Education seems to be the growing issue.
After all, Ann McLellan called pot smokers
stupid. One would expect the woman
who is both Deputy Prime Minister of
Canada and Minister of Public Safety to
have better knowledge of the issue. I think
the problem is bigger than we thought…..
The number of chronically ill Canadians
using cannabis medicinally in this country
today is estimated to be more than one million.
Why, then, does Canada’s legal marijuana
medical access program have less than
eight hundred participants? The medical
associations do not want the doctors labeled
with Health Canada’s assigned role of “marijuana
gatekeeper”. They have advised doctors
of the possible legal repercussions associated
with this role and the majority of doctors are
just refusing to sign any kind of prescriptions
for marijuana, period. The proposed amendments
to the Marijuana Medical Access
Regulations will not alleviate this problem.
Doctors do not want to sign for marijuana,
now or in the future, and without the signature
Health Canada deems the application for
legal status incomplete and void. For years,
this dysfunctional government system has
blocked all legal access to marijuana for the
vast majority of sick Canadians. In fact it has
forced the most vulnerable of our citizens
into the rank of criminals.
Law enforcement officials are claiming the
production of all marijuana in Canada is linked
with organized crime and some of our public
officials have even confirmed this inaccurate
theory. If the average daily dose of a million
medical users is around 3 grams, (a conservative
estimate) then the demand for medical
marijuana in Canada is over a million kg per
year. Where does the government think the pot
is coming from? The bottom line is; the
patients are suffering and the black market is
being held responsible for the government’s
dysfunctional legal marijuana access problems.
The history of this dysfunction is long
and sordid. Numerous lawyers have made
stands on the issue of medical marijuana
access, only to have the courts pass it off to
the politicians. Our elected politicians have
not wanted to fix it for fear of losing the next
election, so they just keep throwing our tax
dollars at studying and debating the same old
problems, in hopes that they can put it off
long enough for someone else to fix it.
When the Senate report recommended
legalization we thought we might see the end.
However, it would seem the only people who
read the Senate report were all us persecuted
criminalized stupid pot smoking Canadians,
and not the elected officials in charge of
deciding our fate. Hence, we are facing “recriminalization” with Bill C-17, which
does not deal with the issue of medical access
at all, and in fact impedes the process even
further by giving the police agencies more
power to discriminate against sick Canadians
who want to grow a small number of plants
for personal medical use.
When will the insanity stop? If the government
intends to limit the supply in order
to pharmaceuticalize the herb, then obviously
they have not been listening to the million
current consumers who have already chosen
to turn to the naturally grown herbal medicinal alternative.
The up side; our voices are getting
stronger, public perception has already
changed, and the medical use of cannabis is
now publicly accepted throughout the world.
Activist groups, patient unions, corporations,
political allies, advocacy organizations, trade
and growers associations and pro cannabis
businesses have all been formed. Millions of
voices cannot be silenced. Rest assured, the
pot will be brought to the boil, one way or the
other.
Keep smiling; it makes them wonder what
you’re up to….
Barb St.Jean, Editor
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Cannabis Health Magazine is the voice and the new image of the responsible cannabis user. The publication treats cannabis as one plant and offers balanced coverage of cannabis hemp and cannabis marijuana. Special attention is given to the therapeutic health benefits of this plant made medicine. Regular contributors offer the latest on the evolving Canadian cannabis laws, politics, and regulations. We also offer professional advice on cannabis cooking, growing at home, human interest stories and scientific articles from countries throughout the world, keeping our readers in touch and informed. Cannabis Health is integrated with our resource website, offering complete downloadable PDF versions of all archived editions.
Phone: Toll Free: 1 866 808 5566
Email: info@cannabishealth.com
Mailing Address - Box 1481
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Office Address - 7347 – 3 rd St
Grand Forks, BC
Phone: 1 250 442 5166
Fax: 1 250 442 516
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Volume 3 Issue#2
Jan/Feb 2004
Access Denied
Contents
The Economic Future
of Cannabis
in Canada
Eric Nash & Wendy Little
A new industry has emerged from what
was once a lucrative economic source only
available to Canadians who chose to operate
at odds with the law. This new industry
is medical marijuana. How do we know
this? Because jobs, businesses, research
grants and opportunities are being created
from a legal economic sector which didn’t
exist four years ago.
Money is now being spent on
federal government medical marijuana
programs that receive millions
of taxpayer dollars. Money is
being spent on a Canadian business
that won the multi-million
dollar federal government contract
to produce and supply marijuana
to Canadians. Money is being
spent on medical cannabis
research projects funded by the
federal government and by the private
sector. Money is being spent
on the purchase of marijuana by
patients from their legally licenced growers.
Through both the private sector and government
funds, there is a substantial amount of
money changing hands.
There is support for the expansion and
diversification of the medical cannabis
industry from virtually all levels of our society.
The public via opinion polls, the judicial
system through constitutional and charter
rights rulings, the private sector from the
Fraser Institute, and the political support
from the Senate report. All the evidence is
clear - a legal cannabis industry has widespread
public support, is well established
and will continue to rapidly expand over the
next few years.
Read More Subscribe today
Health Canada
Marijuana Medical
Access Regulations
Cannabis Health Magazine receives many
inquiries from physicians and chronically ill
people from all parts of Canada wanting to
know how and where to purchase the government’s
marijuana. Information surrounding
the Marijuana Medical Access
Regulations administered by the Office of
Cannabis Medical Access under the direction
of Health Canada has been extremely confusing
to most of our callers. We have compiled
the following information in hopes of alleviating
some of the confusion surrounding
legal access to medical marijuana.
Who’s Who
The Office of Cannabis Medical
Access coordinates the development and
administration of the regulatory approach
permitting individuals to access marihuana
(cannabis) for medical purposes. The Drug
Analysis Service is responsible for the
establishment of a reliable Canadian source
of medical research-grade marihuana. Read More Subscribe today
Debating Decriminalization
Cannabis Health has been following the
on-going decriminalization debates. In
September 2002, the special Senate committee
on illegal drugs tabled its final report, recommending
the legalization of cannabis.
Also in September 2002 in the Speech from
the Throne, the government made a commitment
to “act on the results of parliamentary
consultations with Canadians on options for
change in our drug laws….” The special
House committee on December 12, 2002 disregarded
the recommendations of the special
Senate committee for legalization of cannabis
and recommended in its report a comprehensive
strategy for decriminalizing the possession
and cultivation of not more than thirty
grams of cannabis for personal use. Bill C38
was followed by Bill C10 and then Bill C17,
currently under debate in the house, each
more restrictive than the last.
This debate has been unnerving. The
amount of misinformation vocalized in
regards to cannabis use and the potential
health risks have confirmed our suspicion
that very few of our elected politicians have
actually read the senate committee report.
“Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates
that cannabis is substantially less harmful
than alcohol and should be treated not as
a criminal issue but as a social and public
health issue (1)” said Senator Pierre
Claude Nolin, chair of the committee.
Read More Subscribe today
Submission Include:
Canadian AIDS Society
Response to MMAR
BC Compassion Club
Response to MMAR Amendments
Meduser Group Response
to Health Canada
How To Change the World
Howard J. Wooldridge
from L.E.A.P. rides again
Dennis Lillico Fights
for his Human Rights
Dennis Lillico still can’t
find a physician
The Cannabis Buyers Club
& Hempology 101
Insurance Coverage
for Grow Operations
Growing Marijuana from
a Health Point of View
Ontario Hemp Alliance
Cooking With Cannabis
Cannabrex Nutriceutical
(advertorial)
AroMed Vaporizer
(product review)
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