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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom