Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jan 2014
Source: Metro (Edmonton, CN AB)
Copyright: 2014 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Edmonton
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4475
Author: Ryan Tumilty

MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS FORCED TO DISMANTLE HOME GROW-OPS

New Rules. Changes Coming March 31 Will Prohibit Home
Grows

William Carlson isn't ready to take down the grow room that has
legally provided him with marijuana for more than a year to deal with
crippling back pain.

"I'm not going to take down my grow room. If I have to I will grow
frickin' tomatoes in there, I will," he said in the now empty room
Thursday.

Until recently, Carlson grew marijuana inside the closet-sized space
to deal with his back pain. A welder, he was first injured in 2000 in
a jobsite mishap and tried a variety of pain medications before being
prescribed marijuana.

"After 12 years of being just poisoned with every drug you can
imagine, my doctor said this isn't working, let's try cannabis," he
said.

Carlson said once he was prescribed the hard part was telling his
teenage children that he was going to start taking marijuana.

"It took me a week to get the nerve up to actually do it," he said. "I
was sick to my stomach for a week thinking about it."

New federal laws set to come into place on March 31 will prohibit
people from growing marijuana for themselves, forcing them to go
through newly licensed commercial growers. Carlson said he suspect
some home growers won't observe the new regulations.

He said he grows marijuana for about $1.50 a gram now and expects he
could pay as much as $25 per gram through the new service.

"I use 12 grams everyday," he said. "It's going to be like $300 a day.
How is anyone going to afford that?"

Carlson said he suspects this is all in an effort to make it
impossible for people to use medical marijuana.

"They are going to make it so hard for you that people will just go
back on the pills and stuff," he said.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D