Marijuana.com

xxdr_zombiexx

Medical Marijuana Returned
Kris Sims |Friday, April 30, 2004 | CFRA 580

It appears some of the marijuana the Federal Government is growing and giving to Canadian patients is getting the thumbs-down.

The plant is going to Canadians who use it to cope with the pain, nausea, wasting and sleeplessness that often plagues those living with cancer and AIDS.

Records show almost one third of the 92 patients who received it from the government have sent it back.

Last fall, some of the first to receive the government cannabis called it ``disgusting,'' and ``totally unsuitable for human consumption.''

The plants are grown underground in an abandoned mine in Flin Flon Manitoba.

The Prairie Plant System is in the fourth year of a $5.5-million, five-year contract, and has shipped 279 ounces of pot, Philippe Lucas director of Canadians for Safe Access says he estimates that each ounce costs the government $16,000.

[zombienote: If I am not mistaken, the cannabis is grown deep in an underground copper mine. Chemicals and minerals have leached into the plants making it, as the person above is quotes as saying, unfit for human consumption.

And leave it to a government to make a weed cost $16000 an ounce.

Reefer madness makes the Government - even the Canadian Government - stupid. Simply stupid. Why not just set up a normal grow-op like many others do? This "security mentality" - the ostensible reason for growing the Devil Weed deep underground - is really fruitless and prevents progress on the issue. It's just ridiculous. ]

__________________
Alien Space Signal

There's no money for your issue so long as we're squandering $50 billion a year on the DrugWar. Ben Masel

Fear became the ultimate tool of this government - V.

 

cheapbastard

And leave it to a government to make a weed cost $16000 an ounce.

Reefer madness makes the Government - even the Canadian Government - stupid. Simply stupid. Why not just set up a normal grow-op like many others do? This "security mentality" - the ostensible reason for growing the Devil Weed deep underground - is really fruitless and prevents progress on the issue. It's just ridiculous. ][/i][/quote]

this kinda makes me enbareassed to be an american.

Bellatrix

We've got an election in Canada coming up, and I actually might have voted Liberal if Paul Martin hadn't made this chattering ****w*t the friggin' deputy PM. Thats right folks - as if Paul Martin isn't bad enough, if anything happened to him, the shrieking ninny (god, I am trying so hard not to curse) would be the Prime Minister of Canada. Good lord, I'd almost rather have George Bush. I hate her just that much.

The present Minister of Health is Pierre Pettigrew, who touched the third rail of Canadian politics last week by putting "health care" and "privatize" in the same sentence. His predacessor, Anne McLellan, was the Justice Minister before she was the Health Minister, and was placed in the position of Health Minister just as the medical marijuana system in Canada was getting started. I think that her previous job and the timing of her placement as Minister of Health is pretty telling as to the Canadian gov't's real intentions concerning the med-pot program. The Canadian Constitution and the Canada Health Act compelled the gov't to go along wth it by law, but they've been fighting it every step of the way.

A letter from the Office of Cannabis Medical Access

Please note - if you follow the link to this letter you wil be taken to a subsidiary of the Health Canada website. Any info on the specific details of the Canadian Medicinal Marijuana Program - at least the beaurocratic end of it - can be found here and at the linsk included on the site). This letter was written by Anne as a general media release to a variety of media outlets.

August 28, 2002

Dear Editor,

As a result of some misleading and inaccurate coverage by the media, this letter clarifies the federal government's policy on the use of marihuana for medical purposes.

First let me say that the Government of Canada has not backed away from its medical marihuana program. If we were doing so, I can assure you that we would not be spending the time, energy and money that we are on moving ahead with the program, and with significant stakeholder involvement. This includes the establishment of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee on Marihuana for Medical Purposes, expected to meet for the first time in October 2002.

Take a look at this link (originally from the Toronto Star) to see how this turned out. Here's a telling excerpt - A Toronto doctor living with AIDS has quit a federal advisory group on medical marijuana in frustration, saying it's now clear to him Health Minister Anne McLellan doesn't want to provide pot to those who need it.

I know that many Canadians who are suffering from terminal or grave illnesses strongly and genuinely believe, with the support of their physicians, that smoking marihuana helps them live more comfortably and in less pain. In my role as Health Minister, I must balance those beliefs with the need to carry out research into the safety and effectiveness of marihuana as a medicine.

This is the usual rhetorical garbage. Type "marijauana" and "medicine" into any search engine and you'll get all kinds of hits. I guess for all of her expertise Anne doesn't know how to use a search engine. I've included a link to to The Science of Medical Marijuana as an example of the information anyone can find about medicinal marijuana.

That is why our policy has two components. The first component is the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) which allow people with authorizations to possess and cultivate marihuana for medical purposes. At present over 800 people in Canada are permitted by Health Canada to possess marihuana for medical purposes. The MMAR remain in effect and people continue to apply.

The second component of our approach is research. These are two parallel tracks.

Unlike heroin and morphine products, marihuana is not approved as a medicine in any country in the world. Marihuana cannot be approved in Canada without scientific evidence proving its benefits and defining its risks. At present, while there are anecdotal reports of the value of smoked marihuana, the scientific studies about its safety and effectiveness are inconclusive.

At the time of writing, this was true, but it is a misleading assesment. The Dutch were concurrently working on a program to put medical marijuana in pharmacies, and therefore make it available to patients in need. They have succeeded - Anne has failed, and miserably, at that.

Conducting research will allow us to better understand whether and for which medical conditions marihuana is an effective medicine and better understand the risks in relation to those benefits.

More about this research is available here at the Canadians for Safe Access website . Here's an excerpt to illustrate how seriosuly Anne took that -
Health Minister McLellan has repeatedly stated that more research is needed before Health Canada can begin the compassionate distribution of cannabis for therapeutic purposes, yet Health Canada continues to stall and obstruct the only 2 research initiatives it has seen fit to approve.

Health Canada continues to pursue the research plan initiated in 1999 by my predecessor Allan Rock. This will include broad-based clinical trials (that will accommodate large numbers of participants) and controlled clinical trials (involving smaller groups of patients). These clinical trials will use research grade marihuana, including that produced for Health Canada by Prairie Plant Systems.

It is our hope that these clinical trials will include many of the people permitted by Health Canada to possess marihuana for medical purposes.

Canadians who do not participate in this research can continue to apply for a license to cultivate marihuana or for a designate to cultivate it for them, under the existing regulations.

Let me reassure all Canadians that the federal government remains committed to our medical marihuana program. This program takes a compassionate approach to Canadians who suffer from serious medical conditions while, at the same time, pursuing a sound research agenda.

ARGH! LIES LIES and MORE FRIGGIN' LIES.

I hope this letter will clear up any confusion caused by your coverage.

A. Anne McLellan

I have included the addreses of both Pierre Pettigrew (the present Minister of Health) and to that glorified shrew Anne McLellan below. This illustrates the doublespeak inherent in both the US and Canadian gov't regarding marijuana. Don't kid yourself folks - they are ALL whores. Please fell free to write to them. Activists write letters, and the Libs will pay attentio now that the federal election could be called any day now!!!

Write to Pierre Pettigrew

Contact Paul Martin - Prime Minster of Canada (Anne McLellan can also be contacted through this link - since she is the Deputy PM - for our American friends , this is similar to being the Vice Prez).

__________________

Marijuana.com Community Posting Guidelines
Marijuana.com Article Submission Guidelines

FREE MARC EMERY

dapoopa

Hi Bellatrix,

Thanks for the informative post. I would appreciate your views on the New Democratic Party (NDP) as regards their chances in the upcoming election. I am sure you are aware of their platform as regards marijuana regulation.

Also, what are the chances that the current Health Minister would be replaced with someone more amenable to a proper and functioning medical cannabis program?

Thanks

Red_Eye_Joe

Good stuff here guys! Of course it costs the Federal Government 16,000 for an ounce. This is the same country that spends 1,500 on a light bulb!

__________________
Red Eye Joe Says...
"Can't we all just get a bong?"

 

Bellatrix

Hey dapoopa; you're welcome ^_^

I have always admired the NDP, but they became my party of choice after I moved out West. Thanks to the tuition freeze in BC I was able to afford university. Say what you will about the scandals of the former provincial gov't of British Columbia, but they got some good things done for the people of BC during their tenure. They certainly wasted less time and resources than Gordon Campell of the Liberals, who has raised tution fees, gutted health care and social programs and as a proverbial cherry on top, brought us the waste and foolishness of the IOC in 2010.

As for the NDP's upcoming election, I think the chances are pretty good. The sponsorship scandal and infighting amoung the Liberals has hurt their chances. It also doesn't help that they've been in power for 12 years. I would say the PCs are a shoe-in, but now that they've been taken over by the Alliance (very right wing party from Alberta) I think they've lost some of their votes. Support for American policies - like the beef and wheat protectionism, anti-gay amrriage and anti-minority, and of course the fiasco that is the Iraq Occupation has really turned some of their core supporters off as well. The NDP is the only Canadian political party that openly and unapologetically stands against crap like health care privatization, marijuana prohibition and the missile defense system.

I'm lucky - living in BC I can vote for Libby Davies in my riding. She is one of the best politicians we have in Canada today. It's because of her that East Vancouver has safe injection sites. Witout her the poor, the addicted, th elderly and generally disinfranchised folk of East Van would have been brushed callously aside by the Liberals. Any other party that gets in will continue to stonewall Canada's Medicinal Marijuana Program. The NDP are the only ones that will put a responsible minister in charge.

Enough of my editorializing! Here's a link to the official NDP website. Click on the "Issues" button on the left and scroll down a bit to see the official party line on "modernizing marijuana laws." Take a look at this videoon the pot-tv website of Jack Layton chatting with Marc Emery (compare his command of French to the recent pathetic attempt by Stephen Harper in a new PC campaign ad to mend those fences he so zealously tore down a few years back).

Oh, and by the way, Red Eye, criticism of this is pretty funy, coming from a guy living in a country with a deficit in the TRILLIONS and NO standardized health care. Nice work!