Pubdate: Thu, 16 Feb 2012
Source: Chilliwack Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Chilliwack Times
Contact:  http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1357
Author: Tyler Olsen, The Times

BALM'S AWAY

Medicinal Pot Users Feeling Persecuted by B.C.'S Mayors

Aside from its dull green colour, the substance looks like any other
lotion or cream. It gives off a mild, medicinal smell with a hint of
something organic. There is none of the harsh pungency of Tiger Balm,
which is used for a similar purpose. The only thing remarkable about
it is the fact that only 200-or-so people in Chilliwack are legally
allowed to use it.

That's because the lotion is a balm in which cannabis is the main
ingredient. It belongs to, and is used by, a Chilliwack man with a
medical marijuana licence. We'll call the man John. He agreed to speak
to the Times on the condition that he not be identified; "I don't want
somebody to come and steal my medicine," he said.

The Canna Balm, as the Tupperware's lid reads, is John's preferred way
to consume marijuana. Every day, he wakes up to pain in his back
caused by years of manual labour.

To relieve the aches, John applies the balm-consisting of cannabis,
olive oil and beeswax-to the sore area and swears by its
effectiveness.

Users absent from conversation

Mayor Sharon Gaetz has been outspoken about her belief that marijuana
grown in Chilliwack homes poses a danger to the community. And last
month, the Times published Health Canada numbers that show Chilliwack
does indeed have an above-normal rate of medical marijuana use.

But as the debate over medical marijuana users has raged, users of
licenced cannabis have been notably absent from the ongoing
conversation. John would like that to change. He says more of the
200-plus people who have licences to use marijuana should step forward
and add their voice to the discussion. And yet, John won't let himself
be identified, a con-tradiction that he acknowledges and regrets.

"Everybody should stand up and say, 'Yeah, I do this.'"

As a medical marijuana user and grower, John feels unfairly targeted
by the calls by Gaetz and other mayors for Health Canada to limit
homegrown medical marijuana.

"We're basically made to look like criminals. We're not criminals,"
said John. "We're people who have exhausted every other resource to
make themselves better."

John says he grows 25 plants in an outbuilding on his property. He
says he has lights and uses hydroponics to keep his marijuana watered.

He smokes and eats (as an ingredient in baked goods) a portion of his
crop, but John figures he consumes 90 per cent of his marijuana in
balm form. Each plant can produce enough marijuana for hundreds of
joints, but John says balms and other manners of consumption require
considerably more cannabis.

"If they're eating it, they've got to use a lot more. If they're
putting it on the skin, they've got to use a lot more than that."

He estimated that one finger-full of the balm required 12 joints worth
of weed.

Prescribed anti-depressants as a child, John has developed an
antipathy towards prescription drugs. Like many, he began using
marijuana as a teenager and felt it helped him overcome a death in the
family.

By his mid-20s he had developed pain in his back and after a series of
X-rays, CAT scans and MRIs, he was prescribed pain relievers.

"They didn't really help," he said. "They didn't get rid of the pain.
They kind of dulled it and allowed me to work through it."

And he had soon had enough of the drugs. He said he felt like, "You've
been feeding me pills for 30 years. I don't want to take more drugs."

Marijuana, used illegally at first, alleviated his symptoms. But his
doctor at the time wasn't permitted to prescribe cannabis. Last year,
though, he got a referral to another doctor who was allowed to
prescribe pot.

He said the process was easy-fill out a couple forms, undergo a
criminal record check, get a photo taken-and two months later, he had
his licence.

John is actually sympathetic to the concerns of those who say
marijuana shouldn't be grown in homes.

But he says the proposal to have it grown commercially and sold in
pharmacies or dispensaries isn't the solution.

"Some people aren't going to be able to afford to buy it," he said,
citing the high price in still-open cannabis clubs.
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.