Pubdate: Thu, 16 Aug 2012
Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2012 The Halifax Herald Limited
Contact:  http://thechronicleherald.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/180
Author: Dan Arsenault

MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLUB CLOSES

Members at a Loss to Find Replacement

A heart attack and other health issues forced the founder of the 
Halifax Cannabis Buyers' Club to shut down the operation this spring.

Harrietsfield's John Cook, 47, couldn't continue operations this year 
and officially closed the club in May, forcing its 150 members to 
find another source for medical marijuana.

"He saved my life," one of those club members, Halifax's Bobbylee 
Dillman, said of Cook in a recent interview. "I was at the point of 
suicide because of all the pharmaceuticals the doctors were pushing 
down my throat."

The buyers club had about 150 members at its peak. Cook didn't allow 
members to join unless they provided medical information, which he 
then screened.

Dillman said he sought out Cook, who contacted his doctors to ensure 
everything was legitimate. Cook then talked to him about the 
different strains of marijuana he might want. An arthritic, who later 
developed severe abdominal pain, Dillman was advised to take 
marijuana that was high in indica, which he said affects the body 
more than the brain.

Dillman has a Health Canada card that allows him to legally use 
marijuana, but often has trouble getting decent marijuana or 
knowledgeable doctors to help him. He said Cook is very smart about 
laws regarding medical marijuana use and helped him out greatly.

Dillman believes medical marijuana laws should be relaxed and he said 
it's much easier for someone in his condition to get prescriptions 
for much more addictive and costly drugs.

The club's closure has created a void for him. He now has to pay more 
and often can't get the strains he prefers. "I'm doing whatever I can 
to get whatever I can," he said.

Debbie Stultz-Giffin, chairwoman of Maritimers Unite for Medical 
Marijuana Society, worked alongside Cook for years as a marijuana advocate.

She has multiple sclerosis and dislikes the side-effects of pharmaceuticals.

She said Cook often helped people battle the legal system and said he 
played an integral part in helping Halifax's Sally Campbell, who won 
a Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruling to have Community Services pay for 
her medical marijuana.

"John fought so hard for other people to get access to medical 
cannabis because he saw first-hand how it helped him," Stultz-Giffin said.

The Bridgetown woman said former club members have had to turn to the 
black market, their friends and other compassion clubs to get 
marijuana, when they can get it.

Things started going bad for Cook on Aug. 15, 2011, when his wife 
Krista Cook found him unconscious and face-down in their backyard 
after a heart attack. He later started to recover when he had 
setbacks from heart problems and pneumonia.

"It's been a terrible year," she said. Her husband found that he 
preferred marijuana to cope with chronic pain caused by a pair of 
workplace injuries to his back. He's now having difficulty affording 
marijuana and has to rely more on harder narcotics, which he never 
liked taking, she said.

She said her husband is at home and is walking around now. His main 
goal was always to open a storefront location for the club, which 
would make getting marijuana easier for the clients. He'd still like 
to see that happen, she said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom