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Region Dismisses Pot For Health Issue
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Feb 2006
Source: Tribune, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006, Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact: http://www.wellandtribune.ca/webapp/sitepages/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2807
Author: Mark Tayti, Tribune Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
REGION DISMISSES POT FOR HEALTH ISSUE
Patently Absurd, Scoffs St. Catharines Councillor
WELLAND - Niagara Compassion Society was looking for a homegrown
solution to medical marijuana use when it appeared before the region's
public health committee Tuesday.
It didn't come.
Committee members instead took pot shots at the idea of what some
believed amounts to endorsing recreational drug use.
Admitting to selling marijuana, Matt Mernagh, executive director of
the Niagara Compassion Society, deflected Niagara Falls Coun. Ann
Angelone's inference that he was "basically, a legal pusher."
"I'm not a pusher," said Mernagh. "I'm a little different from a
regular pusher."
St. Catharines Coun. Jamie Almos said he did not want to waste a
minute of the committee's time pursuing a policy to deal with medical
marijuana use.
He said moving ahead on such a policy would send a message to the
community that Niagara has given up on trying to enforce its marijuana
laws.
"It's patently absurd," Almos said with respect to developing such a
policy.
Often referring to the Niagara Compassion Society as "my business,"
Mernagh even questioned the logic of "busting teenagers for a gram (of
marijuana) at the skate park."
He said the region needs to recognize the fact that medical use of
marijuana continues to go on in Niagara and it is an issue the region
can no longer ignore.
"We need to begin to initiate a strategy like the strategy being
carried out in Vancouver and Toronto but I want something that is made
in our community."
Committee chair Bruce Timms said the medical use of marijuana is a big
"grey area" where the law is concerned and he felt the matter should
be vetted with the region's solicitor and the public health department.
Almas was quick to describe any further action on the subject as "a
waste of time," noting it was a federal matter and beyond regional
jurisdiction.
Mernagh argued that Compassion Societies are a "recognized delivery
system" for putting marijuana in the hands of people who suffer from a
variety of diseases.
Outside the committee room, Mernagh took the rejection in
stride.
"I don't know that we got shot down," he said. "We went in expecting
the best and to see the worst come out of it, it disappoints you. For
our medical users, they need this. Because of today, a whole lot of
people are going to know what we do."
He said the Niagara Compassion Society is made up of 32 members.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake