Pubdate: Thu, 31 Jan 2013
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Joe Fiorito

NEW POT RULES A BUST FOR AILING USERS

Plans To Change The Federal Medical Marijuana System Will Hurt Most
Licensed Users.

On my way to Erin's place, to chat with her and her friends Stu and
Jim, I noticed a young man on the subway wearing boxing shoes and a
red baseball cap with this legend above the bill: I Am The Greatest

Erin, great herself, is fond of the Louisville Lip; she even has an
Ali figurine, battery operated, which shuffles and repeats that
refrain about being great. But things are not great for Erin right
now, nor for her friends.

They use medical marijuana.

Erin broke her back twice in separate injuries and she lives in
constant pain; she is licensed to possess and to grow; she uses
marijuana as a pain reliever.

Stu - he has significant arthritis, and has banged himself up pretty
badly over the years on his motorcycle, or rather, off it - is a
designated grower and a medical marijuana user.

Jim has AIDS. He was diagnosed 30 years ago and takes the modern daily
cocktail of pills and drugs to stay alive; the only way he can keep
his appetite up is with marijuana; he, too, is a licensed user.

Pot, for each of them, is indispensable.

But control over their lives, their health and their pain is about to
be taken out of their hands.

The feds plan to set up a series of big private farms to grow and sell
weed to all those Canadians who require it for medical reasons.

The licences of Erin and her friends will lapse and will not be
renewed. The only way they, and people like them, will be able to get
what they need is to buy from these large private pot farms.

My friends are unhappy.

An analogy: I can make wine at home for my own use, but they can't
grow pot at home for their own use.

Jim has a small disability pension; at the moment he gets his
marijuana from a compassionate grower. He said, "My exemption ends
this November. I'm terrified of what will happen next Christmas."

He means that, if he has to start paying the government price, he will
have to choose between pot and food. His grim choice: without pot he
has no appetite; with pot, he'll be hungry but he won't have much to
eat.

Your federal government, at its finest.

Stu - his grow-op has been raided by the police, in spite of the fact
that his licences and permits are posted prominently on his door -
said, "I understand I'll be shut down in April of 2014, but there's no
compensation for what I've spent on equipment and approvals."

Nor has he been compensated for the damage done by the drug
squad.

Erin's pain level hovers between eight or nine out of 10; but with
pot, it drops to three or four. She uses 20 grams a day at a cost of
roughly $200 a week; she estimates it will cost her $1,200 a week
under the new regime.

She doesn't have that kind of money.

Nor will any of them be likely to get the particular strains they
favour, or have bred themselves.

Stu, who needs eight grams a day, has something else on his mind.
"There are no guarantees about the use of pesticides." He has tested
government-grown pot and has found alarming and unacceptable traces.

You know what else I find galling?

All are licensed, and in a database, but none of them have received a
note, an email or any communication of any kind from the feds about
these changes.

Erin said, "A number of us are banding together, planning an
action."

Perhaps a march this spring on Ottawa. You know what I
say?

Sting like a bee. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D