Pubdate: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 Source: Cowichan Valley Citizen (CN BC) Copyright: 2012 Cowichan Valley Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/cowichanvalleycitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4349 NEW MARIJUANA RULES UGLY ANTI-CITIZEN MOVE I wonder which federal government crony is about to get rich off the new rules that the feds have announced regarding production of medical marijuana. We published an editorial not long ago about why we think marijuana should be legalized, as a couple of U. S. states have now done. Yet here the Conservatives go in the opposite direction, making it more restrictive, even for those who use it medicinally. And all for the benefit of what we can only imagine will be a few big companies, possibly even the same big pharmaceutical companies that already make billions off of people's poor health. Right now, people can grow their own marijuana for personal use, as long as they get a permit. These permits come from the federal government. Now, though, the Conservatives have decided that the 26,000 permits they've issued are an unwieldy number, and that these folks are often truly just drug dealers nefariously using the system for their own gain. So the Conservatives are going to take away all those permits - the ability of people to produce their own medicine - in favour of only allowing companies meeting so-called security requirements to grow the stuff. This is scheduled to happen in March of 2014. It's telling that virtually everyone involved in the system, from patients to dispensaries, is protesting the move as a bad idea. Yet those concerns, from the people who are in the know, are being ignored in favour of a destructive ideology. It's pretty hard to swallow that folks in need of medication are going to be forced to pay somebody else for something they easily can, and even used to, grow at home. There is no doubt about it; this is an ugly, anti-citizen, pro-corporate move and a money grab. One of the reasons that people choose to use marijuana medicinally is that they can better afford it than ordinary prescription drugs, which can easily run into thousands and thousands of dollars for chronic conditions, depending on the diagnosis. We predict the new regulations will not be rolled out as an open market where dozens of competitors mean there's a fighting chance of keeping prices down. We would guess the feds already have a few specific companies in mind. You can bet the costs of the government-mandated "security" at these private, legal grow operations will be passed on to the consumers. Costs always are. Of course, none of this would even be an issue if we legalized marijuana. Then there could well be a competitive market emerge. As it is, we'd love to know who's been lobbying behind closed doors in Ottawa. Though I guess we'll find out in 2014. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D