Just 16 Of 582 Buyers Apply BURLINGTON, Ont. -- Canada's licensed medical marijuana users aren't exactly crashing down the doors to buy the government's stash. Nearly two weeks after Health Canada said it would sell dried marijuana and seeds to licensed medical users, just 16 of 582 potential buyers have submitted applications, said Jirina Vlk, a ministry representative. The ministry's office of cannabis medical access announced July 9 it would sell its stash, and posted application forms on the Internet that day. [continues 731 words]
As a qualified medical doctor and a Member of Parliament who has publicly declared his support for reforming Canada's marijuana laws, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin has a unique perspective on the latest chapter in the federal government's medical marijuana policy saga. In fact, he's one of the only local physicians willing to speak out on Health Canada's announcement that doctors will be the ones to provide pot to patients who are deemed eligible. In response to a recent legal decision, Health Minister Anne McClellan announced last week that the federal government, through physicians, will provide marijuana seeds and dried cannabis to sick patients who qualify under Ottawa's medical pot program. [continues 671 words]
Marijuana Compassion Centre Gets Set To Raise Its Visibility For the past year, Stan Sambey has been quietly operating a compassion centre in Ottawa, a place where about 40 carefully screened patients can obtain cannabis for medicinal purposes. Now, in light of a federal government announcement that it will supply marijuana to chronically ill Canadians, he's looking to take his project's visibility up a notch, by finding downtown retail space where the centre can operate in an environment similar to a doctor's office. [continues 879 words]
Six years ago, Hilary Black rode around Vancouver on her bicycle, delivering marijuana to people suffering from AIDS. The young woman worked in a hemp store and constantly had people suffering from HIV and AIDS coming in looking to buy cannabis for medicinal purposes. With all the resources at her fingertips, Ms. Black began to educate herself on the topic. She travelled to Amsterdam and learned all about marijuana and its medicinal applications, as well as the political controversy surrounding it. [continues 356 words]
Federal Sale Of Medical Marijuana An Interim Policy Users, Advocates Push For A Safe, More Dependable Source OTTAWA -- Last September, Russell Barth gave a friend $300 to buy him some marijuana. Barth hates smoking the stuff, but it soothes his the aches in his knees, neck and back that worsen in his wheelchair as it jostles along the sidewalk. Smoked through a small water pipe, pot also calms his anxiety, he says. That night in September, Barth's friend never came back with the pot or his money. His anxiety, however, did return. He could barely sleep or eat for 12 days. [continues 510 words]
'Too Little Too Late' The message was "too little too late" yesterday as politicians, activists, and the ill converged on Parliament Hill just moments after Health Canada announced it would provide medical marijuana to eligible Canadians. Health Canada made the announcement at the eleventh hour, six months to the day after Ontario Superior Court Justice Sidney Lederman declared that the Health Canada Medical Marijuana Access Regulations (MMAR) was "unconstitutional" and therefore invalid for only providing the "illusion of supply". Judge Lederman gave Health Canada six months to rectify the situation that "forces medically needy individuals to rely on black market marijuana." [continues 649 words]
While the federal government moved to decriminalize simple possession of marijuana this week, pot smokers expecting big changes for the better shouldn't inhale and hold. Pot activists say the new laws simply don't go far enough and may even be a step backwards. As expected, federal officials announced Tuesday that possession of less that 15 grams of pot will get a fine of up to $400, but no criminal record. "There are a lot of changes going on right now," says Philippe Lucas, executive director of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, an organization that supplies cannabis to some 300 members, all of whom are medical users of the drug. "I'm not sure all of them are going to be positive . . . I don't think it comes far enough and I think Canadians are going to find that, and I think judges are going to find that." [continues 439 words]
MONTREAL - Ottawa's much-anticipated legislation aimed at decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana would still end up punishing those who need the drug for medical purposes, an advocate for medicinal cannabis said Monday. "This scheme is essentially picking on poor people," Hilary Black, spokesperson for the British Columbia Compassion Club Society, told a news conference. "People who are ill tend to be living in the most poverty." They are often forced to choose between food and marijuana because the current laws often force users to pay street prices of between $150 to $300 per ounce, said Black. [continues 592 words]
MONTREAL (CP) -- Ottawa's much-anticipated legislation aimed at decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana would still end up punishing those who need the drug for medical purposes, an advocate for medicinal cannabis said Monday. "This scheme is essentially picking on poor people," Hilary Black, spokesperson for the British Columbia Compassion Club Society, told a news conference. "People who are ill tend to be living in the most poverty." They are often forced to choose between food and marijuana because the current laws often force users to pay street prices of between $150 to $300 per ounce, said Black. [continues 99 words]
MONTREAL - Ottawa's much-anticipated legislation aimed at decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana would still end up punishing those who need the drug for medical purposes, an advocate for medicinal cannabis said Monday. "This scheme is essentially picking on poor people," Hilary Black, spokesperson for the British Columbia Compassion Club Society, told a news conference. "People who are ill tend to be living in the most poverty." They are often forced to choose between food and marijuana because the current laws often force users to pay street prices of between $150 to $300 per ounce, said Black. [continues 594 words]
Lack of action on reform decried. 'Medical marijuana has 80 per cent support from the public' Health Canada is studying medical marijuana regulation, and Canada's compassion clubs - which distribute pot to sick people - want on board. After extensive lobbying, two compassion club representatives from the West coast won an invitation to address a Health Canada group - the cryptically-named Office of Medical Access Stakeholders Advisory Committee - when it met yesterday in Montreal. They presented nine recommendations, among them that compassion clubs get a seat on the committee. [continues 303 words]
http://www.laraynesplace.net/ Jeffrey's Journey: A Determined Mother's Battle For Medical Marijuana For Her Son by Debbie and LaRayne Jeffries, 80 pages, L.P. Chronicles, $9.95 "Jeffrey's Journey" is the very real and harrowing story of a young boy named Jeffrey and his inner battle with severe emotional and behavioral problems. Written by Debbie and LaRayne Jeffries - the boy's mother and grandmother - Jeffrey's tale takes him from the depths of prescription drug despair, to the high of successful cannabis-based treatment. [continues 450 words]
The Vancouver Island Compassion Club Is Doing More Med-Pot Research Than Anyone Else in North America. Philippe Lucas, founder of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, is working on some exciting research into the effects of medicinal cannabis. In an exclusive interview with Cannabis Culture, Lucas explained that most studies into medical cannabis have been limited to research in test-tubes and on animals. Lucas is working with medical cannabis clubs across Canada to find out more about the effects of marijuana, specifically looking to find how different strains of cannabis affect various ailments. [continues 722 words]
A seven-month reprieve from police raids ended last week for the Cannabis Buyers Club in Victoria. Acting on information obtained through an earlier arrest, Victoria police executed a search warrant Feb. 19 and seized a "large quantity" of marijuana from the 826 Johnson St. shop used as headquarters for the local medical marijuana compassion club and the Hempology 101 Society. It is the fifth time since January 2002 that police have seized products and/or made arrests at the location. [continues 649 words]
Medical marijuana advocates in Victoria are enthusiastic that a pair of rulings brought down in Ontario last week will pave the way for a relaxing of possession enforcement here. But the Victoria police department isn't about to change its approach simply because judges in that province not only threw out a simple possession charge against a Windsor teen- ager on a technicality, they for all intents gave the government six months to re-write the law. "The bottom line is, it's a case which has occurred in Ontario and while it may be persuasive to B.C. courts, I wouldn't say they have to follow suit," says Victoria police Deputy Chief Geoff Varley. He adds that since the laws on the books have not changed, the department is under no obligation to change the way it does things. [continues 678 words]
The federal government has moved quickly to nip in the bud any notion of uncertainty in Canada's marijuana laws stemming from an Ontario court ruling. The government Friday expedited an appeal against Ontario Court Justice Douglas Phillips's ruling that sided with an Ontario teenager's lawyer who argued the law that makes possession of marijuana illegal is effectively invalid in that province. Nevertheless, Philippe Lucas, Victoria founder and director of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, called the Ontario ruling another step toward the inevitable decriminalization of pot in this country. [continues 636 words]
There were no guarantees. Of course, we were all optimistic, but as I walked into the courtroom that day, no one could be certain of the outcome. We stood up as the judge entered. As we sat down again - myself behind my able attorney John Conroy - my wife, friends and supporters in the audience, silently awaiting my fate (and the fate of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society) - the judge announced that he was going to read the entire legal decision aloud. [continues 2225 words]
Marijuana advocates in the Capital Region are delighted with a Senate committee's recommendations to call off the drug war against marijuana, but not area police are less than thrilled with the liberal attitude the Senate has taken towards the drug. The 600-page Senate report, which among other things suggests granting amnesty to anyone convicted of simple possession of pot and creating easier access to marijuana for medicinal purposes, hasn't exactly been applauded by Victoria police officers. They're the people who must deal not only with the bad judgment of "compassion club" members who allegedly re-sell pot bought for medicinal purposes, but the fallout from the drug trade on the street. [continues 779 words]
Some Balk At Idea That 16-year-olds Could Legally Use Marijuana A broad swath of Canadians -- doctors, patients and activists -- praised a Senate committee yesterday for its report recommending relaxed marijuana laws. Some said they are not comfortable with the suggestion from the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs that marijuana and hashish should be entirely legalized. Others said that the report did not go far enough. But nearly everybody agreed that pot smokers are not criminals. "It's about time," said Terry Parker, an epileptic who is famous among marijuana activists for winning a court battle two years ago that forced the federal government to legalize marijuana for some sick people. [continues 502 words]
Has the Federal Government Just Done a Complete About-Face on Weed Liberalization? Following two major setbacks in the fight for access to medicinal marijuana, some fear the federal government has swung from offering to supply cannabis and rethinking possession laws to declaring a war on the drug. Health minister Anne McLellan backed off of the government's medicinal marijuana program in a speech to the Canadian Medical Association on Aug. 19, just days after police stormed the Toronto Compassion Centre (TCC). The confluence of those events has raised suspicions that the feds ordered the raid. [continues 1481 words]
It's no coincidence medical marijuana advocate Philippe Lucas plans to run for city council this fall as a Green Party candidate. The president of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society says aligning himself with the Greens comes naturally. "They're closest to my heart philosophically, in terms of a party, so for me it wasn't a tough fit at all," he says. "It was a natural match." While Lucas is convinced the Green Party offers him the best chance at getting elected in November, he may, in fact, be the lone candidate the party nominates for the municipal election, according to deputy provincial leader Alistair Craighead of Victoria. [continues 314 words]
About 250-kgs of marijuana has been harvested for medicinal use by Health Canada's lone legal supplier, but to date, none of that federal pot crop has reached the people it was intended for. Now, federal Health Minister Anne McLellan is saying she feels 'uncomfortable' with the idea of distributing marijuana before the pot can be clinically tested, in the same manner as other prescription drug, before it reaches patients. Such a process has been known to take between five and 10 years. [continues 77 words]
A Victoria judge has praised a medical marijuana advocate and called for either Parliament or the Supreme Court to finally resolve legal issues surrounding medical use of the illegal drug. Provincial Court Judge Robert Higinbotham granted an absolute discharge to Philippe Lucas, who had pleaded guilty to possessing about 3 kg of marijuana, saying that he had "provided that which the government was unable to provide: a safe and high quality supply of marijuana to those needing it for medicinal purposes." Lucas runs the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, which provides marijuana to about 250 members who have been referred by their doctors. [continues 416 words]
A jubilant Phillipe Lucas departed Victoria provincial court July 5, after being given a complete discharge on charges of marijuana trafficking and possession. Lucas is the founder and director of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society (VICS), a registered non-profit society that has been supplying medical marijuana to 230 members who suffer from a variety of medical ailments since October, 1999. The charges of drug trafficking and possession were laid against Lucas in November 2000, following a police bust at VICS' then offices on Bowker Avenue in Oak Bay. The VICS is still in operation, but has since moved its headquarters to an undisclosed location on the edge of the downtown area. [continues 422 words]
A crusader for more liberal marijuana laws has become the first announced candidate for Victoria mayor in the upcoming fall election. Ted Smith, 33, informed city council of his intention after expressing frustration over the city's approach to his business, which attempts to provide pot to medical users. He currently faces six drug trafficking charges and his Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada has been raided by city police four times. But Smith said recently he does not plan to be a single-issue candidate, citing the need for more attention to the human side of downtown development. [continues 177 words]
Judge In Philippe Lucas's Drug-Bust Case Lauds His Business Conduct And Altruism VICTORIA - Philippe Lucas called the police after he discovered a break-in at the storefront office of his non-profit society. An officer surveyed a hole in the wall, opened his notepad and asked what was missing. "About 23 pot cookies and about maybe $1,200 worth of cannabis," Mr. Lucas said. The officer looked around, Mr. Lucas recalled, before asking, "What exactly is it that you guys do here?" [continues 1151 words]
Judge Cites Accused's Accomplishment, Advocacy In Decision A 32-year-old Victoria man who pleaded guilty to possession of less than three kilograms of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking walked out of Victoria provincial court Friday free of a criminal record. "I feel amazing and greatly relieved," said Philippe Lucas outside court. "This has been a heavy weight on my shoulders for the last 20 months." Lucas received an absolute discharge on a matter that was closely watched by those seeking the decriminalization of marijuana. Lucas is the president of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, an organization that provides marijuana to its members for medical purposes. The society has operated from a commercially zoned site in Oak Bay for 14 months with tacit police approval. [continues 484 words]
Victoria - A Victoria marijuana advocate charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking has been given an absolute discharge in B.C. Supreme Court. Lucas says the reasons given by the judge reinforcesthe work he dies Philippe Lucas, the executive director of the Vancouver Island Compassion Club, was charged after police raided his club 20 months ago. He made a deal with the Crown, and pleaded guilty. On Friday, a B.C. Supreme Court Justice threw out the charge, saying the Compassion Club is helping those who use marijuana for medicinal purposes. [continues 122 words]
Boris St. Maurice is a man of many hempen hats. The Montreal-based uber-activist and founder of Bloc Pot is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Heads Magazine, leader of the federal Canadian Marijuana Party, founder of a new cannabis reform french-language internet list known as PAMF, and generally nice, well-informed guy. DSW Hemp & Cannabis Issues Editor Philippe Lucas tracked him down between projects to find out what's new in the Canadian, U.S., and International drug reform: [continues 2637 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]
It will be almost two months before medical marijuana advocate Philippe Lucas knows the outcome of his court case for possession of the drug for the purpose of trafficking. Judge Robert Higinbotham said Monday in Victoria provincial court that he will issue a written judgment in late June. Higinbotham also heard further submissions in the case Monday, after submissions from both sides earlier this month at a sentencing hearing. The court proceedings followed a guilty plea from Lucas in January. The charges against Lucas stem from his involvement in running the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, a non-profit group formed to distribute marijuana for therapeutic use by people with chronic or painful conditions. Defence lawyer John Conroy is calling for an absolute discharge, Crown counsel Lori McMorran for a fine and a period of probation. [end]
Providing medical marijuana to sick people should not leave Philippe Lucas with a criminal record, his lawyer said Friday in Victoria provincial court. John Conroy called for an absolute discharge for the 32-year-old Lucas, who began distributing marijuana through the non-profit Vancouver Island Compassion Society in the fall of 1999. The court heard that Lucas discovered therapeutic qualities in marijuana after being diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1996. Lucas said he likely contracted chronic liver condition from a blood transfusion during an operation in the early 1980s. Using marijuana helped him deal with his illness, he said at his sentencing hearing before Judge Robert Higinbotham. [continues 382 words]
Medical marijuana supporters who gathered at Victoria City Hall this week left disappointed, after hoping their attendance at a joint Victoria city council and police board meeting would prompt local police and politicians to relax enforcement of marijuana laws. Instead, decisions on how to police the distribution of "medical marijuana" was put off until later. "We're trying to avert disaster here," said Ted Smith, founder of the Cannabis Buyer's Club. Smith referred to the possibility that a seriously ill club member might come to harm having to buy pot on the street if people such as himself, a proponent of the distribution of pot as medicine, continues to be arrested and charged in relation to marijuana trafficking. [continues 535 words]
On Valentine's Day, Ken Hayes -- a wanted man in America -- boarded a ferry at Horseshoe Bay bound for British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. For Hayes, the heavily forested coastline beckoned as a sanctuary from U.S. drug agents, a world apart from Petaluma where he'd been a highly visible advocate for medical marijuana use. Today, he is among a small but growing group of Americans who have fled to Canada's westernmost province to escape marijuana charges in the United States, or moved there in search of a society more tolerant of the drug. [continues 2611 words]
Participants at this weekend's third annual Cannabis Convention should leave their stash at home. Far from being the local equivalent of the Cannabis Cup, the event is an opportunity for activists to shed some light on marijuana misinformation, not to trade buds. "There's not going to be anything illegal going on," says organizer Ted Smith, coordinator for the Cannabis Buyer's Clubs of Canada. "That's not the statement we're trying to make. The work that we as activists do is always behind closed doors. This is an opportunity for us to gather in public and give people information." [continues 442 words]
Victoria - Philippe Lucas, a former high school English teacher, says he has no interest in being a crusader or a rebel -- he simply wants to help people stop suffering. Lucas, 32, runs The Vancouver Island Compassion Society (VICS), a members-only club here where people can buy marijuana to help combat critical and chronic illnesses such as AIDS, hepatitis C, cancer, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. Since opening its doors in 1999, membership at the VICS has climbed to more than 220. Over that time, the federal government has moved to make marijuana available for limited medicinal use after an Ontario Court of Appeal decision forced its hand. [continues 1107 words]
A Victoria-produced documentary to be shown nationally next week is aimed at prompting questions about the federal government's medical marijuana program. Crimes of Compassion is a one-hour piece which looks at efforts by the Vancouver Island Compassion Society (VICS) to distribute marijuana to terminally ill patients, and explores various perspectives on the issue. "I think that this documentary is really just scratching the surface of a very huge topical issue," says director Jennifer Pickford. "It's a health issue but it's also a human rights issue." [continues 447 words]
VICTORIA (CP) - The head of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, which supplies marijuana to people who need it for medical reasons, pleaded guilty Wednesday to possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. Philippe Lucas said he'll present evidence at his April 12 sentencing that shows the value and need for such treatment. The society provides "safe amounts of select strains of marijuana to critically and chronically ill people," he said. "We are there to help people as best we can." [continues 105 words]
Eric Young is one of about 520 people across the country legally allowed to use marijuana for medical reasons and he would like nothing better than to be able to spark up his joints in peace. But he claims he can't do that because neighbours in his subsidized housing complex keep harassing him over his use of the drug. Young says smoking pot helps him manage his multiple sclerosis. He has fewer spasms, his mood improves, he sleeps better and his overall health is generally elevated when he uses marijuana. [continues 689 words]
Local Medicinal Marijuana Boosters Tout Compassion Club It's called a compassion club and it promises to deliver medicinal marijuana to people suffering from serious illnesses. "We want to treat people with a natural plant, an herb, instead of all those hard prescription drugs," said Geoff Hughes, spokesman for the newly formed Manitoba Compassion Club. "There's so many people that can be helped by it." The club would be run by long-time activist Chris Buors, who ran under the Marijuana Party banner during the last federal election and organizes annual marijuana legalization rallies. [continues 346 words]
I'm going to take you on a trip. A drug trip. The drug is marijuana. But don't worry - you, the reader, don't have to smoke it, eat it, buy it or sell it. You just have to think about it. And meet the people who do just that, all their waking hours. We'll take this trip together. I'll be your guide. And when it's over, you'll realize that marijuana is not what you think it is. [continues 2664 words]
Vancouver's reputation as the nation's marijuana mecca has drawn a top-level government committee to town, eager to talk to users, growers and those seeking licences to use pot for medical reasons. This afternoon, the five-person Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs will hold a public hearing downtown after listening to a who's who of groups involved with marijuana use. They include the Police Services Board, B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, From Grief To Action, B.C. Compassion Club Society, Alcohol Drug Education Service, Portland Hotel Society, Vancouver Island Compassion Society, Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the Harm Reduction Action Society [continues 389 words]
Michael Mann puffs contentedly on a glass pipe and exhales a cloud of marijuana smoke that swirled around his cramped Victoria condo before dissipating near the ceiling. The hepatitis C sufferer is one of just 336 Canadians in "medical need" who have been legally allowed to smoke pot since Ottawa first allowed exemptions to drug laws on compassionate grounds in June 1998. Last month, the federal government brought in a law to regularize the use of medicinal marijuana, the first legislation of its kind in the world. [continues 1690 words]
A Victoria resident is excited by the recent changes to federal medical marijuana regulations, but cautions that governments still have a way to go to make marijuana a practical medicine. "This summer and fall are really exciting. We are witnessing Canadian history unfolding here," says Ted Smith of the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyers Club. Smith has been providing sick people on the Island with marijuana for five years. He has seen the struggles faced by people who are legally allowed to smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes. They are still challenged by police, get kicked out of apartments and often have had no legal way to acquire the drug, which they call their medicine. [continues 508 words]
As he has done several times during his political career, Tory Leader Joe Clark called Tuesday for the decriminalization of marijuana. "I believe the least controversial approach is decriminalization because it's unjust to see someone, because of one decision one night in their youth, carry the stigma =F3 to be barred from studying medicine, law, architecture or other fields where a criminal record could present an obstacle," Mr. Clark said while on a visit to Quebec. "I'm making a distinction between legalization and decriminalization. What interests me is decriminalization." [continues 593 words]
LOS ANGELES -- Until yesterday, the unmarked office above an auto-parts dealership on a busy Los Angeles street was a singular kind of pharmacy. Patients suffering from AIDS, glaucoma or similar ailments would enter with a doctor's note and walk out with small, legal bundles of marijuana. Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that pot pharmacies, including the unmarked office of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, can no longer legally grow and distribute medicinal marijuana. The decision will inevitably affect suffering Americans, many of whom vowed yesterday to keep using pot. [continues 788 words]
Well-known Victoria marijuana legalization advocate Ted Smith says the B.C. Marijuana Party should stick to the basics of bud. Smith co-founded the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyers Club (VICBC) five years ago in Victoria and has since built up a client list of hundreds, who the club supplies with pot for medicinal purposes. As far as the Marijuana Party's traditional voting base is concerned, Smith's ballot should be secure. But it's not. According to Smith, the party is alienating once guaranteed votes by pursuing allegiances with the political right and sidelining its single, most important issue of ending pot prohibition, in favour of a broad political platform. [continues 328 words]
With his small goatee and brooding eyes, he looks a bit like Frank Zappa. He wears a marijuana bud on his lapel as an apropos boutonniere. On his opposite lapel is a huge campaign button with the image of a pot leaf. There's no effort to conceal where Michael "Mik" Mann's political stripes lie. He's the Oak Bay-Gordon Head candidate for the upstart B.C. Marijuana Party - an affiliation whose slick organization has taken many by surprise. [continues 832 words]
Ottawa - The federal government may soon start licensing angels of mercy to supply the desperately ill with marijuana. Ottawa will unveil proposed new regulations this week making it legal for third parties to grow and supply marijuana for those who need it to relieve the agony of terminal illness and other serious conditions. The new rules will allow people who require the drug to alleviate suffering to designate a grower on their behalf, sources told The Globe and Mail Monday. The rules will also set out three categories of people who will be allowed to seek exemptions from prosecution for using marijuana. Government officials would only identify one category - the terminally ill. [continues 543 words]
Ottawa -- The federal government may soon start licensing angels of mercy to supply the desperately ill with marijuana. Ottawa will unveil proposed new regulations this week making it legal for third parties to grow and supply marijuana for those who need it to relieve the agony of terminal illness and other serious conditions. The new rules will allow people who require the drug to alleviate suffering to designate a grower on their behalf, sources told The Globe and Mail Monday. The rules will also set out three categories of people who will be allowed to seek exemptions from prosecution for using marijuana. Government officials would only identify one category -- the terminally ill. [continues 365 words]
