Pubdate: Thu, 12 Dec 2013
Source: Now, The (Surrey, CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462
Author: Jacob Zinn

YOUNG SURREY WOMAN IS GONE BUT HER VIEWS ON MEDICINAL POT WILL BE HEARD 
IN OTTAWA

Surrey's David Hutchinson hopes his late daughter's emotional speech
on medical pot may sway Supreme Court

SOUTH SURREY - It was one of Beth Hutchinson's goals to speak about
the benefits of medical marijuana at a cannabis conference.

The South Surrey woman spent four years battling glioma, a cancerous
brain tumour, and the only medicine she found that helped was THC
released from cannabis. While Beth succumbed to her tumour on Oct. 25
at the age of 20, her words are still going to reach a very important
audience: the Supreme Court of Canada.

Beth's father, David, has enlisted Abbotsford lawyer John Conroy to
ensure that his daughter has a voice on Parliament Hill. Conroy - one
of four plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the federal
government - is heading to Ottawa to lobby the Supreme Court to amend
the incoming Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), which
the suit alleges violate constitutional rights of medical marijuana
users.

"Beth left a bucket list of things she wanted to do, and one of them
was to speak at a cannabis conference because she felt very strongly
about it," said David. "John Conroy read this and said, 'I'm sorry she
wasn't able to do that, but I would like to use her words in front of
the Supreme Court.'"

David is opposed to many of the changes in the MMPR, which is set to
replace the current Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) as of
April 1, 2014. The MMPR will prohibit users from growing their own
marijuana or having a caregiver grow it for them and limit the ways to
produce cannabis to dried marijuana, among other restrictions.

While David is OK with users buying from commercial dispensaries, he
wants others to have the option to grow for themselves, and in
whatever form they prefer. His daughter never smoked marijuana, opting
to add cannabis oil to baked goods and ingest the medicine that way,
but new laws could take away that method.

"The new regulations will stop people from being allowed to grow for
themselves," he said. "That's a bit like saying to people, 'You're not
allowed to grow your own food in your garden and cook it anymore, you
now have to go to a restaurant three times a day.'"

Conroy has stated that commercially grown medical marijuana is
expected to cost four times more than for users to grow themselves.

Before Beth passed away, she left a written version of her speech,
detailing the delays in receiving her medical marijuana licence from
Health Canada, despite being given a life expectancy of six months at
the time. She credits compassion clubs - organizations that dispense
medical cannabis and natural therapies to those in need - for
prolonging her lifespan during the wait.

To David, his daughter's words are ones the federal government needs
to hear.

He hopes her speech will instigate change to the legislation and allow
the more than 40,000 medical marijuana users across the country to
grow for themselves if they so choose.

"The illusion that marijuana is a dangerous, harmful substance needs
to be shattered," wrote Beth. "As logical people, we need to ask
ourselves why substances like nicotine and alcohol that frequently
lead to violence and death are legal when cannabis is not.

"If Health Canada is allowed to make these changes, I may be denied
the medication that is helping me more than anything I've taken
provided by a pharmaceutical company - I may be someone who has a
terminal disease, but it is our government that is truly sick."
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MAP posted-by: Matt