| Chewbacca |
02-11-2003 12:51 AM |
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Perhaps if he were Canadian, he could plead medical use for color blindness or writer's cramp:
http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v03/n179/a03.htm?134
Quote:
POT NOW AVAILABLE FOR MINOR ILLNESSES
by Susan Ruttan,
Alberta
Court rulings have chipped away at federal restrictions
Minor physical conditions from writer's cramp to colour blindness are enough to qualify now for home delivery of medical marijuana -- with no doctor's prescription needed.
A year and a half ago, the federal government passed regulations saying medical marijuana would be available only to people with a serious illness, and only with a physician's permission.
Such legal restrictions appear to have wilted.
Three weeks ago, an Ontario judge declared them unconstitutional.
Police disagree and local suppliers remain careful, although some provide pot on recommendations from practitioners such as massage therapists.
Mark Johnson, a 29-year-old Edmonton entrepreneur, is entering the field with his new Canadian Compassion Club.
Johnson said he has a secure supply of the product and is promising "fast, free-delivery service Canada-wide."
"People put marijuana down because it was looked at as a drug at one time, but it's not," Johnson said. "It's 100-per-cent herb."
His new venture already has competition. The Krieger Foundation, founded by Calgary marijuana advocate Grant Krieger and his wife Marie, supplies marijuana around the country and to a client in Hawaii.
The Kriegers have recently opened an Edmonton branch, run by a former nurse and hepatitis C sufferer out of her home.
In Montreal, the federal Marijuana Party has opened an Internet site offering to mail marijuana to Canadians with any of nearly 200 ailments including hiccups, whiplash and colour blindness.
The party won a court ruling in late December opening the door to such sales. The judge concluded that since the federal government has failed to provide a supply of medicinal marijuana, patients have a right to look elsewhere.
"There's a growing interest out there," Marie Krieger said in an interview from Calgary. She and her husband hope to open a store soon in Calgary.
The Krieger Foundation may have a marketing edge in the growing competition, thanks to Marie Krieger's creation of a "doc bar" -- a cereal bar made with marijuana.
It delivers the drug without the necessity of smoking. Krieger named it after a client who is a physician and a big fan of the cereal bar.
The doctor's 80-year-old mother is using the marijuana bars for her osteoarthritis, Krieger said.
"She's off her morphine and she eats doc bars all day."
Krieger said that because Alberta physicians won't order medicinal marijuana for their patients, her group uses other "licensed practitioners" for the referral -- people such as massage therapists, chiropractors and reflexologists.
Johnson said his service will require a doctor's recommendation. However, when informed of the Kriegers' approach, he seemed less sure about the requirement.
Johnson, who calls himself a business consultant and private investor, said he uses marijuana for chronic pain and other problems: "I have fatigue. I can't sleep. I have another problem: I don't eat. That ( marijuana ) helps me right there."
The medical marijuana business isn't completely out in the open.
Edmonton police say selling medicinal marijuana must be done by the strict letter of the current law, which means the seller must be federally licensed.
"Anything outside that would be breaking the law," police spokesman Dean Parthenis said.
Sending marijuana through the mail still constitutes trafficking, Alberta RCMP spokesman Const. Al Fraser said.
Krieger said the foundation "does everything very, very discreetly through the mail."
She drove to Edmonton on Sunday with two ounces of marijuana for clients here, she said. Given the price of gas, the trip isn't exactly a paying proposition, she said.
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MAP posted-by: Josh
Pubdate: Tue, 04 Feb 2003
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2003 The Edmonton Journal
Contact: letters@thejournal.southam.ca
Website: http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Susan Ruttan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
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[ 02-11-2003, 12:56 AM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ] |
