As part of the Kelowna Capital News' ongoing series looking into various aspects of medicinal marijuana, reporter Kevin Parnell interviewed naturopathic doctor Chris Spooner, who operates a naturopathic clinic in Vernon and is now working alongside Lift Resource Centre, which provides information to patients about medicinal marijuana. Spooner has been in practice for 16 years. He acquired a bachelor of science in biology from the University of Victoria before attending the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine and the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences. [continues 803 words]
West Kelowna resident Neil Young loves to be immersed in the community and to help people. A former hotel industry worker, Young, 29, has taken that love of people to a new initiative that is aimed at helping people who are facing a variety of health concerns. However his new business is not your normal operation: Young is the co-owner of Starbuds Cannabis, a patient access centre-more commonly called a compassion club-where people can access medicinal marijuana out of a store-front on Main street in West Kelowna. [continues 600 words]
Lift Resource Centre area developer Debra Senger is a believer in medicinal cannabis. Without it, the Vernon woman believes her husband would likely have passed away due to cancer in his liver. Two years ago, Senger's husband wasn't eligible for a liver transplant that could save his life. He had been taking tace treatments for the better part of two years: A combination of chemotherapy and radiation that directly targets a patient's liver, going in through the groin. [continues 469 words]
Justin Pearson had to knock down some walls in his efforts to study the medicinal properties of marijuana at UBCO is putting it lightly. But the 22-year-old Lake Country resident wasn't going to take no for an answer. Not when his research was directly related to the treatment of his mother's cancer with cannabis oil and not when she had seen miraculous results from using the oil, derived from medicinal marijuana. "It wasn't easy," admitted Pearson this week as he awaited final test results of his research project, aimed at identifying the medicinal properties in different strains of marijuana and different times of growth. [continues 862 words]
If you receive medicinal marijuana through a licensed producer in Canada, the product will have been tested for its chemical make-up and to identify the compounds that are present in the product. But if you are purchasing product through a compassion club or a dispensary, the chemical make-up of the marijuana could be untested for quality. According to Keystone Laboratories in Edmonton, it's this testing that is crucial for the use of medicinal marijuana as a way for people to know what's in the medicine they are taking and to ensure they are taking high quality medicine each and every time they use it. [continues 293 words]
Cheryl Pearson has never smoked pot. Given just months to live after finally receiving a diagnosis of stage four ovarian cancer, the Lake Country resident was at first against the use of medicinal marijuana in her treatment. But after a tumultuous ride through Canada's medical system, which for nearly four years had misdiagnosed the reasons behind the rapid decline in her health, the impairment of her motor skills and the loss of use of her bodily functions, Pearson is now a believer in medicinal marijuana. [continues 1031 words]
Cheryl Pearson has never smoked pot. Given just months to live after finally receiving a diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer, the Lake Country resident was at first against the use of medicinal marijuana as part of her treatment. But after a tumultuous ride through Canada's medical system, which for nearly four years had misdiagnosed the reasons behind the rapid decline in her health, the impairment of her motor skills and the loss of use of her bodily functions, Pearson is now a believer in the controversial treatment. [continues 1027 words]
Second Hand Smoke Brought B.C. Snowboarder Ross Rebagliati to Kelowna This Week. Well, that and movie star Tom Green. Rebagliati, now nearly 10 years removed from catapulting to stardom at the 1998 Nagano Olympics where he won a gold medal, had it taken away after a positive drug test, and then won it back, was in Kelowna doing a round of interviews after filming a snowboard movie with Green. The 35-year-old Rebagliati had a cameo playing himself in the comedy called Shred, still filming at Big White and Silver Star. [continues 526 words]
The St. Paul Business Committee has expanded its opposition to a transitional housing complex to treat drug and alcohol addicted patients of Interior Health. The group now says the model being proposed, harm reduction, is wrong not only for downtown Kelowna but for the entire city. "Our first reaction was we don't want this downtown," said Jim Carta , the chairman of the St. Paul Business Committee. "But we don't want this in the city. This is not going to benefit people. At best it's a Band Aid. [continues 425 words]
Kelowna RCMP members will treat drug use in a proposed transitional housing facility the same way they treat drug use anywhere: With enforcement. "I'm not going to support anything where they break the law," said Kelowna RCMP superintendent Bill McKinnon. "If they are in residence and they have possession of an illegal substance and if we have reasonable and probable ground we will enforce the law." McKinnon spoke with the Capital News as the debate around the transitional housing unit continues. [continues 120 words]
Kelowna RCMP superintendent Bill McKinnon brought a message to the local business community Wednesday of the need for both greater cooperation and more police officers to deal with the increasing amount of crime in Kelowna. McKinnon laid out a fairly dire message of increasing city crime to the monthly Chamber of Commerce luncheon--telling the business community that police can properly deal with escalating drugs, violence and auto theft if they get more officers. "In order for me to make Kelowna safer we need more officers," said McKinnon. [continues 386 words]
The Central Okanagan Four Pillars Coalition is taking its message to the Internet. After eight public meetings held to gauge the public's response to the four pillars approach to dealing with issues surrounding drug use in Kelowna, the coalition has now made a questionnaire available on the Internet for people who may have missed the meetings and still want to voice their concerns about how to deal with drug use in the city. "We've gone to the community as a whole and now we want everybody to have an opportunity to provide feedback to us," said Daryle Roberts, the vice-chairman of the Central Okanagan Four Pillars Coalition. [continues 305 words]
