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Lit_Match

Legal joint ignites debate
2-26-08|Vancouver 24 Hours News

Losing the ability to smoke medicinal marijuana in public places is a troubling prospect for a Burnaby woman recovering from multiple sclerosis.

Olga Eredics, who two weeks ago was confronted for sparking up with prescription in hand by security guards patrolling the Metrotown area, worries government policy against tobacco but ambiguous to marijuana may harm her quality of life.

"That frightens me because I wouldn't be able to do my exercises," Eredics said. "At the end of the day, the pain is too much for me to walk home."

Federal NDP drug policy critic Libby Davies said the reluctance of governments, both the previous Liberals and now the Conservatives, to clear up the "botched" legislation that the Liberals brought in 2001 "kicking and screaming" has resulted in problems not just for the public but also for users themselves.

"The law says they [medicinal pot smokers] are allowed to do what they're doing, and yet there are so many barriers that make it almost impossible for them to be able to use medical marijuana," she said from her constituency office in Vancouver's East Side

Federal Health Minister Tony Clement declined to comment, but a spokesman for his office did e-mail 24 hours news services stating that where licensed pot smokers can light up is provincial jurisdiction.

However, the province's ministry of health, rejected the federal suggestion that it's British Columbia's job to police where medical marijuana users can smoke.

The province's smoke-free B.C. legislation deals exclusively with tobacco smoke, said ministry spokesperson Sarah Plank.

Not surprisingly, since marijuana is a federally controlled substance and only a federal exemption can allow people to access it, restrictions on the use of marijuana would be "under Health Canada's jurisdiction," she said.

The only explicit guidance merely recommends discretion and comes from a Health Canada form used by applicants for medical marijuana.

"Given the nature of marihuana [sic] and the fact that the provision of marihuana is for your personal treatment needs, Health Canada recommends not consuming this controlled substance in a public place," the application form states.

The aging of the Baby Boom generation and increasing medical acceptance of the possible benefits associated with medical marijuana is creating demand for the drug.

The number of licensed users in Canada - currently just under 2,500 - has increased over the past six years by an average of 371 new licensed marijuana users per year.

But although licensed users number about 2,500, the Canadian Medical Association estimated in a 2001 journal article titled "Marijuana: Federal smoke clears, a little" that about 400,000 Canadians use cannabis for medical use.

The increase and the number of people who may be eligible to smoke marijuana legally, said celebrated pro-marijuana lawyer and Osgoode Hall law professor Alan Young, should get governments moving to not only clean up the legislation, but also legitimize marijuana's use in society.

"We know that the numbers in Health Canada's program ... can easily grow five-fold. At some point, we are going to have to tackle this issue about public medicinal use," he said, noting common sense could go a long way to balance everyone's rights.

Even Canada's own Prince of Pot, Marc Emery, said common sense and reason are paramount in this issue to effectively balance everyone's rights.

"I don't see people with insulin bringing their syringes out in the middle of restaurants and giving themselves injections," Emery, who is facing a 10-year jail sentence at the U.S.'s behest for selling marijuana seeds, said from his home in B.C., noting that since Gibson was drinking alcohol at the time of the Burlington incident in 2005, he could have ingested the cannabis via an alcoholic tincture that would have been just as effective and more discreet.

"It's important, when you're a minority, to appear to be reasonable about your needs and requirements," he added. "Clearly, it's an imposition on businesses to have to monitor the quality of certain smokes outside their front door. That's unreasonable. When you're balancing your rights against the rights of others, there is a certain sense of reasonableness required."

WHO CAN SMOKE

The federal government could issue you a licence to smoke pot if you suffer from one of the following illnesses:

- Multiple sclerosis

- Spinal cord injuries or diseases

- Cancer

- HIV/AIDS

- Arthritis

- Epilepsy

- The government will also consider granting a licence to someone who suffers debilitating symptoms from additional medical conditions if confirmed by a specialist.

- Marijuana is also sometimes used to treat glaucoma.

- Source: Health Canada's website

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Donation links to NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) | MPP (Marijuana Policy Project)

 

Buzzby

As long as marijuana remains illegal for recreational purposes, I don't see how anyone could light up in public. It is extremely rude to spark a joint and not offer the people around you a toke.

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wem511

Since MJ is harmless it would be much healthier to make cigs illegal in public places and allow joints to be sparked up to reduce pain, stress etc...

Buzzby

Marijuana is not harmless. It is a lot less harmful than tobacco. Many states do have laws making it illegal to light up a cigarette in public places, some even in outdoor venues. I don't think anyone should be subject to breathing other people's second-hand smoke in enclosed spaces. I've sat downwind of tables full of nicotine fiends and it wasn't pleasant.

I don't see why it's such a burden upon medical marijuana patients to expect them to go somewhere private to take their medicine, rather than annoying the people around them. Smoking a joint is not like taking a pill. It does affect the people around you.

grifty51

somewhat related I hope. for medical users is it needed for them to smoke or could you just eat some hash brownies or weed butter. ( i know that for chemo patients its tough to eat and marijuana stims the appetite, so this is not directed at that particular group.)

 

Unregistered

In response to grifty51's query: I'm a licensed Medicinal Marijuana patient of California and I smoke or vaporize pot instead of consuming it in the form of pot brownies or butter because my gastrointestinal system does not function correctly and therefore consuming pot in food doesn't get my high or ease my nausea (except when I eat several grams of Moroccan hashish, but that's only affordable in Morocco ).

ciders

Pains can occur anywhere on my sore body, and the variety of sensations of both enormous pain, numbness, itching, excessive ‘heat’, excessive ‘cold’, even hypersensitivity to all bodily and sensory perceptions occupy my every second of existence. The constant “hum” of pain is simply exhausting and hits anyone living with multiple sclerosis. Undulating pain is particularly disturbing, because I ‘know’ what I am in for. I periodically have waves of pain that build up throughout the body, and then surge into one enormous energy ball. This ball lets loose in internal explosion that painfully shoots out of my limbs, the top of my head, or my eyeballs.

My name is Olga Eredics, and I smoke cannabis to not only relieve the above pain, but to promote healing of my body damaged by multiple sclerosis. The daily improvement in movement is not only due to a restricted diet, but to smoking the cannabis. Cannabis not only relieves my pain by 70%, but aids in better body movement, and thus a more refined healing process. I actually can “sense” my damaged motor neurons operating at a smoother, less erratic fashion whenever I smoke cannabis. I do notice that the initial hit from a smoke, during the first 15 minutes, I have a difficult time moving. I need to remain seated until the initial hit wears off. Then, eureka, pain relief is accompanied by easier movement that can last up to 2 hours. This is the window of opportunity for me to exercise, and the mall area is the best and safest location for me to do this.

Therefore, with the expectation that I stand on a public street corner is neither safe or even possible sometimes. Every time I now stand on the street, I am afraid of falling and hurting myself or being approached by strangers. The other option is consistently use my wheelchair, or as one security guard suggested, stay at home. These latter two scenarios I would prefer to avoid, particularly when I am desperately trying to work on nerve regeneration. The process has been ongoing for the last two years, and I can honestly say that I only notice improvements if I walk on a steady basis. I cannot walk without cannabis, so the option to stand out on a street, next to traffic flying by, not only is discriminatory, but impractical for me.
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Statistics Canada states that there are “3.4 million disabled individuals...14.6% of the adult population” living in Canada. As of 2001, the Canadian Council on Social Development states that most disabled Canadians “live in straitened circumstances” and earn a measly “$6902 to $11,173 a year”. Many of these disabled and/or chronically ill Canadians rely on cannabis to function in their daily lives. Why would a responsible disabled individual - which most of us HAVE to be in order to survive - bother spending money on cannabis if it didn’t work? I wouldn’t bother. Note that if cannabis were addictive I wouldn’t be able to make choices on whether I can afford it or not.

The propaganda imposed on our brains has been artificially created and fueled by the pharmaceutical companies. These entities control the “fastest growing component of Canada’s total health expenditures” with “expenditures on drugs...to reach $24.8 billion in 2005" (Fraser Institute, Market Wire, Nov. 2007). The F.I. also states that the “root causes of high generic drug prices in Canada are government policies that shield retail pharmacies and generic drug manufacturers”. There is more here than meets the eye.

Cannabis can never be patented, and as a result probably isn’t financially attractive for the pharmaceutical companies to manufacture. These pharmaceutical companies instead keep Canadians mentally and physically dependent on pain-relieving pharmaceuticals that kill the organs.

Every pain-relieving drug has its beneficial and cautionary side effects, and I don’t deny that cannabis has its own side effects. However, the benefits far outweigh the side effects. Even Canadian Veterinarians can order cannabis online from Health Canada. It can be an effective pain reliever for the animals they treat, so why not humans?

We are being victimized.
Olga Eredics

Yayo420

Wow This Olga woman speaks the absolute truth, and is truely an inspiration

BillieBudd

Although I do not require MJ for medicine and so cannot speak to having an immediate need for that medication, it seems to me that a little planning ahead of time would negate the need to light up in the middle of the town square. In a perfect world, it would not make a difference, but the world we live in is not that and it just strikes me as needlessly pushing the envelope which is sure to provoke a reaction.