Pubdate: Thu, 21 Apr 2016
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Page: A15
Copyright: 2016 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/send_a_letter
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Bailey Hildebrand

SMOKERS ANTICIPATE FEDS' LEGALIZATION

POT advocates called for marijuana legalization at Wednesday's 4/20
festivities, but it could be the last time they have to.

A group of weed smokers clouded up downtown and gathered at the
Manitoba legislature to celebrate the herb. The usual premise of 4/20
is to encourage politicians to look into either legalizing or
decriminalizing the drug, but now that Justin Trudeau is prime
minister, that could change.

Marijuana legalization and regulation was one of the Liberal
government's big promises before the federal election last October. On
Wednesday, Health Minister Jane Philpott told the United Nations
legislation could be introduced as early as next spring in Canada.

Steven Stairs, president of the Winnipeg 4/20 organizing committee,
has been coming to 4/20 for around 15 years and has been an organizer
of different festivities for the last five. He said he's a
medical-marijuana user and became an advocate when he was a student
representative for students with disabilities at the University of
Manitoba.

"I'm a disabled person, I'm legally blind, so I thought why not
combine the two," Stairs said. "I'm a marijuana user, I'm a disabled
rights advocate - let's become both. And now I'm able to advocate for
the access for sick people through the medical-marijuana system, which
I'm also a user of. It's almost a duty of mine."

Brendan Armitt was also at 4/20 and said he's been self-medicating
with marijuana for years. He said he hopes around this time next year
he'll finally be able to do it legally.

"I had a problem with sleeping," Armitt said. "I went to the doctors,
and they said I had narcolepsy. My parents weren't all for medicating
me, so I had to find ways to put myself to sleep. I started smoking
pot, and I realized that it helped and there's very little to no
negative side-effects, and so I continued."

Wednesday's event featured local marijuana vendors set up along
Broadway and an organized March through downtown Winnipeg.

Jason Oliveira had a table set up for an online medical-marijuana
dispensary called medicalcannab.is. He said once the Liberal
government legalizes weed, it will make administration easier for a
lot of marijuana businesses.

"It just means that we're going to have simple legalization," Oliveira
said. "We'll be able to finally pay taxes without jumping through any
hoops and asking a whole lot of weird questions. We'll be able to
distribute to people recreationally."

Stairs said he encourages any marijuana naysayers to come out to 4/20
in the future to experience it first-hand to dispel what he calls
myths, stigmas and stereotypes about marijuana users and 4/20.

"This isn't just some sort of niche anymore," Stairs said. "This is
your grandma, this is your uncle, this is your school teacher and your
lawyer.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D