Pubdate: Tue, 19 Jan 2016
Source: Metro (Ottawa, CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Metro
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Ottawa
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4032
Author: Lucy Scholey
Page: 4

MEDICINAL POT USERS 'LEFT OUT'

Legalities mean some can no longer grow own product

Suzi Strand kept a small backyard garden last summer.

The Ottawa resident did not have the energy to maintain a large plot
of veggies and herbs. She battles multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia and
trigeminal neuralgia (commonly referred to as the "suicide disease").

There's one plant she wishes she could legally grow in that garden:
medical cannabis, which she says would help alleviate her pain.

Strand once had the permit to produce marijuana plants in her
backyard. But she got caught in a federal court loophole that has
turned her into one of the "left outs" - or one of the users who was
not included on an injunction that allowed private home growers to
keep growing.

Patients like Strand feel left behind, especially as recreational pot
smokers cheer on the Liberal government's plan to legalize marijuana.

"The sick and dying people laid the groundwork for cannabis in Canada
and nobody cares any more about us," she said.

"Now everybody is talking about legalization and how some people want
to sell it in the LCBO. To me, cannabis is medicine."

Patients like Strand are stuck waiting on a federal court decision
challenging the constitutionality of the Marijuana for Medical
Purposes Regulations ( MMPR), which the former Conservative government
introduced in 2013. It replaced a 13-year-old program that allowed
patients to grow their own pot with a commercial medical marijuana
market.

But many medical cannabis users say they can't afford to buy from
large-scale licensed growers.

Laurie MacEachern, director of the Medicinal Cannabis Patients'
Alliance of Canada Inc., said it would cost $50,000 a year for her to
buy the medicine she needs for Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome,
idiopathic neuropathy and a spinal injury. But she makes only $11,000
from her Canadian Pension Plan. In the latest marijuana excitement,
medical users are feeling "left in the dust," she said.

"Everyone is debating and working out how they're going to look at
legalization for everyone, whereas we've had a program of some sort
for 15 years here now and they haven't even got that right," she said.

Belleville, Ont. resident Nate Oxford - a pseudonym he uses to protect
his identity - said there's still a stigma against medical users.

"While people celebrate what seems like overall victories in the
cannabis movement, they neglect to remember those who've fought for
basic rights to use and pushed for education of health professionals
for years," he said, during a Facebook conversation.

"We now face astronomical costs for meds while being ostracized by the
community as accessibility and basic rights have become a glaring
issue in the face of smoke free policies."

Although she can't legally grow, Strand still keeps two pink slips in
her wallet - one that once allowed her to produce medical cannabis,
the other to possess. They both expired on Feb. 20, 2014. The judge
hearing the federal case granted an injunction on March 21 of that
year to allow patients to continue growing their own pot if they were
already licensed. Strand missed it by a month.

The thought of buying from the street or growing illegally gives her
anxiety. But her health is of a greater concern.

"I don't want to go back to my wheelchair."

- - With files from Torstar News Service and Neal Hall

- -------------------------------------

[sidebar]

No word from Liberals

The Liberals have yet to reveal a timeline on marijuana
legalization.

Meanwhile, there are about 40,000 people in Canada who are authorized
to possess medical cannabis. Health Canada estimates the number of
licensed registered users will grow to 400,000 by 2022.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt