Pubdate: Tue, 04 Oct 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Jacquie Miller
Page: A1

PRIVACY BREACH IRKS POT CLIENTS

Magna Terra email accidentally reveals hundreds of names

Who's shopping at Ottawa's largest local marijuana dispensary chain?
That information has been widely shared after Magna Terra Health
Services accidentally sent an email to nearly 500 "clients and
friends" that listed all their email addresses.

Magna Terra customers who want to keep their medical marijuana
purchases private are upset.

Magna Terra president Franco Vigile sent a second email apologizing
for the privacy breach and saying the employee responsible for the
original email sent Sept. 30 had been let go.

"We take risks daily to ensure all of our members have safe and
convenient access to their medication which I believe outlines our
sincerity and dedication towards caring about our members which leaves
me extremely upset over this situation," said Vigile's apology email.
He wrote that he had contacted the service provider to "try and
rectify the error by recalling all of the emails sent out."

But as anyone who has accidentally hit "Send" knows, it's hard to get
emails back. About 470 email addresses were visible as being CC'd on
the original email. Most are personal Gmail and Hotmail accounts. One,
however, corresponds to that of a high school teacher at the
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

Magna Terra operates medical marijuana dispensaries on Carling Avenue
and in Stittsville. Vigile says the company takes privacy seriously.
Last week's disclosure was an isolated incident, he said in a written
response to the Citizen. "Unfortunately errors like this do happen
fairly often in all industries and types of businesses and we are
doing everything we can to ensure it will not happen again."

Customer Sydney Chard has asked to be removed from Magna Terra's
database. Chard provided the dispensary with extensive health records
with the assumption the organization was a secure, safe and discreet
"medical" environment. "This is clearly not the reality given the
email that was sent out.

"Until we have established regulations around distribution of
marijuana, institutions such as this one should not be considered a
professional medical provider as they are not accountable to the
people they serve."

Medical marijuana is legal, but only if obtained from a producer
licensed by Health Canada, such as Tweed in Smiths Falls. Licensed
producers, who can sell only dried weed or oil, must send their
products by mail.

Storefront sales aren't allowed, and dispensaries are operating
illegally, the federal government says.

The office of Canada's privacy commissioner said it has received a
complaint regarding the Magna Terra email and could not comment
further. But under the federal privacy law that covers the private
sector, "organizations are required to have procedures in place to
safeguard the information entrusted to them."

People whose emails were revealed could sue for invasion of privacy,
University of Ottawa law professor Jeremy de Beer said it's doubtful
they would succeed.

"It would not surprise me if some class-action lawyers smell blood,
but it does not seem to be a particularly egregious breach of privacy,
if it is one at all."

To prove a breach of privacy, the incident must be intentional and
something a reasonable person would find it "highly offensive," said
de Beer. The court would also consider such factors as how easily
people could be identified. "If (the email address)  it's not so sensitive."

The fact that a dispensary operates illegally "has little bearing on
its potential liability to customers for allegedly breaching their
privacy," he said.

The Magna Terra email suggests another emerging issue: a turf war over
Ottawa's growing marijuana dispensary business. There are now 15
dispensaries in town.

Vigile was among a group of entrepreneurs who opened the city's first
dispensary, on Carling Avenue, in November 2015 under the name Ottawa
Medical Dispensary. But the business partnership dissolved last summer
and was renamed Magna Terra Health Services. A second Magna Terra
outlet opened in Stittsville in September.

Vigile's original email to customers warned them about a new
dispensary called "The Real OMD."

"I wish to assure you that this company is not affiliated with Magna
Terra, or the original Ottawa Medical Dispensary (OMD), in any way,"
said Vigile's email. "Unfortunately, we cannot warrant their products,
services or consult they provide."

Dispensaries vary greatly. Some are bare-bones storefronts with little
more than a display case and an ATM. Magna Terra dispensaries are
clean, bright and look like clinics.

Vigile has previously said he is trying to prove to the federal
government that medical marijuana clinics can be operated responsibly.
His staff is trained, he employs a registered nurse, and he objects to
his establishments being described as "pot shops." At the Stittsville
dispensary, clients must be buzzed in by the receptionist.

Vigile acknowledges that his dispensaries operate in a "grey area" -
the federal government simply calls them illegal - but says he opened
them because he is passionate about the benefits of medical marijuana
and wants to help people.

Patients sometime have trouble getting what they want, as quickly as
they want, from licensed producers, said Vigile.

The Magna Terra website lists a wide variety of products, from dried
weed to hash and vegan gummy bears. Vigile says he's confident about
the quality and safety of his products but doesn't reveal his black
market suppliers.

The dispensaries operate in an unprecedented legal context. The
government has promised to legalize recreational marijuana in the
spring. Canadian courts have ruled that medical marijuana patients
have the right to reasonable access to their medicine, and dispensary
owners cite that as a justification for operating outside the law.
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MAP posted-by: Matt