Pubdate: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 Source: Abbotsford Times (CN BC) Copyright: 2010 The Abbotsford Times Contact: http://www.abbotsfordtimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1009 Author: Rafe Arnott PARLIAMENT PUFFER WANTS WEED REFORM The Abbotsford man who lit a joint in Parliament to protest Health Canada regulations around medical marijuana wants to plead his case before a judge. Samuel Mellace garnered national attention after smoking pot in the public gallery of the House of Commons in Ottawa during question period on Oct. 4. "The only way to get attention was to do what I did," Mellace said. The next step is to head to federal court, he said. "Total litigation against the government," Mellace said. "We're going to try and ask the courts to intervene and possibly take over the program from Health Canada because it is damaging people." Mellace said public outcry in his favour is mounting, and he has received positive feedback from both provincial and federal politicians as well. "I've had e-mail from Africa, England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, the States, [support] has been overwhelming actually," he said. Mellace inhaled a few tokes before he was asked to leave the gallery by a security guard, and he told reporters at a press conference following the incident that he saw nothing wrong with what he did. He is hoping to use the momentum gained from the incident to gain support for amending changes to existing Health Canada rules that require licensed medical marijuana users to inhale pot for treatment of medical conditions. Users should be able to ingest it in food, or apply it topically in creams, he said. Mellace's wife has lung cancer and inhaling marijuana doesn't work for her, so he makes smoothies with marijuana in them. But making those smoothies goes against medical marijuana regulations, which states the by-products are controlled substances under federal drug laws. Mellace's company, New Age Medical Solutions, uses marijuana extracts in things like hand lotion and butter, which he said is used in foods like spaghetti sauce or soups. "Everybody knows [we] promote a non-smoking use of marijuana . . . [but] what you have is Harper insisting that people smoke it," Mellace said. "We've got arthritic hand cream that works with the use of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) and we have an after-chemo[therapy] drink that works without having to take OxyContin or the opiate narcotics that are needed to soothe some people's pain." It's time for a common sense wake-up call for the federal government, he said. "Definitely," Mellace said. "I smoked it [at the Commons], would it have been different if I had a cookie with me?" - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D