Pubdate: Thu, 08 Apr 2010
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2010 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Rene Bruemmer, Canwest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

MONTREAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA STORE SOWS DISCORD

Upset Merchants Say 'Compassion Centre' Attracting Healthy-Looking, 
Young Buyers

(CNS) A newly opened "compassion centre" in Montreal that purports to 
sell medical marijuana to the ill is sowing discord among residents 
and merchants who say it's attracting hordes of healthy-looking young buyers.

"No one going into that place is in need of compassion," said the 
owner of one business around the corner from the Culture 420 
Compassion Centre in the borough of Lachine. "They're running in and 
running out all the time.

"I wouldn't mind if it was legal, but it's so obvious it's not. I 
mean, really, you have to go upstairs to get in -- there isn't even 
wheelchair access."

Merchants complain buyers are loitering in front of their stores, 
deterring customers and taking up parking spaces in a sector of the 
borough that's already economically depressed.

Using or growing marijuana for certain medical conditions has been 
legal under federal law since 2001, but selling it isn't. Compassion 
club operators, however, say going the legal route through Health 
Canada to buy marijuana is difficult and can take years, forcing many 
to suffer needlessly.

"We have something called a duty to provide for people's needs (for 
therapeutic cannabis), and sometimes they're life-sustaining needs," 
Culture 420 co-founder Pavlos Papadakis said Wednesday.

Open nearly three months, the centre already has 1,000 members. About 
200 people come through a day, Papadakis said.

"It got busy really fast," said one store owner, who, like all the 
merchants interviewed asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. 
"At least they took the prices out of the window."

To be eligible to buy, applicants must submit a form signed by a 
doctor attesting they have a condition or symptoms treatable with 
cannabis, such as pain from AIDS, epilepsy or arthritis. The centre 
calls the doctor to verify, Papadakis said.

Business owners and residents have started at least two petitions 
calling for the centre's ouster.

Some worry the centre, connected to a pastry shop and near a daycare, 
could be the target of a firebombing by dealers who don't appreciate 
competition. Culture 420 sells more than a dozen varieties of 
marijuana -- either grown on site or purchased from growers -- for 
street-market prices of about $10 a gram.

Culture 420 is one of two so-called compassion clubs in Montreal 
operating in a legal grey zone. The other is the Compassion Club of 
Montreal which has been open since 1999 and also has about 1,000 members.

In 2002, a Quebec Court judge acquitted president Marc-Boris 
St-Maurice of drug trafficking while he volunteered at the Compassion 
Club, which St-Maurice said meant he could continue to provide the 
drug to suffering patients.

"Compassion clubs are illegal," Stephane Shank of Health Canada said 
in an e-mail. "The only organization that can legally supply 
marijuana seeds and dried marijuana is the government of Canada."

Police will turn a blind eye to establishments seen to be providing a 
legitimate service. But not all.

A club in Toronto was raided last week after complaints of alleged 
drug offences. Police seized 16,000 grams of marijuana, 1,940 grams 
of hash and 207 grams of hash oil, and charged the owner and eight volunteers.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom