Pubdate: Thu, 13 Mar 2014
Source: Digby Courier, The (CN NS)
Copyright: 2014 Media Transcontinental
Contact:  http://www.digbycourier.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4444
Author: Jonathan Riley

HOME GROWN IN DIGBY

Cannabis Grower Says He Won't Stop Growing His Own

Upstairs in his mother's barn in Conway, just outside Digby, Shawn 
Harvey has hundreds of cannabis plants.

He has two rooms up there, built out of white fiberglass paper and 
hung with bright lights; one room contains 60 large plants-they get a 
warm yellow light-and across the hall are a couple hundred younger 
plants under cooler white lights. The large plants are budding and 
almost ready to harvest; the smaller plants will be the next crop.

It's all legal until March 31 under the federal Marihuana Medical 
Access Program.

Harvey has a prescription that allows him to use 14 grams of 
marijuana a day; he has a Personal-Use Production Licence that allows 
him to have 69 plants in production.

"It's a ridiculous amount," says Harvey. "I couldn't smoke it all if 
I started first thing in the morning and smoked all day."

Harvey wore his back out working on scallop draggers.

"Bent over with your hands around your ankles is not a healthy 
position to work in," says Harvey.

He has a herniated disk and uses cannabis, about three or four grams 
a day he says, to handle the pain.

"My pain is with me all the time, there is no getting away from it," 
he says. "Cannabis gives me some relief, it's a warm feeling of relief."

Currently they are three ways for Canadians with a prescription for 
medical marijuana to source their medication.

They can buy it from Health Canada, they can grow their own or they 
can appoint someone else to grow it for them.

None of those options will exist come April 1.

Harvey and the other 37,000 Canadians with a personal-use production 
licence will have to destroy their plants and buy their cannabis from 
a federally licensed producer.

The federal government says it's changing the rules because the 
system is "open to abuse" and they say the new system will allow 
cannabis dosage and potency to be standardized and it will cut down 
on criminal activity like theft from growers and home invasions.

The federal government has so far licensed nine companies to produce 
medical marijuana in Canada.

Harvey expects the companies will be charging upwards of $10 a gram. 
He estimates it costs him between $2 to $4 a gram to grow his own.

Harvey originally was prescribed other painkillers and pills for his 
pain but was scared of a serious addiction and other side effects.

Cannabis worked better for him but he says he can't afford to buy 
cannabis from the companies and doesn't see why he should have to, in 
his words, "make them rich." "Cannabis is a natural herb, it grows 
naturally on the planet, versus pills manufactured by a 
pharmaceutical corporation," says Harvey. "I'm not an overly 
religious person but it says right on the first page of the Bible 
that God gave us every herb and plant to use."

Harvey is referring to Genesis 1:29, near the end of the first 
chapter of the Bible where God says, "Let there be light" and there was light.

"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, 
which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which 
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."

Harvey doesn't think it's right for the government and these 
companies to be making money off people with illness and says he will 
keep growing his own. He says he will move his plants away from his 
mother's property because he doesn't want her to be involved.

But he says he'll take his chances in court.

"If 12 members of my community find me guilty, then so be it," he 
said. "I'll take my chances in front of 12 members of my community."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom