubdate: Wed, 29 Oct 2008
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2008 Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.edmontonsun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: Mindelle Jacobs
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal - Canada)

WEED-WHACKING CONSERVATIVES LOSE YET AGAIN

Ottawa must have a heck of a pot headache after losing its latest 
medical marijuana case in the Federal Court of Appeal.

Remember years ago when sick people who needed cannabis to relieve 
their symptoms had to get special permission from the federal health 
minister to smoke pot? Since then, it's been one legal fight after 
another to bring in common-sense reforms on the issue.

On Monday, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a January ruling that 
quashed Ottawa's pot monopoly. Under Health Canada's insane 
regulations, licensed medical pot growers could only provide 
marijuana to one patient.

Now, if the appeal court judgment stands, licensed growers will be 
able to supply pot to multiple patients - a far more efficient way of 
meeting the needs of the hundreds of people legally allowed pot for 
medical use.

Can the legalization of compassion clubs be far behind? Well, yes, I 
suppose. We are talking about the Conservatives. Why Ottawa is even 
in the pot-growing business in the first place is a mystery. Few of 
Canada's medical pot patients actually buy government-grown pot 
because it's so awful.

"I never bought any but I tried some once and it was terrible," 
recalls Russell Barth, an Ottawa-area licensed medical marijuana 
user. "It didn't even smell like pot. It looked more like the stuff 
you sprinkle on the floor to soak up puke."

Most medical pot patients get their weed from illegal sources, 
including acquaintances and compassion clubs, Barth notes. And the 
government-grown pot is just one strain, but medical pot patients 
need different kinds depending on their ailments, he says.

Barth, who suffers from chronic pain, smokes a different type of pot 
than his wife, also a licensed medical pot user, who has epilepsy. 
He'd like to see designated medical pot growers supply various strains.

"The ... thing that really hurts is how many people still seem to 
think that we are just stoners who are looking to get high, and that 
we are hiding behind our 'illnesses' to facilitate a groovy party or 
something," says Barth.

Over on Parliament Hill, the Conservatives are probably tearing their 
hair out over this latest marijuana setback and cursing those darn 
liberal judges.

If only the last Liberal government had managed to fulfil its promise 
to decriminalize small amounts of pot for personal use. That door, 
alas, has been slammed shut for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, the Tories are stuck with an issue they can't stand. You 
can bet they'd like to dismantle the whole medical marijuana program 
and burn all that government ditch weed growing in Flin Flon.

But they can't because there have now been numerous court rulings 
upholding - and expanding - the rights of certain people to grow or 
otherwise legally obtain pot for therapeutic reasons.

Nevertheless, Ottawa is wasting significant public money on all these 
legal challenges and will, no doubt, continue to do so. Thank 
goodness for lawyers like Alan Young, who's been nipping at the 
government's heels for years on behalf of medical marijuana users.

Theoretically, growers like Carasel Harvest Supply Corp., outside 
Ottawa, and Island Harvest, on Vancouver Island, now have the legal 
go-ahead to apply for pot-growing licences for groups of patients.

Ideally, Ottawa's pot-growing operation, run by Prairie Plant 
Systems, should be shut down. After all, what does the government 
know about weed? 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake