cannabisnews.com: Hysteria Still Reigns on Pot Laws





Hysteria Still Reigns on Pot Laws
Posted by CN Staff on September 23, 2002 at 20:20:07 PT
By Mindelle Jacobs -- Edmonton Sun
Source: Edmonton Sun
A Senate committee bluntly declared earlier this month that Ottawa's new laws governing therapeutic marijuana are unworkable. The federal government's highly publicized plan to allow terminally ill Canadians and those with serious ailments to smoke pot are "illusory," the committee noted in its report on illegal drugs.
Dale and Alice Strohmaier, who both have hepatitis C because of blood transfusions, are again in danger of being busted for growing pot. They are among 441 Canadians who were exempt from prosecution under the old medicinal pot rules because of the severity of their conditions. I wrote about them in February because their exemptions were about to expire and they were finding it impossible to meet the requirements under the new regulations. Because of concerns expressed by the Canadian Medical Association, the Edmonton couple couldn't find the mandated two medical specialists to approve their applications for medicinal marijuana. A little publicity helped. After my column ran, Health Canada extended their exemptions for six months. Here we go again. Their permission to grow and possess pot runs out at the end of October. Once again, they've been doing the rounds of doctors' offices, hoping for physician signatures. No such luck. They've been to their family physicians, pain specialists and liver doctors. All turned them down. It's not that the docs don't think pot can be therapeutic. As their pain specialist wrote to Dale's family doctor: "It seems Mr. Strohmaier clearly has symptomatic improvement on the use of marijuana that he has not been able to achieve with other therapies." Because of the "flaws" in the federal government's approval process, he won't sign the forms, the specialist wrote in his July letter. Dale and Alice plan to forward the letter to Health Canada officials, who have declined to extend their ministerial exemptions under the old rules. Department staff are "very sympathetic" to the problem but their hands are tied because it's a political issue, notes Dale. Currently, they have permission to cultivate 40 pot plants - enough that they can smoke the allowable four grams a day each. But they fear that if no further clemency is granted, police will confiscate the plants and charge them after their exemption expires on Oct. 27. If that happens, they'll be forced to increase the modest amounts of painkillers they already consume. That, of course, poses the risk of addiction. They find it sadly ironic that Ottawa would prefer they take higher doses of potentially habit-forming painkillers than continue smoking pot, which isn't addictive. "We're not trying to be criminals. We're just trying to be regular citizens," says Alice. Calls to Health Minister Anne McLellan's office haven't been returned, she says. They suspect McLellan is not as committed to a medicinal marijuana program as her predecessor in the portfolio, Allan Rock. Now, they hope the current Ontario court challenge of the therapeutic pot laws and a pending Supreme Court of Canada hearing on the issue will win sick Canadians more freedom to use pot. Some physicians are filling out medical pot forms for patients, notes Health Canada spokesman Andrew Swift. Under the new rules, 376 people have been authorized to possess pot. Mind you, not all of them are allowed to grow it. "They get it where they can get it," says Swift. Of the Strohmaiers' predicament, he says: "It's a difficult situation. I can appreciate that." But the process requires the input of physicians, he says. It makes you long for a government with the common sense of the Senate committee which recommended that pot be legalized and regulated. As the committee noted, our early drug laws were based on "moral panic." Hysteria still reigns. Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Author: Mindelle Jacobs -- Edmonton SunPublished: September 22, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Canoe Limited PartnershipContact: sun.letters ccinet.ab.ca Website: http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtmlRelated Articles & Web Sites:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmSick People Have Right to Use Pot, Lawyer Argueshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14186.shtmlPatients Still Can't Make Legal Buyshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14182.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #1 posted by afterburner on September 26, 2002 at 09:17:18 PT:
Alan Rock for PM
This stalling of help to the sick and dying must stop. Use the Flin-Flon pot to give aid to the Medical Marijuana patients, and study their progress. They would rather this than pain, mind-numbing drugs, or street drugs, I'm sure. And doctors, grow a heart, make these patients sign a waiver if you are so afraid of malpractice proceedings. CMA, stop blackmailing the doctors: remember your Hippocratic Oath.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment