Pubdate: Fri, 21 Sep 2012
Source: Record, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.royalcityrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1654
Author: Marelle Reid

OPEN FOR BUSINESS - BUT THERE'S NO POT

The doors at the N.I.C.E. Dispensary are open seven days a week from 
11 a.m. to 7 p.m., though you won't yet find a whiff of cannabis on site.

Justin Cleveland, president of the nonprofit West Coast Green Light 
Society - the group that runs the shop - says he wants to make sure 
the community has a chance to find out exactly what the dispensary is 
about before he begins dispensing medical marijuana.

"People are skeptical until I explain to them what it really is," he 
said, sitting at a glass table in one of the shop's stark dispensary rooms.

Members of the society renovated the small store at 907A 12th St. in 
New Westminster earlier this year to create a clinical feel with 
white walls and information pamphlets neatly stacked in hanging folders.

Staff members wear branded black polo shirts and direct potential 
clients (or patients, as Cleveland refers to them), to forms they 
will need to fill out to become members.

For people with debilitating illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis, 
Multiple Sclerosis, or those undergoing cancer treatment, medical 
marijuana can provide some relief from pain and help with nausea, 
Cleveland said.

In the past month, about three or four people have been in on a daily 
basis, Cleveland said, and he encourages anyone to drop in to find 
out more about medical marijuana.

Once he has made connections with "compassionate sources," and found 
at least one supplier, Cleveland plans to offer a menu with a variety 
of options for taking marijuana.

These will include dry buds to be smoked or vaporized, as well as 
edibles, tinctures, orals sprays and capsules.

"You don't have to smoke it anymore," he said. "When I tell people 
that, they are shocked."

Cleveland remembers when his grandfather was being treated for 
pancreatic cancer and was taking heavy doses of morphine for the 
pain. He believes marijuana might have been a better option and wants 
to help others avoid the type of suffering he witnessed.

"The morphine was bad," he said. "It just dulled him; it killed his 
spirit. Why are we not offering people an alternative?"

There is a stigma attached to using medical marijuana, Cleveland 
noted, but he hopes to educate the public.

"A lot of people are hesitant because they don't want to be treated 
differently," he said.

Though he has received positive feedback from neighbouring 
businesses, Cleveland intends to hold public information meetings in 
the coming weeks to encourage anyone in the community to meet him and 
find out how he plans to operate the dispensary.

Not all the feedback he has received has been positive.

The City of New Westminster will not allow the society to display a 
sign on its storefront because they do not have a business licence.

Cleveland says he will not apply for a business licence because a 
non-profit is not required to hold a business licence.

The New Westminster Police have also intimated their disapproval of 
Cleveland's intentions to start selling medical marijuana on site.

At a regular police board meeting on Tuesday evening, Mayor Wayne 
Wright told board members the proposed dispensary will not be getting 
approval from his office or from the city.

"They're not going to be allowed in there," said Wright. "They are 
not going to be going in there."

New Westminster Police Insp. Doug Walcott said there is no legal 
provision for a medical marijuana dispensary to open up.

He said people who have the legal right to use marijuana for 
medicinal purposes need to get a licence from Health Canada to 
consume it or they can designate someone to produce it for them, but 
they cannot get their medicinal marijuana from a dispensary like the 
one proposed by the West Coast Green Light Society.

"That unit on 12th Street is not allowed to open," Walcott said.

Cleveland said he has invited the police to one of his upcoming 
community meetings and hopes representatives will attend.

"I'm not a drug dealer," he said. "If I were a drug dealer,

I wouldn't care how old you are (if you want to become a member). 
It's why I keep the door open."

So far, the N.I.C.E. Dispensary has received forms from people who 
have had their doctors fill out the required paperwork needed to 
become a member of the society.

No one will be able to purchase any medical marijuana before becoming 
a card-carrying member with photo I.D., said Cleveland.

Most of these people are already authorized by Health Canada to use 
medical marijuana and are exempt from possession laws for medical 
reasons, he noted.

The current laws state those who can legally possess medical 
marijuana must obtain it from the federal government by mail, and it 
is only in dry bud form, according to Cleveland, who suggested 
smoking it is not always the healthiest option.

Cleveland said he wants to be able to educate the public about the 
use of marijuana as one option for health and wellness, and provide 
it at an affordable rate.

He suggested his goal is not to disturb the peace, but to provide a 
service to help those in need.

"I'm not an activist," he said. "I've been called a middle-class 
philanthropist."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom