Pubdate: Thu, 02 Jul 2015
Source: Niagara Falls Review, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Niagara Falls Review
Contact: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/letters
Website: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2907
Author: Bob Tymczyszyn
Page: A9

'LET'S GET RID OF THE STIGMA' OF POT

Rally held on Canada Day in front of courthouse

Rob Thibault is happy to have his life back.

He was part of a small rally every year Canada Day to celebrate and
educate people about medicinal marijuana.

After a motorcycle accident that left him with injuries to his knee,
he went through the gamut of prescribed painkillers without much success.

Thibault said that three years ago, he was in a wheelchair and a lot
heavier than he is now.

"This is what I use for pain relief," he said as he took a drag from a
joint.

This was the fifth year the Niagara Cannabis club held the event in
front of the St. Catharines Courthouse.

"There is a huge stigma, it affects people," said Thibault. "We're
about protecting people from that."

"The whole point of the Niagara Cannabis Club is patients protecting
patients from things that shouldn't happen."

"More and more people use it medicinally," he noted.

"It's freedom for what you're allowed to do without persecution."
"They (police) know we're here." Even though he brought a collection
of joints rolled with Canadian flag paper Thibault said he rarely
smokes a joint anymore.

"I don't smoke it, I apply it topically or ingest it."

If he does use it in public, he said it's not a matter of trying to
push a boundary.

"If I light a joint in public, I'm doing it because I'm in enough pain
that I need to.

"Let's get rid of the stigma and start healing people," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt