Pubdate: Wed, 06 Mar 2002
Source: Westender (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 WestEnder
Contact:  http://www.westender.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1243
Author: Diana Bennett

MEDICAL MARIJUANA MESSAGE ON THE MOVE

Quashed Tea Joint Gets Rolling With Funky Cannabus

With doors to Vancouver's first legitimate Marijuana Tea House suddenly 
closed due to what operators are calling spurious building-code violations, 
advocates for the medicinal use of marijuana are taking their tea bags and 
their campaign on the highway.

So, should a mini-school bus-dubbed the "Cannabus" -in full maple and 
cannabis-leaf regalia cruise through your Vancouver neighbourhood, it's 
your oppportunity to hear first-hand the message Merlin Project founder and 
director Michael Maniotis and Yoram Adler are aching to share.

"Basically, we're trying to inform people across Canada of their 
constitutional right to access cannabis," Maniotis explained.

The federal Medical Marijuana Access Regulation of July 2001 allows 
individuals suffering chronic and/or painful ailments to use the otherwise 
illegal drug medicinally, to ease symptoms and suffering.

All ailing persons need do is get a licence-not as easy as it sounds, 
according to Maniotis, who says interference from the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons is pressuring doctors to deny marijuana prescriptions. 
"They're threatening doctors with loss of insurance," he said, adding the 
MMAR requires doctors prescribing marijuana to dispense it as well. 
"Doctors don't do that for any other drug they prescribe," he said. "It's 
ludicrous to expect them to sell it to their patients."

The mobile tea house and information centre was set to leave the Lower 
Mainland for a cross-Canada tour including Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, 
and Ontario. "We'll tell people how to go about applying for a licence." 
That includes apprising them of all the roadblocks they'll hit, like 
general practitioners not even wanting to discuss the matter, specialists 
trying to divert patients to other treatments, and long delays while a 
meagre staff at the staff at the Office of Cannabis Medical Access sort 
through the estimated 40,000 applications they've received.

Currently there are fewer than 300 licensed users, says Maniotis and 
neither he (who suffers from arthritis and depression), nor any of the 
Merlin Project's 2,000 members are among them, despite being the first to 
apply. "(The regulation) is just an illusion. The right to possess or 
cultivate medical marijuana doesn't exist because of Health Canada's 
inefficiency and the opposition of the College of Physicians and Surgeons."

Maniotis said he and members of the Merlin Project plan to pursue the 
matter in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Meanwhile, Cannabus and crew are due back in Vancouver this week until 12, 
after a Calgary run.

For those interested in applying for a licence, information on the 
regulations and forms are available on Health Canada's website at 
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens