Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jul 2013
Source: Rocky Mountain Goat News, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 The Rocky Mountain Goat
Contact:  http://www.therockymountaingoat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5461
Author: Thomas Rohner

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA USERS SUFFER STIGMA, DESPITE NEW REGS

The federal government introduced new regulations on medicinal 
marijuana last month, but local users still complain of social 
judgment and stigma.

While researching last week's story on the new medicinal marijuana 
regulations, The Goat contacted more than a dozen local users and 
growers. Four were willing to speak on the issue, but nobody was 
willing to speak on the record. Even those legally permitted to 
possess or grow medical marijuana refused to speak on the record.

Pot taboo? or Pot-a-boo!

One local said they feared being targeted for break-ins by those 
looking for marijuana, a fear created by the black market. But this 
local was also wary of social stigma.

"Some people think, 'Oh, he's just a pothead getting a free ride.' 
And that couldn't be further from the truth."

This local suffers from debilitating back pain, and medicinal 
cannabis is the best medication he's found to alleviate the pain 
without inducing a host of side effects.

Another local who lives close to a grow-op and dislikes the odour, 
feared being judged by friends who wouldn't agree with her opinion 
that marijuana should not be grown at home.

"It's a touchy subject for a lot of people, and I don't want to 
offend anybody."

Another comment by this local points to a stubborn social stigma: 
"Where I come from, it's people who are lower class that use weed."

Don Skogstad, a criminal prosecutor in Nelson, says the taboo around 
medicinal use of marijuana has resulted in ridiculously strict rules 
about where and when it can be consumed.

"If you look at the rules in US states where it's been legalized, you 
can drink in a lot of places, but you cannot consume marijuana 
anywhere in public view."

Skogstad said he recently gave a lecture on medicinal marijuana at 
the University of Toronto, but that the university didn't want 
"medical marijuana" and "the University of Toronto" to appear in the same ad.

"And yet it's a perfectly legal, viable, court-ordered constitutional right."

Skogstad pointed to a number of documentaries that suggest marijuana 
was treated with a racist paranoia in the early 20th century, 
targeting minorities more than dealing with the scientific aspects of the drug.

"And that persists today, that it's a really bad thing, when in fact 
it's got genuine, proven, medical benefits."

Medicinal value still questioned

But the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons does not acknowledge 
any proven medical benefits. A letter in their College Quarterly 
publication this past March, written by CEO Heidi Oetter, said "in 
the absence of scientific evidence, many physicians have been 
reluctant to authorize its use." Oetter wrote that the medical 
community acknowledges possible relief to those suffering from a 
terminal illness or chronic pain "when conventional therapies cease 
to have an effect." This point is untrue, however, to patients who 
choose cannabis instead of "conventional therapies". The local 
suffering from chronic back pain, for example, says that while he 
used narcotics prescribed by his doctor, he experienced a series of 
complications including appetite and sleep problems.

"You can't take narcotics every day of your life. Otherwise you're 
just not you."

Dr. Paul Hornby, a pathologist from the Vancouver area, has been 
studying cannabis for 15 years, focusing on its applications for 
cancer patients for the past six years. He says there's "tonnes of 
scientific evidence" on cannabis' medicinal applications. He says the 
power of the pharmaceutical industry and their lobbying efforts 
prevent cannabis from being recognized for its medicinal use.

"As a medicine, there's no way the pharmaceutical industry can afford 
to have [cannabis] legal because they'll lose their analgesic market, 
they'll lose their anti-depressant market, and they can't have that."

Oetter's letter says, "If and when appropriate research is conducted, 
physicians may eventually have accurate information in the form of a 
clinical practice guideline on the use of marijuana." But Hornby 
points out that to develop a clinical guideline, clinical trials have 
to be run and "we're not allowed to right now because there's no 
licensing for that."

Jamie Shaw, communications director for the BC Compassion Club 
Society, calls the letter by Oetter "ridiculous" but acknowledges the 
difficult position the new regulations put doctors in. She points to 
the preamble of the new rules which says that nowhere in the world is 
cannabis acknowledged as a therapeutic remedy.

In her letter, Oetter wrote, "It is irresponsible of Health Canada to 
download the risks, legal and otherwise, to physicians as gatekeepers 
to marijuana." Oetter did not respond to an interview request by press time.

Despite the College's stance on medical cannabis, doctors and nurses 
can dispense the drug directly to patients under the new regulations. 
But as the licensing and regulatory body for all physicians and 
surgeons in BC they have considerable influence. At least one doctor 
local to the Valley cited this letter as his basis for refusing to 
prescribe medical marijuana.

Meanwhile, taboos persist

Shaw says that patients who come to the BCCCS wellness centre often 
don't realize the social stigma they're under until talking to 
somebody without being judged.

"It's a huge relief, but they didn't know anything different."

Shaw says many patients have medical conditions that already have a 
stigma attached, like HIV or mental health issues. And many can't 
even tell their neighbours or family about their use.

"Their families can't figure out why they're doing better. They're 
happy they're doing better, but the patients can't tell their 
families a lot of times."

As long as the social stigma persists, patients using medical 
marijuana are unlikely to lobby for their constitutional right to the 
medication.

New rules won't improve community safety, lawyer says

Every press release issued by Health Canada on the new medicinal 
marijuana regulations last month said that Canadian communities would 
be safer as a result of the new regulations, but none of them said 
how or why that was the case.

Presumably, the government is implicitly referring to the same-old 
fears associated with cannabis grow-ops: fire and mould risks and 
drug-related violence. But the reality, according to experts, does 
not support these implied fears nor the government's assertion that 
communities will be safer.

John Conroy, a criminal lawyer who has dealt with marijuana cases for 
40 years, says he's talked to a lot of lawyers in different BC 
municipalities who admit there hasn't been a single fire from a 
medical grow-op yet, let alone a death from a fire, but they fear 
being the first municipality to have either.

"Statistics show that most house fires are in kitchens, and we're not 
about to take kitchens out of people's homes."

Conroy said if grow-ops were properly inspected and permitted, mould 
wouldn't be any more of a risk "than a person with a lot of house 
plants." And he doubts the new rules will make Canadian communities 
safer since it's the prohibition of the drug that creates the 
circumstances for violence.

As for young people, Conroy says it's easier for them to access a 
drug on the black market than on a regulated market.

"The content of the drug is regulated then too, so you don't have 
people dying from other stuff put into the drugs. That wouldn't 
happen if the stuff was under control. It's out of control because of 
prohibition."

Last year the federal government brought in mandatory minimums for 
illegal grow-ops. The sentences range from 6 months for five plants 
up to two years for 500 plants. Conroy says organized crime will just 
get someone willing to carry out the jail sentence, while "mom and 
pop" operations will disappear.

"So the effect of mandatory minimums is that they squeeze the market 
and push the price up. When things on the black market become worth 
more, people shoot each other more because there's a greater value 
when they get ripped off."

Conroy said the regulations introduced in 2001 created a glut in the 
black market, mostly because many designate growers are growing 
beyond their allotment and selling it "out the back door". The glut 
has driven black market prices down and subsequently reduced 
violence, but the government hasn't acknowledged that, he said. 
Instead they've created regulations based on the exaggerated fear of 
gang-violence.

"A lot of this is based on the same old emotional, gut-reaction, 
stigma stuff of reefer madness, exacerbated by people thinking the 
drug war is still so bad that someone's going to get shot in the 
crossfire because of a grow-op at the end of your street."

Under the new regulations, private individuals can no longer grow in 
residential areas. Instead Licensed Commercial Producers will operate 
secure facilities.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom