Pubdate: Thu, 26 Nov 2015
Source: Free Press, The (Fernie, CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Black Press
Contact:  http://www.thefreepress.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/999
Author: James Gittens

Letter to the Editor

RE: MEDICINAL MARIJUANA BUSINESS LICENSE

Fernie city council was approached on Nov. 9 about overriding a
portion of the business license bylaw so that a medical marijuana
dispensary could open in Fernie. I'm sure there are many in our
community who know first-hand the powerful medicinal properties of
marijuana.

I thank Mayor Giuliano and Council for taking the time to listen to
our presentation, so that we might begin to do important work for the
residents of the Elk Valley.

City Council was positive and receptive to our proposal, but, rightly,
want to study the issue from a legal and zoning standpoint. Every day
in the Elk Valley, people suffer from arthritis, neuropathic pain, MS,
cancer and traumatic injury and medical marijuana should be an option
to help them reduce their pain.

Many complain of a lack of relief from conventional pain treatments. A
full 50 per cent of neuropathic pain patients receive no meaningful
relief from conventional treatment. Of those, 57 per cent achieve a 30
per cent reduction in their pain with low-dose vaporized cannabis
(Wilsey et al., University of California, 2013.) The implication of
going from 10/10 pain to 7/10 pain means that these patients can begin
to enjoy more of life again.

James Gittens

Fernie, B.C.
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MAP posted-by: Matt