cannabisnews.com: Pot Exemptees Left at Mercy of Black Market





Pot Exemptees Left at Mercy of Black Market
Posted by CN Staff on January 15, 2003 at 07:57:43 PT
By Thane Burnett
Source: Toronto Sun 
Burlington -- Appearances can be misleading. I'm looking at the face that made her a captain of the cheerleader squad and a model. The face that has the strong bones of her late father. The face that, as we sit here, is wracked from within by a sharp, ugly pain that she tries to dull by pressing her finger harshly against her high cheek -- while lighting up another joint.
"It'll help ... just give it time," says the 39-year-old former corrections officer, holding the stubby end of the smoke with a pair of scissors, and taking a drag. A short time goes by, and the pain dulls. A small pile of the drug -- bought on the street for $300, and a quarter of what she'll need this month -- sits in front of her. Ready for the next time. Along with morphine and pills, this is her medication. It is also victory, such as it is, for Alison Myrden, who, suffering from multiple sclerosis, is one of a handful of medical marijuana exemptees who helped persuade a judge recently to strike down the federal regulations governing their use of the drug. On Jan. 9, lawyers acting for exemptees, including Alison, won the landmark Superior Court decision which found the current Marijuana Medicinal Access Regulations unconstitutional. The courts gave the government until July 9 to fix the regulations or supply the drug itself -- a green thumb task which seems anyone can do in their basement but Canada can't perfect. Like the MS associated tic which digs into the nerves of Alison's face constantly, the win has been one of several daggers into Canada's weak pot laws.  NOTHING ON BOOKS Just days ago, a second Ontario judge this month tossed out a simple possession charge against a non-exemptee, finding there is nothing on the books forbidding the possession of small amounts of the drug. Since then, a great deal of news ink has been poured into the cracks of prosecuting those found with the equivalent of a joint in their ashtray. The marijuana laws in this country, it seems, and if you excuse the obvious, are going up in smoke. But my concern -- and the reason for visiting Alison -- is that I think the fight of exemptees may be clouded by the larger debate of smoking-up in this country. Let's start from where the Superior Court decision leaves Alison, and others who have Ottawa's blessing, and a doctor's prescription, to use marijuana. On appearance, you would think the win was immediate. "We're all elated," Alison says. "(But) it doesn't change anything right now. I still have to buy my medicine on the black market ... on the street." As we talk, her mother, Joyce Myrden, is nearby. Years ago, she wouldn't have known the smell of pot -- a name which she says degrades the drug. Now, she's driven her daughter to dark haunts to buy her medication from people who don't use full names and give no quality assurance of drugs held in sandwich bags. In 2000, epileptic Terry Parker won an Ontario Court of Appeal, backing his right to smoke pot for medicinal purposes. We are now in 2003, and the federal government continues to bungle getting seriously ill exemptees a safe, secure source of a drug that is less potent than many over-the-counter medications. This far into the game, the public debate shouldn't be whether the provisions are unconstitutional, but how much drug plans will reimburse medical users when they submit claims from their corner pharmacy. While including exemptees into the wider argument of drug use in Canada may make things more difficult, Alison, and others holding plastic, federal-issued permit cards, argue their best chance to get their medicine easily is to simply make it totally legal. "Put an age limit on it and put it ... next to the cigarettes," she says, as her mom nods in agreement. That, I suggest, may be a way off. Too far off for the sick and dying who can find relief in marijuana today.  CRUEL HAND  I could care less about the 20-year-old loafer caught with a joint. I do, however, believe exemptees have been dealt a cruel hand by Ottawa. At one time, the sick thought they had won the right to get medicine which clearly helps them. But appearances, when politicians are involved, can be deceptive. People are dying without the chance. People are in pain. Others won't dare try to seek out marijuana because they're too unsure which alley to walk down. Most simply can't afford to keep buying it this way. The court win brings patients like Alison closer to what they deserve. But what they need is more than an appearance of relief. They need their medication. Note: Feds bungle supply needs of the seriously ill.Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)Author: Thane BurnettPublished: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Canoe Limited PartnershipContact: editor sunpub.comWebsite: http://www.fyitoronto.com/torsun.shtmlRelated Articles & Web Site:The Marijuana Missionhttp://www.themarijuanamission.com/Marijuana Maven Puts Brakes on Distributionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15193.shtmlGov't Pot Ready - Winnipeg Sun http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15166.shtmlOntario Court Strikes Down Law on Medical Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15157.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by p4me on January 16, 2003 at 02:38:32 PT
No it is not irrelevant
I am not hotheaded about your respone or anything. I would even call myself a dumbass if it would make the world a better place. I am kind of proud of the term "policy by mythology" though because in all my years of reading I have never seen the term. The reason I give it voice is because no one else does. I am writing more for writers that write elsewhere than just read here. It is like "Did you $4.20 today?" I think it a big deal if someone in some small town would pick up on it and it catch on and make the papers. But more importantantly I put it out there for someone that writes because it will be the writer's art that gets the prohibitionists.Now imagine a movie coming out where a girl and a boy head across country or for that matter down Route 66 trying to find the nastalgia of the trip and every purchase they make is $4.20. Now it is really not that big of a deal with the ability to pay with a credit card at the pump and the stopping makes for interaction. There was a time when I used fascist right much because it was not voiced very often. Now it is and I have very little reason to use it now. I used to say propaganda a lot, but now everyone uses it. The same with calling a lie a lie instead of just arguing facts. Anyway, I have all but run out of things to say and like Kap position, once you have presented your voice with an encore it is time to let someone else sing.But policy by mythology is in no way irrelevant and my expression of my perspective cannot be expressed without calling it mythology. Now people get on here and quote scripture and present the one true way and it is not irrelevant either. It shows their perspective. They are certain they are right and I can flat out tell you the one thing I am sure of is that Christianity is mythology. And like when Oprah ask "What do you know for sure" my one answer would be Christianity is mythology. The one thing I am sure of is that FoM does not want a discussion of religion except as to how it relates to cannabis and it is not my purpose to start any debate. But look at what the Attorney General of the United States is saying in Denver in yesterday's article from the Denver Post- http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E1108567,00.html?searc- and tell me that religion is not part of what is happening.
 
I read a good saying at FreeRepublic went the fundamentalist jump on their creation bandwagon. One guy responded with- you keep believing and we'll keep evolving. No point intented. It's just a good saying.Bill Mayer will be getting a weekly show on HBO starting February 21- http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/mcherald/living/4942933.htm
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Comment #4 posted by Bounce to the Ounce on January 15, 2003 at 22:59:38 PT
p4me-Not all Christians are on Bush's side
Whether you think it's a belief in "mythology" or not is irrelevant. Many of us are on the peaceful and spiritual (opposed to religious, as in listen-to-whatever-the-preacher-has-to-say-and-don't-question-anything religous) side. People need to learn that Christians, Muslims, whatever...aren't the problem. Brainwashed facist warmongers are the problem and are the real cause for bloodshed, past and present.Just needed to get that off my chest.
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Comment #3 posted by p4me on January 15, 2003 at 09:18:49 PT
Tell her that
If you are around a person long enough to hear all their spills there is a good chance you remember at least one thing they say. One of my favorite sayings is "The cream always rises to the top." In the case of a converted preacher to real estate salesman, I remember two of his sayings that I remember clearly and I skimmed them from the top for my own use.Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins of the bible and being a preacher he made a spin of the word orgy for that biblical weakness. He called it a gorgy. Now being a past minister he still confined himself to clean jokes and he was the man that told me the joke about the gorilla in the cage making overt sexual overtures to the sexy woman when the husband and wife admired the creature of nature outside his sunken holdings. The man threw the woman in the pit and said "Remember your headaches, now tell him that."That is what I think of the crimes of our government as the deny the truth to continue their stream of lies. Tell Aliuson that. Tell Dr. Russo that. Tell Steve Tuck that. Tell Steve Kubby that. Tell that to FoM or me or any of millions of people that and it does no good. We don't listen to it. And besides when the government continues the lies it shows that a lie is just regarded as a political tool and no moral sin as the bible-thumping moralist in Washington that claim they rule everything across the globe. No. They are showing that the find the Christian religion another tool/vehicle to use to attain a temporary power.Now because our dickhead president is sick and tired of not being humored by a nation that has benn bombed and starved for 12 years after a war we could have prevented by not nodding it was okay to reunifiy a territory that was ceded in 1922, we are supposed to kill hundreds of thousands of people that believe in a different mythology.I remember taking religion in college as a freshman and all the people that thought they were so smart talked of how reconsile the differences of religion and find some magic common thread that would unite everyone. Well, I hate to tell you this but the answer for Christianity and Islam is they are both mythologies.So I guess if people can believe the whoppers of Christianity the government fells like they push another lie on them if they say it enough. And they don't my playing the biblical/moralist angle as if freedom from an oppressive government isn't the issue.I do not know why the administration gets away with policy by mythology. I don't know how they get away with not discussing Afganistan news or the lies they make up about Iraq. But then again, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how the American people have any tolerance for a misadministration while we all suffer with the Schedule One Lie.Like the horny gorilla, I don't care what anyone says. Screw all the lies.
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Comment #2 posted by TroutMask on January 15, 2003 at 08:53:01 PT
What will they do?
"Alison, and others holding plastic, federal-issued permit cards, argue their best chance to get their medicine easily is to simply make it totally legal."Personally, I don't see any other way to go in under 6 months time. They would have to change the laws, set up distribution, produce and distribute in 6 months. Assuming the laws aren't gone already... Does anyone see another feasible route for the government besides the alternative of doing nothing and letting it become legal for everyone?-TM
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on January 15, 2003 at 08:26:45 PT:
Alison
Alison Myrden puts a sympathetic face on the issue of clinical cannabis. She is a dedicated and passionate advocate for common sense that demands that real people have access to effective medicine for their serious illnesses. I am proud that the recent decision in Canada affirms her right to cannabis, and the demand that the government devise a manner in which to supply her with it. Should the prohibitionists understand the incredible pain of trigeminal neuralgia (aka tic douloureux), and the relief that cannabis provides, their arguments would fade into oblivion. As the song goes, "Walk a mile in my shoes!"
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