Pubdate: Tue, 04 Oct 2016 Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2016 Canoe Limited Partnership Contact: http://www.ottawasun.com/letter-to-editor Website: http://www.ottawasun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329 Author: Jacquie Miller Page: 6 CUSTOMERS FUME OVER POT SHOP PRIVACY BREACH Client info e-mailed to almost 500 people 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. Some 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." About 470 email addresses were visible 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 Postmedia. "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. "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," he said. Medical marijuana is legal only if obtained from a producer licensed by Health Canada who can only sell dried weed or oil. They must send their products by mail. Storefront sales are not allowed and are thus operating illegally, according to the federal government. The office of Canada's privacy commissioner said it has received a complaint regarding the Magna Terra email and could not comment further. But federal privacy law that covers the private sector says "organizations are required to have procedures in place to safeguard the information entrusted to them." University of Ottawa law professor Jeremy de Beer said it's doubtful any clients who tried to sue for breach of privacy 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." 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 sometimes have trouble getting what they want, as quickly as they want, from licensed producers, said Vigile. The government has promised to legalize recreational marijuana in the spring. Canadian courts have also ruled that medical marijuana patients have the right to reasonable access to their medicine; dispensary owners often cite that as a justification for operating outside the law. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt