Pubdate: Fri, 06 Dec 2013
Source: Coast Reporter (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Coast Reporter
Contact:  http://www.coastreporter.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/580
Author: John Gleeson

THE RECRIMINALIZATION OF CANADIANS

Unless something radical happens, in less than four months the
activities of thousands of Canadians - some of them desperately ill -
will be recriminalized under federal law.

On April 1, 2014, when Ottawa's new corporate medical marijuana system
takes effect, the right granted by the state to Canadians since 2001
to grow cannabis for personal medical use will be completely nullified.

That means about 25,000 patients who are growing their own medicine -
and have been in some cases for a dozen years - will be breaking the
law if they continue to grow even one plant. The same applies to more
than 4,000 designated growers.

In fact, according to Health Canada, anyone who is now authorized to
possess or produce medical marijuana "will be advised to destroy or
dispose of their marijuana and/or plants no later than March 31, 2014.
As of April 1, 2014, the only legal means to access marijuana for
medical purposes will be through a licensed producer under the
Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR)."

There are currently three commercial producers listed on Health
Canada's website who have been licensed under the MMPR program. That's
compared to almost 30,000 people - soon to be outlawed - who in some
cases have developed sophisticated strains to treat particular
conditions, at great cost and effort.

Will there be a large enough supply on April 1 to meet the needs of up
to 40,000 Canadians? Will it be as effective as the cannabis currently
produced? Will it be priced out of the range of many patients who now
access it at a fraction of the cost?

None of those questions apparently matter. What matters is that by
April 1 everyone burns, buries or flushes their weed. Apparently some
criminals have been taking advantage of the situation, some growers
have been careless about mildew and wiring, and so everyone has to be
recriminalized unless they get with the program.

And the new program explicitly dictates that no marijuana shall be
grown outdoors, nor will the sale of resins, oils, extractions or
edible marijuana products be allowed; only dried buds for smoking.
It's a rather novel approach to medicine, isn't it?

The law will be in effect across Canada, but it will hit B.C. hardest
by far. Health Canada statistics up to the end of 2012 show that more
than half of the 18,000 Canadians with personal-use production
licences resided in B.C., as did almost two-thirds of the 3,400
designated growers.

More British Columbians are having their rights stolen than Canadians
from all other provinces combined.

Maybe that's why the appalling heavy-handedness of this new law, based
on flimsy anecdotal fear mongering about house fires and biker gangs,
seems to have caused barely a ripple of public indignation across the
country.

Here in the cannabis heartland, an Abbotsford lawyer recently launched
a class action suit on behalf of four plaintiffs to have the new law
declared unconstitutional. But otherwise the activist community has
been disappointingly passive on the issue, focusing its energies
instead on the Sensible BC campaign (which looks like it's heading for
oblivion).

This is about taking away rights that have been fought for and
granted. With governments around the world stripping rights from their
citizens in the name of national security, all Canadians should be
alarmed by this move against a politically inconsequential minority.
If their rights can be flushed, so can yours.
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MAP posted-by: Matt