Pubdate: Thu, 11 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: Mark Hauk
Note: Hauk is founder of the Saskatchewan Compassion Club.
Page: A9

HELP FOR SICK ONLY OBJECTIVE

The StarPhoenix editorial, Don't count on an easy ride (June 2) about 
a potential marijuana dispenser in Saskatoon was misguided, and I 
want to set the record straight.

The editorial strongly suggests the club I want to establish is 
somehow geared toward serving a recreational marijuana market, 
reaching so far at one point as to suggest that I may be counting on 
Justin Trudeau to be elected in the fall, and for marijuana to be legalized.

That's way off base. I've never suggested anything remotely similar 
in nature. (I do indeed ultimately support the legalization of 
marijuana down the road - if it's done with the proper regulation and 
education to go along with it. But that is a conversation for another 
day.) What we are doing has nothing to do with legalization or the 
recreational market. It has everything to do with helping sick people 
in our community get access to the medicine to which they are 
lawfully entitled: people who have had access to their medicine 
blocked and are suffering needlessly, often with significant pain; 
everyday people right here in here our community, just like you and 
me; not stereotypical "stoners," but people suffering with chronic, 
debilitating and, sometimes, terminal illnesses.

What some don't realize is, that for many, marijuana is the only drug 
that works to treat particular ailments. Some people with severe 
chronic pain, muscle seizures, the side effects of chemotherapy and 
Crohn's-related diseases have amazing success treating their ailments 
safely and effectively with cannabis, without the nasty side-effects 
of most pharmaceuticals.

But the reality for many in Saskatchewan is that accessing medical 
marijuana has become incredibly difficult, if not impossible. 
Canada's new medical marijuana regulations are flawed in many ways, 
from patients stuck on waiting lists, to doctors refusing to 
prescribe, to product shortages, to delivery problems, to ridiculous 
minimum order costs that some simply can't afford. Then of course 
there is the fact that patients only are allowed to purchase dried 
cannabis - no edibles, oils or tinctures - which again prevents many 
from accessing the medicine they need.

How could this be?

How did we end up with a system so dysfunctional that innocent people 
in our community are left to suffer?

The answer is simple. We have an extremely out-of-step Conservative 
government that is anti-marijuana. It has created access regulations 
not because it wants to do it, but because it has been ordered to do 
it. (Canada's courts have ruled on numerous occasions since 2001 that 
Canadian citizens have a right to reasonably access medical 
marijuana.) Ultimately, this has resulted in an unreasonable, unworkable model.

But what should we really expect from a Conservative government that 
seems stuck in the stone age - one that makes ridiculous public 
statements such as, "marijuana is not medicine'? The whole world 
knows that the claim is utterly ridiculous. Marijuana has many proven 
medicinal benefits.

If the government needs evidence, it should refer to the "Information 
for Health Care Professionals" section of its own Health Canada 
website, which details more than 50 ailments that marijuana benefits. 
So let's cut the nonsense already.

It's important to do that because there are important conversations 
that need to take place about the potential harms of marijuana and 
how to mitigate them. Even though the plant has incredible medicinal 
benefits and is generally very safe, it is, after all, at times an 
intoxicant and can be abused. We all need to be honest about that and 
deal with those concerns accordingly.

However, so long as we as a city and province are bound by 
unreasonable regulations that cause people in our community to suffer 
needlessly, we will be here to help. If that help needs to come in 
the form of us supplying small amounts of medical marijuana to sick 
people, then that is exactly what we will do because it's the right 
thing to do. It's the sensible, humane thing to do.

If, at the end of the day, I have to explain those actions to a 
judge, then so be it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom