Pubdate: Sat, 07 Jul 2012
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2012 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Website: http://www.leaderpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: David Hutton

FEDERAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULING RILES GROWERS, USERS

SASKATOON - Saskatchewan's exempted medical marijuana users and
growers are criticizing a decision by the federal government to stop
individuals from growing the plant.

"I will be forced to purchase it from the government and that
restricts me because I cannot produce the type that I like and that
helps (dull the pain)," said Jason Hiltz, a medicinal marijuana
advocate in Saskatoon who received an exemption in 2008 to grow the
plants and take the drug. Health Canada will no longer allow
individuals to grow marijuana for medical use by 2014, federal Health
Minister Leona Aglukkaq told CBC News Friday.

Aglukkaq was reacting to a CBC investigation this week that Health
Canada is ill-equipped to inspect licensed growers. There are also
complaints from critics who say sanctioned growers are abusing their
permits and often growing far more than they need. The individual
grow-ops also attract break-ins, critics say.

The health minister said previously Health Canada wants to tender
licences to produce marijuana the same way as conventional drugs - by
companies, under tightly regulated conditions. There are around 1,200
patients and 200 growers in Saskatchewan, who are limited to providing
medical marijuana for up to two patients.

Shutting down licensed medical marijuana growers will only push people
to obtain pot illegally, said Kaylynn Colby, 25, a Regina head shop
worker who obtained an exemption after a doctor prescribed medical
marijuana for pain.

"All they're doing is creating demand in the black market," Colby
said.

In her teens, Colby suffered a herniated disc in her back that was
never diagnosed. She suffers from severe juvenile arthritis, she said.

"All of the other painkillers they were (prescribing) were causing a
lot more damage," Colby said. "This (growing medical marijuana) was
definitely the safer way to go about it. Since then I haven't taken
more pain killers for my condition."

For Hiltz, two car crashes in 2005 and 2006 left him with a fractured
vertebrae and spinal stenosis, which compresses his spinal cord,
causing pain and weakness in his neck, shoulder and left arm.

An expert horticulturalist, Hiltz says the medical marijuana he
produces is far better at dulling the pain than the government's
medical marijuana he would be forced to access.

Hiltz also says he can grow his own medical marijuana for around $140
per month compared to $540 for Health Canada's mail order pot, which
is produced by Saskatchewan-based Prairie Plant Systems Inc.

Colby agrees that the medical marijuana produced for Health Canada
isn't as effective.

"I've seen it, I've smelled it and I would not want anything to do
with it," Colby said. "=C2=85 I've never heard anybody satisfied or happy

with it at all. It's low grade, poor quality, and it often doesn't
even help the medical condition very much."

She would like to see the government increase the number of patients
licensed growers can provide for.

"By allowing people to grow their own medicine, which is something
that hasn't hurt anyone, that would be a lot more beneficial than more
rules and more boundaries and more punishment," Colby said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt