Pubdate: April 13, 1998 Source: The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada) Contact: Phillip Jalsevac Editors note: Our newshawk is a frequent visitor to the MAP CHAT interactive discussion group (visit the MAP web pages for details, button at the bottom of most pages) - but she may not be back from Vancover in time for this weekend's sessions. MUM'S THE WORD ON GROUP GIVING POT TO THE SICK A local club that provides marijuana to ill people began operations last week, with organizer Jeannette Tossounian saying she's prepared to risk going to jail for supplying cannabis to members. Waterloo regional police have warned they will charge anyone selling or distributing pot, whether for medicinal purposes or not. "It does concern me," Tossounian, 22, of Kitchener said in an interview. However, she said, "If I have to put myself on the line, that's what I have to do." Tossounian noted that federal Justice Minister Anne McLellan plans to explore the possibility of decriminalizating marijuana for medicinal use. But, she said, "it's not like I'm going to sit there waiting for the govenment to decide to change something. I mean, they're thinking about it now but they were thinking about it in the 70s." Tossounian, who is studing to be a chartered herbalist and runs a hemp clothing company, recently established a local chapter of the Medical Marijuana Clubs of Ontario to serve people in the Waterloo Region and Guelph. She calls her chapter Marijuana Used for Medicine, and chose the acronym MUM not as a reflection of the expression "mum's the word." Rather, she said: "I like it because the (mum) plant is a flower." And mom or mother is ideally known for her "nurturing" qualities. That's what she's trying to bring to the suffering people she lovingly calls "my patient." 40 INTERESTED About 40 people have asked for membership forms and, to date, 10 people suffering from HIV, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and epilepsy have returned the forms signed by there doctors. Only two physicians have declined and the fact that 10 individual doctors have co-operated shows "there is a large support from the medical community," Tossounian said. Doctors are asked to verify that a patient suffers from a particular medical condition and to sign the form which says: "I have discussed with my patient what I am aware of in terms of the health benefits and risks of marijuana. I would consider prescribing it if I were legally able to do so." Tossounian phones the doctor's office to confirm the signature is legitimate and then meets the members. That way, she said, "I get to know exactly how much pain they're in and that they're sincere to the cause." In a club brochure, Tossounian advertises her phone number -- 744-4721. But the club's marijuana is not kept at or distributed from her apartment. CONFIDENTIAL LOCATIONS Rather, she arranges to pick it up and deliver it at locations that are "pretty much confidential." Still, it's not an overly clandestine affair. "I don't want to have to meet anybody on some corner of the street or that sort of thing." The fledgling club is off to a modest start, she admitted. In her first deliveries last week,she provided members with barely an ounce of grass in total, or enough for somewhere between 80 to 100 joints. Meanwhile, she's looking for a supplier who is sympathetic to the cause and will offer marijuana at a dicounted price. "I don't have a good supply yet. I'm getting it here and there." Currently, she pays the going street price and members reimburse her. Tossounian, meanwhile, is off to Vancouver on Tuesday to spend a week studying the operations of a medicinal club there. When she returns, she'll be working on organizing a fundraising event which she hopes will generate enough revenue for her to open an office. GETTING SUPPORT She's getting support from people who tell her "it's great what you're doing. it's about time." And they come from all walks of life, not just stereotypical "hippie" types. She knows some people who smoked grass in the 60s and 70s and noted that "now they're lawyers and doctors. It doesn't seem like marijuan got in the way of their lives." As for her civil disobedience in organizing MUM, she said: "I just don't like watching people suffer." Wistfully, she adds: "I really wish I could do this legally."