Pubdate: Sat, 20 Sep 2003
Source: Coast Reporter (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 Coast Reporter
Contact:  http://www.coastreporter.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/580
Author:  Nancy Moote
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Jim+Wakeford

POT ACTIVIST REJECTS HEALTH CANADA DRUG

Medicinal Marijuana

Gibsons pot activist Jim Wakeford has sent back his first delivery of
Health Canada marijuana, saying it is "shwag" and "not fit for human
consumption."

"My two problems with Health Canada are the quality and the price,"
said Wakeford, who is one of 10 patients who have registered with
Health Canada to buy their medicinal marijuana from the federal
government. Some of the other patients have also complained of bad
quality or rejected their drug deliveries.

Wakeford said the government price of $150 for 30 grams is about half
the street price, but "nobody in their right mind would pay money for
that [Health Canada] product."

He said smoking the Health Canada pot gave him no benefits, only "a
little buzziness and a headache."

The 60 grams of government dope arrived Sept. 11 at the office of
Wakeford's family doctor, John Hourigan.

"It was very odd to receive a courier delivery of foil packages
labelled 'dry marijuana,' said Hourigan.

Wakeford came to Hourigan's office to get the delivery and when he
opened the package, both men noticed a strange smell.

"It smelled perfumy and awful," said Wakeford. "It looked disgusting:
twigs, sticks, seed and green leaf. It was too powdery to roll by hand."

Hourigan agreed the government pot didn't smell very
nice.

"It was kind of like lemon grass," said Hourigan. "It didn't really
smell like marijuana."

Wakeford, who has had full-blown AIDS since 1993, said he has been
smoking pot to help his medical condition since 1996. In 1999 he won a
precedent-setting court case allowing him to grow and possess
marijuana on compassionate grounds. He said smoking pot helps his
health by stimulating his appetite, countering the nausea caused by
some of his AIDS drugs, and providing "relaxation and pain
management."

Wakeford considers pot a "folk medicine," not a substitute for his
prescription drugs.

Hourigan said Wakeford was already using marijuana when he became his
patient, and he continued the same therapy.

"It certainly has some benefits, especially in people with terminal
illnesses, for palliation," said Hourigan.

Hourigan added he has concerns about using marijuana with people who
are not terminally ill because of other health problems it may cause.

Most people who use marijuana as medicine get it on the black market,
Hourigan said.

"If they can get it from a legal source, that's a better way of
procuring it," he said.

Wakeford has returned to black market sources for his medicinal pot
after rejecting the government weed, grown in a vacant mine in Flin
Flon, Man. by a company called Prairie Plant Systems. Wakeford
suggested the government "forced Prairie Plant Systems to lower the
THC content and produce this crap they're sending out."

Wakeford used to grow his own pot, but he surrendered his license to
do so in order to qualify for the Health Canada marijuana program.

He now hopes to find a local grower who is willing to go through the
paperwork necessary to legally grow a supply of medicinal pot for him.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake