cannabisnews.com: Applicants Fume Over Pot Plan Privacy





Applicants Fume Over Pot Plan Privacy
Posted by FoM on February 09, 2000 at 06:34:19 PT
By Kathleen Harris, Ottawa Sun
Source: Ottawa Sun
Health Canada is under threat of legal action from sick, angry citizens after a confidential list of names was leaked from its controlled substances branch. More than 128 people who have corresponded with the federal department about using marijuana as medicine were notified over the weekend that their names could be in the hands of a print journalist. 
They were sent letters by priority post yesterday which expressed "regret" for the breach and advised that a security investigation is under way. "I've been raped," said Steven Bacon of Oshawa, who suffers from Hepatitis C. "They've taken the last sacred thing that I have -- my own personal information that was, in my mind, in safe and caring hands." Bacon is "mad as hell" and plans to explore his legal options. He hopes to use the incident as leverage to make the federal government step up its policies on medicinal marijuana, but fears the leak has destroyed the program's credibility. "Who the hell is going to apply now? How can you trust your government? You can't," he said. As of late yesterday, the Officer of the Privacy Commissioner had received 11 formal complaints about the disclosure of confidential information from Health Canada. A Mississauga man whose wife uses cannabis to relieve the symptoms of epilepsy was shocked to learn about the breach in yesterday's Sun. His 14-year-old daughter had received two calls from Health Canada on the weekend, but the officer left no message about the reason for his call. "We're scared," he said. "My wife just burst into tears. We feel just sick about it -- I'm a professional and there's still a stigma about using marijuana." He and others say they may launch a class-action suit claiming damages. Rick Reimer, a Pembroke lawyer who uses marijuana to relieve symptoms of multiple sclerosis, doesn't want the issue to be about financial compensation. "Money is so unimportant compared to the real issue," he said. Reimer is "appalled" by the bureaucratic breach of privacy, and is anxiously awaiting an explanation from Health Canada. "We hear so much about how doctors and lawyers have to be so careful," he said. "Here we have the people who are setting the rules and they can't even abide by them themselves." The letter mailed out yesterday said procedures for the control and storage of classified and designated information are in place. 'CONCERNED' Health Minister Allan Rock said he's "concerned" that confidential information was released by his department and pleaded with journalists not to publish the list of names. But he said it would be up to his deputy minister to decide if an independent inquiry is needed to find out how this happened and prevent it from happening again. "I'm sure the deputy will take whatever steps are required internally at Health Canada to get to the bottom of this," he said. A Hawkesbury victim of Hepatitis C and other chronic conditions was reeling after the startling revelation from the health department. "This is a terrible bureaucracy that has no place for sick people like me," he said. Published: February 9, 2000Copyright © 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership. Related Article:Pot Users Smoked Out http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4631.shtmlCannabisNews Search of Canadian Articles:http://www.alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/asearch?type=all&query=cannabisnews+Canada
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Comment #2 posted by R.Earing on February 09, 2000 at 17:22:53 PT:
privacy?
I can personally vouch for the accuracy of the statement that diffusion of respondsibility causes the release of confidential information by canadian governments.Here in Saskatchewan my personal medical information was given to the government run insurance company as a result of a car accident.Within two days spys were peeping through my windows,my email had been intercepted and handed over to a government backed "insurance support group" and the government attempted to sue me for libel over a published letter critical of the insurance system(which we have no choice but to use if we want to drive).My medical information wound up being debated in our legislature without my permission.How public is that? BTW sgi SUCKS.
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on February 09, 2000 at 10:35:44 PT
Privacy? What privacy?
During Mao Zedong's 'Let a thousand flowers bloom' campaign, public dissent was seemingly tolerated. A few brave souls did speak up. And then were promptly arrested. Because the entire purpose of the exercise was to identify dissidents for future arrest. Canada certainly is not China, but the tactics are all too familiar. In this case, the information will probably be used to committ social blackmail of a vulnerable subgroup of the population to prevent further activism on their part. This will have a chilling effect upon others who had considered applying but will now think twice for fear of their information also being disclosed.At the risk of seeming jaded, if anyone expected to be able to retain any degree of privacy in dealing with a supposedly democratic government, *any* government, then they have been terribly naive. Anything you tell any government, despite whatever assurances they give you, will not be held confidential. Simply because the responsibility becomes too diffused; no one is to blame because everyone is to blame.Given the nature of the disclosures, those who were foolish enough to believe that their privacy and their rights would be guaranteed by a government that still pursues and arrests cannabis smokers are about to learn exactly how much such assurances are worth. This kind of thing will not stop until people stop begging hat-in-hand for their rights like some peasent to his lord, and start *demanding* their rights. The lawsuit being proposed will go a long way to seeing that those rights are respected. Only when pols and bureaucrats have their bums and their fingers burned do ever seem to pay attention.Otherwise, it'll be business as usual.
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