Pubdate: Mon, 06 Jan 2014
Source: Metro (Calgary, CN AB)
Section: page Front Page
Copyright: 2014 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Calgary
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4471
Author: Jeremy Nolais

LOCAL STUDENT SAYS POT USE IN SCHOOL KEEPS HIM 'FOCUSED'

Drug Dilemma: Community Leader Calls For Better Policies To Use
Substance In Public

Smoking marijuana on school property would land most high schoolers in
the principal's office, but Noah Kirkman is actually encouraged to
head there and ingest the drug.

The 15-year-old Western Canada High School student is a licensed
medicinal marijuana user after finding the drug far more effective
than prescription offerings for treating Tourette Syndrome and
attention-deficit disorder.

"It doesn't have any withdrawal effects and I can't (overdose) on it,"
explained the confident student, who has aspirations of practicing
photojournalism someday. "It helps me keep calm, it helps me keep focused."

Kirkman received his licence in September and he and mother Lisa say
they proactively approached Calgary Board of Education administrators
to discuss terms on how the teen could ingest his medicine on school
property.

At first, it was thought Noah could use his "one-hitter," which looks
like a cigarette, out front of the school. But when it became too cold
it was agreed he could pop by the vice-principal's office and use his
marijuana vaporizer three times a day, before class, after class and
over the lunch-hour.

Noah's device is no bigger than a walkie-talkie and he simply flicks a
switch that heats his medicine to 367-degrees fahrenheit.

The CBE would not confirm the Kirkman family's account citing privacy
concerns and said it doesn't have information to indicate whether
other students have been granted similar concessions to use marijuana
on school property. But Lisa and Noah were interviewed separately to
determine whether their accounts check out and Metro was provided with
proof of the youngster's medicinal marijuana licence.

Lisa is also a licensed marijuana user and no stranger to generating
headlines for her use of the drug. In 2011, she and three others
likely made Canadian aviation history when they ingested marijuana
using a vaporizer aboard a WestJet flight bound for Toronto.

A few weeks after Metro wrote the story about the group's so-called
"vaping" at 30,000 feet, WestJet barred use of the device in-flight
amid fears of the heat it generates.

But Keith Fagin, head of Calgary 420 Cannabis Community, who joined
Kirkman on the flight and ingested marijuana alongside wife Debbie,
said it's time for all public bodies to develop policies around
allowing the drug to be used on their properties.

"It's smokeless . . . it's healthy to use," he said, later adding,
"When we were on that flight, we didn't have a single complaint from
another passenger about odor or anything like that."

But Calgary's own police Chief Rick Hanson has said in recent weeks he
fears the fallout of what he perceives as a push by the federal
government to legalize marijuana. He called for better regulations
surrounding when and where licensed users can ingest the drug.

"Let's say you're prescribed three grams of marijuana," Hanson said at
the time. "I've been told that's 15 joints. If you need 15 joints to
get through the day, do you want that guy in your office? Smoking up
in your office once an hour?"

Noah, meanwhile, said he welcomes curious questions from friends and
classroom peers about his marijuana use, adding he never has more than
a few grams on him at any given time.

"Usually, I'm not that discreet about it," he said. "My friends are
very accepting of it, I've dealt with no discrimination or anything
like that."  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D