Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jul 2013
Source: Centretown News (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Centretown News
Contact:  http://centretownnewsonline.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2112
Author: Colin MacGregor Johnstone

MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOP OPENS IN CHINATOWN TO PRAISE, QUESTIONS OF LEGALITY

Since opening on Somerset Street West last week, a medical marijuana 
dispensary has attracted both controversy and a flurry of interested clients.

These are people such as Cheryl Angenent, who can tell you the date 
of her life-altering car accident without taking a beat. It was Aug. 
23, 1989. She was 18 years old.

"I had multiple skull fractures, broken neck, broken back, broken 
legs, and broken feet," she recalled, as she stood outside the newly 
opened Greater Ottawa Health Advocacy Centre.

She had permission to possess marijuana in Oregon, but the form is 
now outdated and she doesn't have a doctor, so she left the centre 
empty-handed.

Health Canada mandates that those needing medicinal marijuana must 
have a signed declaration from a doctor.

The government department announced last month that it will stop 
producing and distributing medicinal marijuana in April 2014. 
Licensed users will no longer be allowed to grow their own product 
and will have to obtain the drug from federally licensed growers.

Ryan Levis, owner of the Greater Ottawa Health Advocacy Centre, told 
the media that the shop did sell to customers not medically 
certified, though it has since started selling to certified clients only.

Today, clients left the shop, not with what they came for, but forms 
to be filled out by family doctors.

"It's a dead end," said Bob Jamison of the new process. "They say to 
go see your doctor and fill out a form. Unfortunately, not a lot of 
doctors are on board with medical marijuana."

"Any medical professional that you go to will not provide you with 
medical marijuana permission," said Angenent, "because they don't 
consider it medicine."

"There's just not enough family doctors," said Dr. Mark Ujjainwalla, 
an addiction medicine specialist who stopped by the shop out of 
curiosity. "There are lots of people coming in who bona fide need 
medical marijuana. In fact, there are people who have the licence, 
but it's expired. But they can't find a family doctor who will sign 
their forms for them."

Jamison, who has glaucoma, said it is easier to buy on the street 
than to cut through the red tape. "Unfortunately," he said, "that 
money I spend on the street goes to finance many, many other criminal 
activities."

Angenent said she has no trouble getting marijuana on the street. "I 
walk through the market with my dog and my dog will pick up the 
smell," she says.

She is a patient at a transitional clinic for those who do not have 
family doctors, so she is hoping to get permission from there.

There is no consensus as to whether the store is licensed to 
distribute the drug. CBC reports that Levis says he is federally 
licensed and the Ottawa Citizen reports that Levis has said he has 
applied for one, but Health Canada has not approved any yet.

Centretown News was turned away from the shop by Cameron Lodge, who 
identified himself as a part-owner and manager and said the shop is 
"complying with all federal rules."

Health Canada's website states that it "does not license 
organizations such as compassion clubs or dispensaries to possess, 
produce or distribute marijuana for medical purposes."

CTV News reports that Health Canada says it has not issued a licence 
for the store.

Ujjainwalla is attempting to organize a legal, medically-run, 
medicinal marijuana program, which he described as "a very difficult process."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom