Pubdate: Thu, 26 Dec 2013
Source: Metro (Ottawa, CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Metro
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Ottawa
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4032
Author: Trevor Greenway

PARALYZING STIGMA LINKED WITH MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Mailout gaffe. Stress makes life difficult for patients after being 
exposed by Health Canada

Imagine what it might be like to possess a medical-marijuana licence in Canada.

Now, take away all the junk food, video games, lounging around and 
other typical stereotypes that are often associated with pot use.

Add a sore back, sleeplessness, chronic pain all over your whole 
body, arthritis, extreme nausea and a constant headache.

When I broke the story of Health Canada exposing 40,000 
medical-marijuana patients in a mailout gaffe in November, those are 
the stories I came across. Harrowing tales of very sick people-with 
everything from multiple sclerosis to terminal cancer - who spend the 
entirety of their days trying to manage pain.

Most were already concerned about being left without meds, as Health 
Canada's looming changes to its medical-marijuana access program will 
mean patients can no longer grow their own pot and will instead be 
forced to buy from commercial growers at more than 12 times the price.

So, in the aftermath of Health Canada exposing these patients, the 
stress put on them is difficult to imagine.

Most of the people I spoke to reported being frowned upon or winked 
at by postal workers as they delivered the Health Canada package. One 
man who lives in a retirement home in Ontario said the delivery 
person quipped, "I would sure like to be in this program."

Really? Would you? Would you like the chronic pain that comes with 
it? Would you really like to consume up to 100 grams of pot every day 
just to feel normal?

This is why the issue of medical marijuana is so important to me. 
Most of the patients I have spoken to aren't "potheads." They aren't 
junkies or drug dealers. They are sick people who have found a 
natural medication that seems to work.

But, on top of being sick, they have to contend with the judgment of 
others, all because they use a medication associated with getting 
high and pigging out on Doritos.

The experience of reporting these stories proved to me that the 
stigma associated with medical marijuana can be just as paralyzing as 
any illness it treats.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom