Pubdate: Wed, 29 Apr 2015
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Vancouver 24 hrs.
Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters
Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Stefania Seccia
Page: 3

POT ADVOCATE ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO PROTEST FED MINISTER

While Vancouver council voted Tuesday to send its proposed pot 
dispensary regulations to a public hearing, a local advocate is 
taking his fight to the federal level after Health Minister Rona 
Ambrose called on the city to shut them all down.

Sensible BC director Dana Larsen said Ambrose is wrong to deny 
cannabis as a valid medicine.

"It's a shame the last person in Canada who doesn't believe in the 
medical benefits of medicinal cannabis is the person in charge of the 
cannabis program," he said. Larsen said that from May 11 to 15, he's 
calling on Canadians to call Ambrose's office telling her to "leave 
Vancouver alone" and to share their personal stories about how 
cannabis has helped them.

"I want her phone ringing off the hook," he said.

In her second letter to council on the subject, Ambrose expressed how 
"deeply concerned" she is about upcoming council discussions on the 
proposal to regulate "illegal drug dispensaries."

"Marijuana is neither an approved drug nor medicine in Canada and 
Health Canada does not endorse its use," she states in her April 28 letter.

"Marijuana is illegal for a reason: there are serious and lasting 
health effects associated with smoking marijuana, especially for youth."

Ambrose said the medical evidence of youth smoking marijuana and 
suffering from increased risks of developing mental health issues is 
"irrefutable."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom