Pubdate: Thu, 02 Jul 2015
Source: Tribune, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015, Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact: http://www.wellandtribune.ca/letters
Website: http://www.wellandtribune.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2807
Author: Bob Tymczyszyn
Page: A9

'LET'S GET RID OF THE STIGMA'

Rally Held on Canada Day in Front of Courthouse

Rob Thibault is happy to have his life back.

He was part of a small rally every year Canada Day to celebrate and 
educate people about medicinal marijuana.

After a motorcycle accident that left him with injuries to his knee, 
he went through the gamut of prescribed painkillers without much success.

Thibault said that three years ago he was in a wheelchair and a lot 
heavier than he is now.

"This is what I use for pain relief," he said as he took a drag from a joint.

This was the fifth year the Niagara Cannabis Club held the event in 
front of the St. Catharines Courthouse.

"There is a huge stigma, it affects people," said Thibault. "We're 
about protecting people from that."

"The whole point of the Niagara Cannabis Club is patients protecting 
patients from things that shouldn't happen."

"More and more people use it medicinally," he noted.

"It's freedom for what you're allowed to do without persecution."

"They ( police) know we're here."

Even though he brought a collection of joints rolled with Canadian 
flag paper Thibault said he rarely smokes a joint anymore.

"I don't smoke it, I apply it topically or ingest it."

If he does use it in public, he said it's not a matter of trying to 
push a boundary.

"If I light a joint in public, I'm doing it because I'm in enough 
pain that I need to.

"Let's get rid of the stigma and start healing people," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom