Pubdate: Mon, 01 Jun 2015
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2015 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Sean Trembath
Page: A1

SASKATOON COULD GET FIRST DISPENSARY

A Saskatoon medical marijuana advocate is hoping to open a storefront 
in the city this week where he can help people obtain prescriptions 
and in some cases sell them their cannabis.

Mark Hauk, proprietor of the Saskatchewan Compassion Club, said he 
submitted a formal offer with a landlord in the Exhibition 
neighbourhood on Friday. If his lease is approved, the business, 
which he describes as a clinic, dispensary and community centre, will 
open as soon as possible.

"The minute I get those keys, I plan to open the clinic," he said.

Hauk said has been very open with the prospective landlord about the 
business he wants to run, and plans to operate the clinic as 
legitimately as possible in an industry he said exists in a legal 
grey area. Saskatoon police say they will monitor the situation. 
Currently, Hauk operates by going to visit his clients, who he said 
suffer from a variety of ailments including Crohn's Disease and cancer.

The majority of his time is spent helping people navigate the 
regulatory process to obtain a licence for medical marijuana. Every 
province has its own rules, and he said Saskatchewan's are the most 
restrictive in the country. "It's been (a mindset) of open and 
blatant discouragement of any prescription," Hauk said.

In some cases, he has helped people find doctors out of province who 
will provide prescriptions.

Once someone has a licence, Hauk advises them to purchase from a 
licensed producer, such as Saskatoon company CanniMed, something he 
says makes him different from almost any other dispensary in Canada. 
For those who received their licence after a change in the federal 
rules in April 2014, producers licensed by Health Canada are the only 
legal suppliers of medical marijuana.

Hauk said there are several problems with licensed producers for some 
people. First, the law currently only allows for the purchase of 
dried cannabis, which is administered by smoke or vaporizer. Some of 
Hauk's patients, such as those with lung cancer, are unable to use 
those methods. Hauk provides edibles, oils and other delivery methods 
for these people.

Another problem is the size of order required from the producers. 
Hauk told a story about a person with epilepsy who had a medical card 
but couldn't afford the almost $400 minimum order from a company.

Prior to April 2014, some medical licence holders were allowed to 
grow marijuana for themselves and other medical users. Although the 
system has changed, there is an ongoing legal battle and an 
injunction allowing those with the older licences to continue growing 
for the time being. Hauk said any marijuana he sells to his clients 
comes from legal growers.

"I've never grown a plant in my life, nor do I want to," he said.

Medical marijuana dispensaries have proliferated in many Canadian 
cities. Some municipal governments, such as Vancouver and Victoria, 
have moved toward licensing and regulating the businesses. Others, 
like North Vancouver and Surrey, have passed zoning bylaws 
prohibiting the shops from opening.

In preparing to open his Saskatoon shop, Hauk said he has paid 
attention to other cities. For instance, he made sure his location is 
more than 300 metres from any schools or community centres, something 
Vancouver has proposed as a rule.

Insp. Jerome Engel of the Saskatoon Police Service said what happens 
in Vancouver has nothing to do with Saskatoon.

"There's no grey area. The law is pretty simple. It says you're not 
allowed to traffic, you're not allowed to possess. We're not 
Vancouver. We enforce the law as it's written," Engel said.

He added that should Hauk's business open, police will investigate 
and decide if what he is doing is illegal.

"He can do what he wants. We'll do the investigation, and if he's 
breaking the law he's certainly going to be charged," Engel said.

Hauk said he has been trying to set up a meeting with SPS to discuss 
what he is trying to do.

"What we're doing is above board. We're strictly helping medical 
patients," he said, adding there will be no smoking or administering 
of drugs on the premises.

He also plans to seek a business licence at city hall, although there 
is some question about how his clinic might be categorized.

"I anticipate I could probably get a business licence on the clinical 
side of things, where we're simply consulting patients and giving 
them information," he said.

Hauk understands there could be a legal battle in his future, but 
said many such cases have been thrown out due to problems with the 
current federal regulations. He said that in an ideal situation, his 
business wouldn't be needed.

"I'm hopeful I work myself out of a job. I'm hopeful we create so 
much public awareness we push the government to change their 
regulations, so medicine is affordable and comes in the right methods 
and people can actually get prescriptions for it," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom