Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jan 2013
Source: Abbotsford Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 The Abbotsford Times
Contact:  http://www.abbotsfordtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1009
Author: Adam Greenblatt
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n661/a05.html
Page: A9

BE CLEAR WHEN TALKING ABOUT GROW-OPS

Editor, the Times:

Re: Eager to fight grow-ops now, Times, Dec. 20.

When it comes to growing medical cannabis, there is an important 
distinction to be made between a personal garden and a commercial operation.

Those who employ the term "grow-op" neglect to make this distinction 
in an effort to mislead the public on cannabis policy.

Safety concerns about commercial growers stealing power and 
converting family homes into pot farms are entirely legitimate. But 
these activities are fueled by the incentives of prohibition, not the 
existence of medical cannabis licenses.

Medical growers are a drop in the multi-billion dollar ocean that is 
the Canadian marijuana trade.

It is punitive and defamatory to paint patients and caregivers as 
criminals in an attempt to proselytize the Marihuana for Medical 
Purposes Regulations.

Not only does this profoundly stigmatize Canadians who use and grow 
this medicine; it discredits and impairs a nascent industry which 
Health Canada is now desperate to legitimize.

Perhaps future announcements from the health minister on this subject 
should be made from a compassion club against a backdrop of 
healthcare professionals; not from a fire hall against a backdrop of 
"crime" fighters.

Adam Greenblatt

Medical Cannabis Access Montreal, Que.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom