cannabisnews.com: Cannabis and Compassion Cannabis and Compassion Posted by FoM on March 01, 2000 at 18:22:01 PT By Kari Huus, MSNBC Source: MSNBC For Nicole Gionet, every day is a day for smoking a little pot. Without it, she would live in constant pain from fibromyalgia, a disease that causes a diffuse pain throughout the muscles and joints. A dozen doctors have failed to effectively treat Gionet’s illness, which remains a medical mystery. Why marijuana works is equally mysterious. But when the 49-year-old Gionet smokes a certain type of cannabis, her pain retreats, she regains her appetite and she relaxes. Without it, she says she would question the value of life. “The pain drives you crazy,” said Gionet. Gionet is one of 1,100 members who make regular stops at the Vancouver Compassion Club. Here on a recent morning, under soft lights and amid filtered air, the former engineer came to smoke a joint, as she often does, before moving on for massage therapy. Two middle-age men sat quietly on a sofa across the room, rolling joints and discussing the relative merits of different smoking methods. Here, the stigma of pot goes away.The Compassion Clubhttp://www.thecompassionclub.org/ All these people come with recommendations from their doctors, who agree that marijuana may help chronic symptoms of illnesses like AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy, cancer and multiple sclerosis, as well as the side effects of chemotherapy. The Compassion Club’s members also include drug addicts ravaged by heroin or crack withdrawal who use marijuana for relief. “I live in a bubble where prohibition doesn’t exist,” said Hilary Black, 24, who founded the club in 1997. Hillary Black, 24, founder of the Vancouver Compassion Club, has devoted most of her adult life to researching medical marijuana and setting up the club. The Compassion Club is not, strictly speaking, legal, but it runs much as any legitimate non-profit would. Members pay an annual fee of $15, and a nominal amount for the marijuana — less than it costs on the street. They choose from a menu of marijuana varieties, and ways of administering them — from baked goods to vaporizers to old-fashioned rolled cigarettes. The club staff keeps records of each member’s purchases to prevent the pot from being resold on the street. A few members have been warned or kicked out of the club for trying to make a few extra bucks. The police, who kept the club under surveillance for a long spell, now keep a distance. The only exceptions have been when they investigated a rash of break-ins at the club. Publicly, the police say that while they are aware of the club’s activities, it is “not a priority.” Privately, according to Black, some have expressed support for what she is doing. Canada's Potent Cash Crop: Marijuanahttp://www.msnbc.com/news/373701.asp?cp1=1 Black’s commitment to the idea of medical marijuana began when she worked in a hemp-product shop, where she was frequently approached by customers who were ill and hoped to buy pot. When she became convinced of its effectiveness, she went to California and Holland to learn about medical users’ clubs. A Activist and a Businesswoman: Since founding the club, Black has found herself getting further and further from the easy-going days of youth. “I used to run around town with this backpack full of pot, full of cash, being all civilly disobedient. Now I carry this nerdy thing around,” she said, pointing to a rectangular briefcase, filled with notes on taxes, capitalization and other business matters. The club’s board of directors includes a middle-age white man, who Black conceded has helped her get taken seriously — which is sometimes difficult at her age. The Compassion Club offers a variety of organically grown marijuana at a deep discount from the street price, and a safe, quiet place to smoke it. Gradually, Black has become one of the people in the forefront of Canada’s debate on legalizing medical marijuana. A recent court decision hit close to home when the supplier for the Compassion Club was arrested with 6 kilograms of marijuana. After the judge heard arguments from Black, some of the club’s members and criminal lawyer John Conroy, he gave the defendant, Marcus Richardson, the minimum possible sentence — six months of probation. “Undoubtedly the times are changing,” said Judge J.B. Paradis. “And it is in the context of that change that this accused must be sentenced.” Paradis compared the Compassion Club to a pharmacy that was dispensing a drug responsibly and said a middleman, given current laws, was simply necessary. “Marijuana will not fall into its hands as manna from heaven,” said the judge. Canada's Changing Times: It is not clear that Canada will come up with a sweeping law to clear the way for the use of medical marijuana. However, the government agency Health Canada plans a five-year program to distribute 1 million marijuana cigarettes to sick Canadians and researchers who are studying the plant. Ottawa also is laying the groundwork for authorized growers and vendors for medical marijuana. This is a very different approach than the United States’. There have been reams of research on medical marijuana in the United States, most recently on delivering the drug’s active ingredient through patches or pills, with varying degrees of success. Waiting to Inhale: Hemp for Health?http://www.msnbc.com/news/120685.asp But in the meantime, many states have taken the matter into their own hands, passing initiatives favoring medical marijuana. There are similar compassion clubs operating quietly in cities across the United States. But the drug is still banned by federal law, and the Justice Department has challenged voter-approved laws in Alaska, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington. So major grow operations, even those associated with compassion clubs, are subject to tough federal penalties, and many doctors are reluctant to prescribe marijuana. “We believe that the movement for medical marijuana is a front for those who want to legalize the drug,” said Thomas O’Brien of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In one notable case, an American is currently seeking asylum in Canada. Rene Boje says she was arrested after merely watering cannabis plants in California, where in 1996 voters approved the use of medical marijuana distributed through compassion clubs. Boje, a friend of the grower, who maintains that the plants were for medical research, fled to Canada and sought asylum. Canadian courts have not decided whether to extradite Boje to the United States, where she faces as much as 10 years in prison. While medical marijuana is still under debate in Canada, it may gain acceptance in Ottawa more readily than in Washington. “Canada has never set a drug war in motion,” said Peter Gorman, a former writer for High Times, a New York-based magazine on marijuana-related issues around the world. He has covered medical marijuana for two decades. “They do not have a policy to defend. They have never made it a core political issue. We made the war on drugs a core political issue.” U.S. Accused of Obstructionism: Some Canadians say Washington’s pressure on Canada is hindering the adoption of what they consider a sane policy on medical marijuana. “Our government trial (of medical marijuana)... is a stall, and probably a stall at the request of the U.S. government,” said Vancouver based criminal defense lawyer John Conroy, a top proponent of decriminalization. Conroy, who has worked closely with the Vancouver Compassion Club, said that the organization will seek a constitutional exemption for a group to grow and supply the organization, “until the government gets its act together to start licensing.” The Zen approach taken by Black has served the Vancouver Compassion Club well so far. She and her colleagues, who operate by consensus, have maintained a low profile, gradually winning the confidence of the police, their landlord, their parents and their grandparents. The club has delayed allowing new members, even though there are more than 200 on a waiting list. The idea is to build not the biggest, but the best model of how the process can work. “We hope for continued tolerance,” Black said. “In reality we know the biggest struggle is dealing with the United States. But I’d like to think that we could be an example,” she said. “Maybe I’m being a little naive.” MSNBC international correspondent Kari Huus is based in Seattle. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 1, 2000 Conditions and Privacy © 2000 Related Articles:Direct Link To MSNBC's Special on Cannabis and Compassion: http://www.msnbc.com/news/373705.asp?cp1=1Marijuana Ingredient Kills Rat Brain Tumors http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4900.shtmlMarijuana Ingredient May Fight Brain Cancerhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4890.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on March 01, 2000 at 19:44:00 PT Canadian compassion, US tyranny, Pt. 3 The differences never cease to amaze me.Canada proposes a program (albeit, an attenuated one) for MMJ. The US proposes building more prisons, and to show its' flinty resolve in demonstrating blind justice, throws the halt and the lame into them, to demonstrate to all the world it shows no favoritism when it dispenses justice. The Canadian police leave the Compassionate Club members largely alone; the US has its goons bust down doors, frighten and manhandle sick people, steal their medicine, arrest their caretakers and cart them off to be booked.Yessir, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. You gotta be real brave to pick a fight with a cripple. This country cannot long survive this madness. Not when a projected third of the population is expected to get cancer in their lifetimes and will absolutely *need* cannabis. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: