Pubdate: Thu, 03 Dec 2015
Source: Peterborough This Week (CN ON)
Contact:  Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing
Website: http://www.mykawartha.com/peterborough-on/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1794
Author: Todd Vandonk

MARIJUANA ADVOCATE HELPS MEDICAL CANNABIS USERS GET WHAT THEY NEED, 
EVEN AT A NEW LOUNGE

PETERBOROUGH -- Medical cannabis users will soon have their own 
dispensary lounge.

Jennifer Collett, owner of Peterborough Complementary Health, says 
the lounge is set to open above Mark's Finer Diner on Saturday, Dec. 
19. Licensed medical cannabis users can join the members-only club 
that will offer a place to medicate and learn to how to alternatively 
use cannabis to treat chronic health concerns.

"We want the least invasive and safest treatment for this community," 
Ms Collett explains.

"There are things that are very gentle on the system and we want to 
make sure people have access to them."

Ms Collett, a medical marijuana user herself, has spent years 
advocating for dignified access to medical cannabis. She says the 
current system is burdening those with chronic health concerns by 
denying them fair access to cannabis.

"We have an inequity where some people who are getting full and 
complete access and others that are left falling through the cracks," she says.

Ms Collett's steps to breaking down barriers to medical cannabis 
include the recent opening of Peterborough Complementary Health and 
Education Centre at Brookdale Plaze on Chemong.

There she offers classes on making alternative medicines with 
cannabis as well as cannabis prescription intake and different 
options for pain management other than Methadone and opiates. She 
says asking the Province to invest in this alternative pain 
management treatment instead of costly Methadone clinics as it will 
lead to a dramatic drop in opiate and methadone use.

"We know opiates and methadone are addictive. It (cannabis) is 
medicine that doesn't create an additional addiction," she says.

Ms Collett's mission to break down barriers doesn't end here. She has 
a vision of opening a community garden where licensed users can grow 
their medicine at an affordable price. She is urging the City, Health 
Unit, police and other community agencies to sit down at the table 
and set guidelines that don't violate cannabis patients' rights.

"Patients are coming together to make sure we are providing for each 
other, so we don't watch anymore of us go down and get sick," she says.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom