cannabisnews.com: Activists Link Pot Patients With Growers





Activists Link Pot Patients With Growers
Posted by FoM on November 20, 2001 at 08:13:48 PT
By Jason Warick, Saskatoon StarPhoenix 
Source: StarPhoenix
Members of a Saskatchewan marijuana lobby group have started acting as intermediaries between pot growers and patients who have a medical exemption to smoke the drug, saying they are providing a compassionate service to those in need."Somebody's got to help these people. We are prepared to help them fill that prescription," said Timothy Hampton, Saskatchewan president of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
"It's absolutely illegal, but we have volunteers who are willing to go to jail here."The Saskatchewan branch of NORML has started a program called the Grower-Patient Connection. Patients who have AIDS, cancer, anorexia, or other afflictions may qualify for a medical exemption to smoke pot as therapy.More than 500 Canadians have received the exemption, including about 10 in Saskatchewan. The problem, said Hampton, is patients have no place to purchase the drug legally.The federal government operation in Flin Flon will supply marijuana for research, and what is left for patients won't be available until next year.Patients can designate a grower to supply them legally, but the grower cannot have a pot-related criminal conviction in the past 10 years, according to Health Canada rules. Patients can also get a licence to grow their own pot.Health Canada spokesperson Andrew Swift notes that no one has yet been granted a licence as a designated grower.That means people have to buy the drugs from an illegal grower. It becomes legal for patients to possess it, although the producer is committing a crime by growing and supplying it to them.Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)Author: Jason Warick Published: November 20, 2001Copyright: 2001 The StarPhoenixContact: spnews thesp.comWebsite: http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/Related Articles & Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/FTE's Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmDeep In The Ground Lies The Marijuana Farm http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10509.shtmlCanada Legalizes Marijuana For Medicinal Purposeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10468.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by Rev Jonathan Adler on November 23, 2001 at 18:39:17 PT:
Medical Programs Incomplete without Suppliers!
Aloha, We here in Hawaii are overcoming the inadequacies of our state's medical marijuana program by implementing a defense to prosecution in our state law from 1977 where it states "those who have lawful prescriptions or otherwise are authorized by law, may be defended from prosecution. We just continue to do the job of legally supplying peoples's needs for medicine and religious healing. Eventually, the powers that be will realize they only are powers as long as we let them. This is an unquestionably LEGAL activity, by statute and federal legislation. Come on, boys....give it up! 
Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute
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Comment #1 posted by ekim on November 20, 2001 at 17:56:50 PT:
feed a man he eats for a day teach him to grow ---
And we know the rest of the story:)))))
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