Pubdate: Wed, 06 May 2009
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Cheryl Chan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

'I DON'T WANT TO BE OUT ON THE STREETS'

Woman With 'Ghost Pains' Needs Marijuana For Pain Control

A double amputee is being evicted from her Vancouver apartment at the 
end of the month for smoking medicinal pot.

"I'm really scared," said Marilyn Holsten, 49. "I don't want to be 
out on the streets. I don't have anywhere to go."

Holsten, a diabetic who is also losing sight in her right eye, has 
lived for eight years in a building run by the non-profit Anavets 
Senior Citizens' Housing Society.

"I get these terrible ghost pains," she said. "Doctors say there's 
nothing that'll work for it, so the only thing they suggested was to try pot."

When she started smoking pot -- about a gram a day -- she gave a note 
from her doctor to the society that runs the building on East 8th Avenue.

She got her first eviction notice in April 2008. In order to stay, 
she signed a document promising to light up outdoors only.

"I was exhausted. I didn't have time to fight," said Holsten.

Last month, she received her second eviction notice after management 
said the smell of marijuana from her suite was wafting into public areas.

Holsten said she tries to smoke outside, but admits she smokes in her 
room when she wakes up in pain in the middle of the night.

She does her best to diffuse the smell, she said -- keeping her 
window open, using a fan and sprays.

Holsten's physician, Dr. Fraser Norrie, supports her pot use.

"I agree with this medical treatment," he wrote in a letter to the 
housing society. "I would ask you to accept her medical needs, 
including her need to smoke marijuana."

But the doctor's note wasn't enough for building management.

"While your doctor supports your decision to use marijuana, he has 
not prescribed it for medicinal purposes," society administrator Mary 
McLeod wrote in a letter to Holsten dated April 24.

"Marijuana use is still against the law and . . . [as] part of your 
tenancy agreement, you agreed you would not participate in illegal activities."

Anavets refused an interview request.

Holsten said she does not have the Health Canada authorization to 
possess pot. She had considered applying last year, but was daunted 
by the paperwork. "I've had a lot of health stuff going on," she 
said. "I was really trying, but it's a lot of work."

Jason Gratl, vice-president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, 
said a person should not be evicted unless their behaviour 
unreasonably interferes with the landlord's and neighbouring tenants' rights.

"I doubt smoking medicinal marijuana constitutes an unreasonable 
interference sufficient to justify evicting a double amputee."

Jay Leung, spokesman for the B.C. Compassion Club, said the right of 
the ill to have access to medicinal pot without fear of prosecution 
has been established as a constitutional right "but this is not yet 
reflected in tenancy law."

He called the federal marijuana-access program a "half-hearted 
attempt," with authorizations granted to fewer than 3,000 people 
across Canada in the past eight years.

The 5,000 members of the Compassion Club, which has been operating on 
Commercial Drive since 1997, are in a grey area, said Leung.

"Members are not protected legally, but morally they are, because 
society recognizes there is a medicinal purpose for its use."

Holsten remains on the B.C. Housing wait list and said she has no 
objections to moving if she can get a wheelchair-accessible suite or 
an assisted-living unit elsewhere.

"It's very stressful," she said. "I don't know what's going to 
happen. Maybe I should feel lucky it's summer. At least, if I'm on 
the streets, it's not winter yet."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom