Just how many ways are there to describe smoking pot? I'm reading John Gordon's book, and counting. Gordon, a member of the B.C. Marijuana Party, spent a recent afternoon autographing copies of his new soft-cover 'Chronic Chronicles.' I'd heard about the signing on FM radio and couldn't resist dropping by. Marijuana Party headquarters on Hastings is a step into alternative reality for a police officer wandering life's mystery on mere caffeine. It was reminiscent of Amsterdam, or Gastown in the late 1960's ; everyone inside grooving and cool, with pot being smoked as if it were legal. [continues 437 words]
Health Minister Anne McLellan admits to being uncomfortable with the idea of people smoking marijuana to relieve pain and other conditions. The minister, however, has little choice but to proceed. The courts have ruled that the sick have a right to take marijuana. Ottawa must either get on with setting up a system of regulated marijuana use, or give up on controlling marijuana use altogether. Ottawa has promised a regulated system, but getting it going seems to be taking forever. The government's first official crop, grown in an abandoned mine in Manitoba, contained too many strains of marijuana to be used in clinical trials that are key to reassuring physicians about prescribing the drug for medical conditions. [continues 211 words]
Vancouver, on Canada's west coast, is proving to be a nightmare for those who insist on fighting the war on drugs. From constitutional court challenges to the creation of the largest medicinal marijuana club in the country, this Pacific Coast city is full of activists who are organizing against the drug warriors. As a case in point, consider David Malmo-Levine, a Vancouver pot activist who is fighting to have Canada's marijuana laws declared unconstitutional. The laws, he tells me, could be struck down by the end of this year. [continues 1544 words]
VANCOUVER -- They say they're the political casualties of America's so-called war on drugs, and they want Canada's Immigration Department to make it official. Citing persecution in their homeland because of attempts to grow, cultivate or use marijuana for medical purposes, at least three Americans living in B.C. have made refugee claims to stay in Canada. Observers say the persecution allegations made by Steve Kubby, Ken Hayes and Renee Boje, all Californians who were embroiled in high-profile court cases in the United States, could bring a flood of would-be refugees. [continues 582 words]
The University College of Fraser Valley grow-op study, funded by the RCMP, calls B.C. the "Colombia of the North." This is an alarming statement, considering the U.S. military violence used in the "War on Drugs" in that country. Any violence or gang activity related to cannabis in Canada can be mitigated through an obvious solution -- legalization. The report blames police powerlessness on lenient sentences and the fact charges are often dropped or stayed. It neglects to mention that the sentences are low and charges are being dropped because cannabis cultivation and smoking are not harmful activities. [continues 133 words]
Ottawa Ignored Expert Advice, Cannabis Community Says OTTAWA -- B.C.'s cannabis community endorsed Friday Senator Pat Carney's complaint in Parliament that the federal government wasted $6 million and offended British Columbians by not relying on generations of pot-growing experience on the West Coast. They said Health Canada deliberately ignored advice and contract bids from B.C. experts when it selected a Saskatoon fruit tree-growing operation two years ago to be Canada's first state-sanctioned supplier of pot to be used for medicinal reasons. [continues 829 words]
Last week I was trying to get press credentials to the IDEAS conference, the big anti-drug powwow for Vancouver's creme de la creme sponsored by local real estate mogul Bob Bentall and his wife Lynda in partnership with the Drug Free America Foundation. Drug Free America...hee haw...that's a good one. Why, without addiction to sit-coms, Budweiser, Marlboro's, artificial sweeteners, slot machines, internet porn and Viagra, the U.S. economy would flounder. If banks and stockbrokers stopped laundering obvious illegal drug profits the system would expire for want of fluid cash. The very notion smacks of treason and terrorism. [continues 689 words]
Vancouver - A Vancouver anti-drug conference is being targeted by advocates of a more permissive approach to illegal drug usage. The B.C. Marijuana Party held a rally outside the trade and convention centre, because the International Drug Education and Awareness (IDEA) symposium is not open to anyone who supports drug use. B.C. Compassion Club president Hilary Black says the conference is about oppression, not education. "The war on drugs hurt people and more tolerant drug laws allow us to deal with health concerns and deal with real problems around drugs not oppression," she says. [continues 124 words]
Self-Styled 'Prince Of Pot' Manages To Stay Out Of Jail In the world of pot in British Columbia, Marc Emery is the equivalent of giant corporation. As the revered leader of the province's marijuana movement, Emery not only promotes pot, but makes millions at it -- all the while managing to stay out of jail. The 44-year-old London, Ont., native, a daily toker, surrounds himself with pot. He says he can smoke 25 joints in a day. [continues 718 words]
The B.C. Compassion Club Society's search for a second site to distribute medicinal marijuana was stymied recently when plans to move into a building managed by Bentall Real Estate Services fell through. Hilary Black, the 25-year-old founder and co-director of the society, said she was working out the details of the lease for the space-Suite 120 1050 West Pender-including matters like whether pot would be stored overnight, when word came that the deal was off. [continues 511 words]
But Philip Owen Tells A Senate Committee That Hard Drugs Need A Different Approach Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen added his name Wednesday to the list of those who believe that marijuana should be decriminalized. But he told a special Senate committee reviewing Canada's anti-drug laws that hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin need a different approach. Owen was one of the few speakers who told the committee he doesn't believe the "war on drugs" has been lost. [continues 1165 words]
Trip To Medical Marijuana Society Part Of A Look Into Drug Culture. The sweet smell of marijuana smoke and freshly-cut buds greeted four Canadian senators Thursday when they entered the Vancouver Compassion Club on Commercial Drive. Hilary Black, the founder of the non-profit society which has been dispensing the illegal drug from local offices and storefronts for more than four years, said that, to her knowledge, it was the first time elected official -- city, provincial or federal -- has walked through those doors. [continues 826 words]
A Penticton man suffering from AIDS has been given the nod by the British Columbia Compassion Club Society in Vancouverto receive a monthly supply of marijuana for medicinal purposes. James Banko, 61, joins a growing number of South Okanagan residents with life-threatening diseases who are quietly tapping into a legally sanctioned source of the weed. Banko will have approximately 20 cigarettes a month sent to him by the society's authorized growers, for which he will pay a nominal fee of $30. [continues 436 words]
But Philip Owen Tells A Senate Committee That Hard Drugs Need A Different Approach Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen added his name Wednesday to the list of those who believe that marijuana should be decriminalized. But he told a special Senate committee reviewing Canada's anti-drug laws that hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin need a different approach. Owen was one of the few speakers who told the committee he doesn't believe the "war on drugs" has been lost. The city, its police force, social workers and others strongly believe in a comprehensive drug policy that revolves around prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction, he said. But he admitted in an interview that policy doesn't necessarily apply to soft drugs such as cannabis, and he told the committee that legalization of such drugs is likely inevitable. Owen said in the interview that he personally favours decriminalization of marijuana, but supports the police department's program of busting marijuana-growing operations, given that laws exist that must be enforced. "It is not if we will do it [decriminalize marijuana], it is when will we do it," he said. "I think the public wants to have public discussions about soft drugs and hard drugs separately. I support that public discussion." His comments struck a chord with committee member Senator Pat Carney. "Philip Owen hit the nail on the head when he said there were two debates that need to happen, one around soft drugs and the other around hard," she said during a break. The common theme of many of the speakers -- who included doctors, drug abusers and lawyers -- is that drug abuse is largely a personal medical and societal problem, rather than a criminal one. Although the committee is interested in the issues around hard drugs, it was formed with the intent of reviewing Canada's anti-drug laws, particularly as they apply to cannabis. [continues 930 words]
I was perusing Health Canada's new regs governing the use of medical marijuana. They seem a trifle more complex than compassionate, really. In fact, the new regulations seem determined to distance the government from a massive, thriving, knowledgeable cannabis community long overdue to explode above ground into a thriving tax bracket. The regs create three categories of illness for which marijuana can be prescribed. Category 1 is for applicants with a prognosis of less than 12 months. (Would you waste one second filling out forms with a year left?) Category 2 is for applicants who suffer from pain and other symptoms associated with serious medical conditions like Multiple Sclerosis, spinal cord injury, cancer, AIDS/HIV, severe arthritis, and epilepsy. And Category 3 consists of applicants with symptoms associated with other serious medical conditions when conventional treatments have failed to relieve symptoms or side effects of the treatment. [continues 607 words]
I am pleased to see the National Post dedicate time and space to exposing the hypocrisy of the war on cannabis. However, as the founder of The B.C. Compassion Club Society, I must clarify that although Marc Emery has funded many aspects of the anti-prohibition movement, he absolutely did not "finance the undertaking [of the Compassion Club] through the sale of marijuana seeds" or by any other means. The Compassion Club was started with faith, sweat, tears, love, and a small amount of cannabis borrowed from a compassionate grower, not with money from Marc Emery, or anyone else. Hilary Black, founder of the B.C. Compassion Club Society, Vancouver. [end]
Medicinal Users Of Marijuana And Physicians Both Dislike The Idea Of Health Canada Getting Into The Pot-Dispensing Business: Doctors Don't Want To Be The Gatekeepers Of What Is Essentially Herbal Medicine Marijuana has emerged as a multi-billion-dollar industry in Canada largely because the United States maintains a vigorous opposition to pot while Canadian authorities turn a blind eye to its cultivation and possession. In the final segment of a three-part series, National Post columnist Diane Francis speaks to people who are leading the charge to legalize marijuana. [continues 1798 words]
Vancouver is known as a pot-friendly North American Amsterdam. Officials hate that reputation -- but they're tough one moment, tolerant the next. MURRAY'S DOWNTOWN MARIJUANA speakeasy is no more, and he's a bit bummed out. His place was quintessential Vansterdam -- a third-floor walk-up with soaring ceilings and walls filled with good art selling at fair prices. There was a pool table, comfy seating and music set low enough to feed a conversational buzz. Tourists mingled with office clerks or Howe Street brokers. They'd buy pot from a little bar in one corner -- provided they were of legal drinking age. Murray -- who prefers not to reveal his last name -- was strict about that. They'd roll a few doobies and solve the world's problems, working up a killer appetite for dinner. [continues 1424 words]
Medicinal Marijuana Should Be Handled Like Any Other Drug, B.C. Expert Says Pharmacists across Canada should be preparing to dispense medicinal marijuana, learning what information to give users about proper doses, side effects and potential interactions, a pharmacist at the B.C. Cancer Agency is advising professional colleagues. Robin O'Brien, who also teaches pharmacy students at the University of B.C., said she's not necessarily an advocate of medicinal marijuana, just a pragmatist who believes that since the federal government is now sanctioning marijuana use for certain ill people, it should hand over the dispensing duties to professionals who can give patients "expert counselling." [continues 1025 words]
Medicinal Marijuana Should Be Handled Like Any Other Drug, B.C. Expert Says. Pharmacists across Canada should be preparing to dispense medicinal marijuana, learning what information to give users about proper doses, side effects and potential interactions, a pharmacist at the B.C. Cancer Agency is advising professional colleagues. Robin O'Brien, who also teaches pharmacy students at the University of B.C., said she's not necessarily an advocate of medicinal marijuana, just a pragmatist who believes that since the federal government is now sanctioning marijuana use for certain ill people, it should hand over the dispensing duties to professionals who can give patients "expert counselling." [continues 1026 words]
Greg Cooper leans down over the coffee table, jamming the glass bottle firmly against his knee. His elbow is wedged into his side for support, but his right hand, holding the Bic lighter, oscillates erratically. His left hand is also shaking as he grabs the tube coming from the top of the bottle, and his eyes continue to dart around, out of sync. It takes a minute or two, but he finally gets it all co-ordinated: he lights the marijuana, and sucks the smoke through the bong. [continues 493 words]
OTTAWA - New rules on the medical use of marijuana drew responses ranging from lukewarm to stone-cold yesterday. Health Canada regulations published yesterday will allow some patients with chronic or terminal illnesses to apply to Ottawa for permission to grow and smoke their own pot. They must have a prescription from a doctor (or two, in some cases), and must obtain a federal photo-ID card. Some patients called the move a good first step, but others criticized what they saw as needless red tape. [continues 537 words]
Canada should ignore a recent ruling by (the) U.S. Supreme Court against medical pot programs, according to one activist. Hilary Black, founder of the Vancouver Compassion Club, said the ruling will force American medicinal pot programs underground. New Canadian regulations will allow more sick Canadians to use pot with their doctor's orders. The regulations are expected by this summer. Black called Canada's approach "educated and progressive." [end]
A Richmond man who claims he had government approval to grow pot in his home is facing cultivation charges after police busted an indoor grow operation Tuesday. Police say they found 400 plants in the home of 49-year-old Dr. Paul Hornby, at 10471 Palmberg Rd. They also found 1,800 smaller plants, and approximately 10 boxes full of mature marijuana bud in a green house at the rear of the property. An M-16 assault rifle and two prohibited knives also turned up in the police search. [continues 283 words]
Ottawa unveiled regulations that will allow Canadians to use marijuana for medical purposes if they can meet strict conditions. The regulations, expected to take effect during the next few months, will permit patients who cannot grow marijuana themselves to designate a care-giver to raise it for them. Under the proposed system, terminal patients and those suffering from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, severe arthritis and other conditions could win exemptions for legal marijuana use to relieve pain and other symptoms, including muscle spasms, nausea and seizures. To qualify, doctors will have to satisfy Ottawa that other approved treatments are ineffective or cause problems for their patients. "It's a step in the right direction," said Hilary Black, co-director of the Vancouver-based British Columbia Compassion Club Society, which distributes marijuana to medical users. "But we don't see why bureaucrats have to be involved -- a simple doctor's prescription for marijuana should be enough." [continues 88 words]
Richmond RCMP deny their raid of a grow operation used to supply medicinal marijuana had anything to do with politics. "That couldn't be further from the truth," Richmond RCMP Const. Peter Thiessen said of allegations by the head of the B.C. Compassion Club Society that the raid was set up by Health Minister Allan Rock. The society's founder, Hilary Black, was in the midst of a telephone conversation with Rock when she was informed of a raid at a Richmond greenhouse supplying the club's members. [continues 158 words]
OTTAWA -- Ottawa was chastised yesterday for allowing police raids against growers of medicinal marijuana and for taking too much time to study requests from sick Canadians who say pot would ease their pain. The government is moving to offer people with specific illnesses controlled access to marijuana, but it was criticized by a Federal Court judge and a B.C. group for creating confusion in the meantime. Earlier this week, the RCMP raided a production facility in Richmond, B.C., that supplied marijuana to sick users. Police seized 2,200 plants, 10 boxes of mature bud and an M-16 rifle. [continues 347 words]
Plants Destroyed As Compassion Club Leaders Met With Allan Rock At the very moment the federal health minister was discussing medicinal marijuana with B.C.'s "compassion clubs," police were raiding the club's supply. About 1,000 marijuana plants were chopped down and hauled away from the club's grow operation at a greenhouse in Richmond on Tuesday -- the same day the group met with Health Minister Allan Rock to discuss the distribution of medical marijuana. The club's founder thinks Rock deliberately had the Mounties haul away their stash. [continues 286 words]
Doctors, Not Bureaucrats, Will Now Judge If Pot Can Ease Patient Suffering OTTAWA -- The Canadian government on Friday unveiled regulations to allow more sick Canadians to use marijuana and more healthy Canadians to grow it for them. The government has scheduled the regulations to take effect this summer. The new regime puts the onus principally on doctors, rather than Health Minister Allan Rock's office, to decide whether marijuana could ease patient suffering. The minister has granted, since 1999, more than 200 exemptions from criminal prosecution to ill Canadians who can prove they need to smoke marijuana to deal with diseases like AIDS and cancer. [continues 605 words]
Vancouverites were highly visible at Amsterdam's Cannabis Cup, and sometimes visibly high. But, writes Brian Preston, important stuff happened too. On the eve of the 13th Annual High Times Cannabis Cup, which wrapped two weeks ago in Amsterdam, I shared a table with an English couple named Robbie and Anne Marie, at a coffee shop called Rookies. They were "skinning up," as the English like to say - rolling tobacco and marijuana (in this case a strain called Northern Lights) into big, three-paper joints. Smoking cannabis is illegal in Britain, of course, but the seeds are legal, and can be bought in any fish-bait shop. Robbie explained why: Not long after the Second World War some Frenchmen came over to compete in a famous British fishing derby. The French brought hemp seeds, which they boiled until soft, then attached to hooks. British fish went crazy for cannabis, and the Frenchmen won the derby. "So hemp seeds were legalized in Britain," said Robbie. [continues 2506 words]
We've created a medical marijuana research cell while I expect my appeal for legal access will be heard this year. Waiting for guests to arrive, those well enough to come, I was glad my 84-year-old father and I are alive to talk about this crop. I'm his gay son who grew up in Saskatchewan not wanting to get my hands dirty. Dad still lives in Saskatchewan. Tonight friends with Section 56 exemptions and caregivers were gathering in Toronto to celebrate a bountiful harvest of premium strains of marijuana. [continues 902 words]
Street Activists And Political Lobbyists Mingle At The Drug Policy Foundation's 13th Annual Conference. Washington, DC has been described as a "power vortex." It has also been called "the capitol of Babylon." DC is a place of presidential motorcades, television stars, soldiers, and diplomats, of people who make decisions that affect the world. I traveled to DC in May, driving past marble monuments, the White House, tourist hordes, Secret Service agents and war memorials, to attend the Drug Policy Foundation's 13th annual international conference. [continues 2421 words]
The law prohibiting possession of marijuana was declared unconstitutional Monday by Ontario's top court -- a decision hailed by some as a step toward decriminalizing the drug across the country. In an unanimous decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled the possession law violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it fails to make exceptions for people who require marijuana for medicinal purposes. But rather than strike down the law outright, the court gave the federal government one year to rewrite its legislation to comply with the Charter. Possession will remain a criminal offence for 12 months, but if the government fails to act in that time, the law will cease to exist and simple possession will become legal in Canada. [continues 581 words]
When the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled on Monday that Canada's marijuana-possession law is unconstitutional, Catherine Devries of Kitchener was ecstatic. "I'm glad to hear of the ruling because it gives more validity to the cause," said Devries, who suffers from a painful back disorder that's forced her on to a disability pension of $960 a month. The "cause" she mentioned is the medical use of marijuana. In its ruling, the appeal court said Canada's marijuana law fails to recognize that people who suffer from chronic illnesses can use cannabis as a medicine. The court ruled that if Ottawa doesn't clarify the law within 12 months, the law prohibiting marijuana possession will be struck down in Ontario. [continues 552 words]
The Nelson Compassion Club Offers Access To Marijuana For Medicinal Purposes. Illegal? Yes. Still Able To Operate? Somehow. NELSON - Phillip McMillan doesn't have a criminal record, has no interest in going to jail, and is not an activist. But he has willingly thrown himself into a club which could change all of the above. McMillan is the Facility Director of the Nelson Cannabis Compassion Club. The organization's goal is to assist members in accessing clean, high quality cannabis for medicinal purposes. [continues 466 words]
If you were to peek through the window of the Compassion Club's Vancouver building space, you might think that you were looking at the reception area of a hip, young doctor's office: a smiling receptionist greets clients as they walk through the doors; the waiting area is painted a bright yellow and is filled with enough plants to start up a small greenhouse; some soothing Sarah McLaughlin tunes blend in with the faint sound of clients' chatter. Then you walk into the club and the smell hits you. It's a smell that would bring a smile to the face of any hippie-at-heart. Welcome to the Compassion Club, Canada's largest medical marijuana buyers club. [continues 1860 words]
Interest is high in Ottawa's plan to license growers of cannabis for medical research The town of Grand Forks, B.C., sits primly along the Kettle River, casting a glance south past the Selkirk Mountains to Washington state, just 2.5 km away. It is the heart of a bucolic community of 10,000 people, farmers and forestry workers, roughly halfway between Vancouver and the Alberta border. Along the Crowsnest Highway, which cuts through town, signs tout the area's temperate climate and Doukhobor heritage: "Famous for sunshine and borscht." Now Brian Taylor, 53, a controversial former mayor, wants to see Grand Forks celebrated for something else entirely: high-grade marijuana. [continues 901 words]
Health Canada Calls For Tenders To Supply High-Grade Medical Cannabis. British Columbia's multi-billion-dollar pot industry has a chance to go legit with the news Friday that Health Canada is calling for tenders to supply high-grade medical marijuana. Announcement of the long-awaited tender was greeted with elation by Hilary Black, founder of Vancouver's Compassion Club Society. The three-year-old club operates in a legal grey zone, supplying medical marijuana to more than 1,000 members with such diseases as AIDS, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. [continues 626 words]
To err in seizing it was human, police say to give back, a crime Waterloo Region police have confiscated marijuana sent to a seriously ill Kitchener woman, who is one of 34 Canadians authorized to use the drug to soothe their pain. The police force, which was unaware of the woman's Health Canada exemption when officers seized the drug, says it won't charge her but would be trafficking if it returned the marijuana. Catherine Devries, who has an excruciatingly painful back condition caused by a degenerative nerve disorder, says she was in her bathroom throwing up yesterday morning when two officers showed up at her door. [continues 263 words]
A Lions Bay man convicted of possessing six kilograms (13 lb.) of marijuana for trafficking purposes received the minimum sentence. Marcus Richardson, 26, was given a suspended sentence and six months of probation on Jan. 26 in North Vancouver provincial court. A suspended sentence carries a criminal record. Judge Jerome Paradis accepted Richardson's defence that he was a marijuana wholesaler for the BC Compassion Club Society. The Compassion Club is a non-profit organization in east Vancouver that sells marijuana for a nominal price to persons with illness including cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Club members must have doctors' letters supporting medicinal marijuana use. [continues 254 words]
Judge J.B. Paradis notes the accused man had the drug for patients who use it through the Compassion Club. Saying people who use marijuana for medicinal purposes have to get the drug from somewhere, a judge has granted a conditional discharge to a man caught transporting pot to a Vancouver club that caters to such people. Marcus Richardson was busted in November 1998, when police found six kilograms of marijuana in his car and $6,000 cash, which the judge found was provided by the B.C. Compassion Club to buy marijuana for its members. [continues 408 words]
When Hilary Black, founder of Vancouver's Compassion Club Society, worked at a hemp-product retail store a few years ago, customers with AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis frequently asked about finding marijuana to help relieve their pain. Convinced that there was a need for medicinal marijuana, Black went to Holland and California to learn how buyers' clubs for cannabis operated in those places. In May 1997 she opened an office and began supplying medicinal marijuana herself. "By the end of the summer I had 100 members, with prescriptions from their doctors," she says. Initially, rental space for the operation was hard to find, but a year ago the club, a registered provincial charity, moved to its present location in East Vancouver. [continues 603 words]
[Translation] The House resumed from April 14, 1999, consideration of the motion, of the amendment and of the amendment to the amendment. Mr. Bob Kilger (Stormont-Dundas-Charlottenburgh, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, discussions have taken place between all parties and the member for Rosemont concerning the taking of the division on M-381 scheduled at the conclusion of Private Member's Business today. You would find consent for the following: That, at the conclusion of today's debate on Motion M-381, all questions necessary to dispose of the said motion shall be deemed put, a recorded division deemed requested and deferred until Tuesday, May 25, 1999, at the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders. [continues 5701 words]
For two years, the Compassion Club in East Vancouver has been quietly selling marijuana to people with terminal illnesses and serious diseases. Compassion Club founder Hilary Black said the non-profit society has had no problems with the police. "We are completely focused on the medicinal aspects (of marijuana) only," said Black, who was raised in West Vancouver. Black said the Compassion Club is a registered non-profit society with 700 members. She said that on doctors' recommendations, sick and dying people join the Compassion Club. Club members can purchase marijuana to combat the side effects of prescription drugs, for example. [continues 622 words]
Ottawa should not wait until the completion of clinical trials before it decriminalizes marijuana for therapeutic reasons, says a Bloc Quebecois MP. "Many people need to take marijuana to cope with their illness and it is important to adjust the law to this new reality," Bernard Bigras said Thursday during a visit to Vancouver. Bigras introduced a private member's bill in Parliament last year calling on Ottawa to decriminalize marijuana for medical reasons. The bill is expected to be debated in June and Bigras is on a national tour to raise the issue. [continues 409 words]
In the U.S. this month, a landmark report commissioned by the White House concluded that marijuana might be the best medicine available for millions of people with illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. Canada's Health Minister Allan Rock has announced the start of clinical trials -- the first major step toward legalization. In the meantime, thousands of British Columbians, suffering the pain and nausea of chronic illness, continue to break the law on a daily basis. It is Jackie's first smoke of the day. She's having a hard time keeping it down. [continues 1672 words]
Liberals Blowing Smoke On Medical Marijuana Study -- The Evidence Has Been In For 25 Years For many connoisseurs of altered reality, the pungent sweetness of the marijuana plant heralds a gentle, spacy universe where time lingers and reflection is a multilayered experiment. But the much-maligned herb also offers less sublime possibilities. Those who suffer physical torment talk of it as a salve -- a calming, pain-easing medicine more important for its ability to make life bearable than for its invitation to a fifth dimension. [continues 2100 words]
An American woman living on the Sunshine Coast says she fears she'll become the next victim in her country's war on drugs if she's forced back south of the border. Twenty-nine-year-old Renee Boje, who is currently keeping a low profile on the Sunshine Coast, is facing deportation to California where she's wanted on several federal charges related to the cultivation of marijuana. But she says she's an innocent pawn caught in a political game between the zero tolerance federal Drug Enforcement Agency and California state where medical pot use is legal, and she's asking for help to mount an expensive legal campaign to win her refugee status in Canada. [continues 355 words]
Cheryl Eburne has a message for the senior RCMP officer who thinks marijuana shouldn't be available to those who have debilitating illnesses. "I just feel these people should walk a mile in my boots before they comment," said Eburne, 50, a housewife who says smoking pot daily helps her deal with her severe arthritis and fibromyalgia. "They just don't understand people are chronically ill. We're doing it to help our health, not to get high." Eburne, a mother of two teens, says she tried everything to help her deal with the pain that began about six years ago. [continues 304 words]
With five grams of "B.C. Beautiful'' in her hand, housewife Cheryl Eburne heads into the Compassion Club's smoking room to forget for an afternoon the pain she feels when the cold and rain seep into her arthritic bones. Elegantly dressed, the mother of two teenage boys quickly rolls up and lights a huge marijuana cigarette, smokes the whole thing and for the first time in a day feels up to visiting friends near her Vancouver home and doing some holiday shopping. [continues 804 words]
