Pubdate: Wed, 10 Dec 2014
Source: Metro (Ottawa, CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Metro
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Ottawa
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4032
Author: Trevor Greenway
Page: A1

TWEED RELEASE NO LAUGHING MATTER

'Nothing funny about it.' Medical marijuana patients upset about 
grower's 'lighthearted' news release

Dozens of medical marijuana patients are upset over a recent media 
release sent out by Tweed Inc. that they say makes light of their 
debilitating illnesses.

In the release, the commercial medical marijuana producer evokes 
holiday marketing with the headline, 'Tweed Has You Covered for the 
13th Day of Christmas,' and leads off the release with "As people 
around the country prepare their homes for the holiday season, Tweed 
is decking the halls with a slightly different variety of greenery."

While the company says the release was meant to inject some humour 
into a serious matter, those who suffer from multiple sclerosis, 
fibromyalgia and cancer aren't laughing.

"You are supposed to be a pharmacy to me and provide me my 
life-saving medication and I'm not joking about it," said Ottawa 
resident Suzi Strand, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, 
fibromyalgia and trigeminal neuralgia, commonly referred to as the 
"suicide disease."

"I'm not in a wheelchair right now because of cannabis. I am not dead 
from accidental overdose today because of cannabis. There is nothing 
funny about it," said Strand, who has been a patient since 2007. She 
said the release solidified her perception of licensed producers: 
that they care more about profit than patients.

"You wouldn't see ( pharmaceutical companies) advertising 13 days of 
oxycodone."

Other patients weighed in on Facebook, saying the release was in "bad 
taste." Some said they could understand if it was a pot shop 
promoting their product in Colorado, where it is a legal recreational drug.

Tweed executive vice president Mark Zekulin said the firm hasn't 
heard any complaints from customers, but said he's concerned if 
others took offence.

"If every once in a while we try to use a slightly lighter entrance 
point into the conversation, it's always with the best intentions of 
trying to move the dialogue forward on education and research," he said.

Zekulin referred to medications like Viagra and Cialis and their 
"tongue-in-cheek" advertisements that use humour to talk about the 
perhaps embarrassing and serious issue of erectile dysfunction.

"The goal was really just to keep things a little interesting, a 
little different, a little lighthearted. The point we are really 
trying to make is that our next harvest has come in and 
coincidentally it's the month of December."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom