Medical Marijuana Issue
Happy Valentine’s Day!
From the editor…
We recently received a communication from one of our readers alerting us to what is going on with the Medical Marijuana issue in Canada. Unless you have been living in a remote cave, you will be aware that down there in the US, which has so long dominated and controlled the legality of hemp and marijuana all over the globe, there is a veritable tidal wave of change occurring in public opinion, and governments are finally paying attention….and, of course, seeing dollar signs. ..
When Colorado legalized recreational marijuana on January 1st of this year, the 37 licensed dispensaries in the state took in $5 million dollars in the first week alone. Governments don’t pay much attention to pain and suffering out amongst the hoi polloi, but hey, they sure sit up and take notice when there’s serious money on the table!
Virtually every state in the union is currently looking into joining the gold rush to legalize marijuana. It appears that there will be a virtual tsunami of legislative changes down there as ever more states jump on this gravy train.
So, why has the Canadian Federal Government taken a step backwards regarding the use of medical marijuana in Canada?
Up until January 1st, 2014 it was legal in New Brunswick for medical marijuana patients to grow 6 plants for their own personal use. The federal government has pulled the plug on this compassionate and workable system. As of March 31st, 2014 all private citizens who grow medical marijuana will be required by law to destroy their cannabis plants.
The government plans to get into the pot business themselves, by selling medical marijuana from government dispensaries at $8 per gram. And, since this will be government sanctioned crops of cannabis you can bet the quality of the cannabis will decrease as the costs increase! 72 percent of the people currently using medical marijuana will not be able to afford this cost.
As our correspondent Terry Perkins tells us, until you have lived with relentless chronic pain, or other medical issues that are relieved by marijuana, you can’t understand what a boon this was for the patients. Terry is a medical marijuana patient, who suffers from chronic, debilitating pain. Rather than use addictive and deadly opiate based drugs to control his pain, he has depended on his own home grown medicine.
In fact, to digress for a moment, prescription drug abuse is now more common than street drug abuse, by far! Opiate based narcotic pain killers are among the most commonly prescribed medications in Canada. And, Big Pharma reaps tens of billions of dollars in profit each year from drug addicts, that is, patients who are addicted to their narcotics that have been legally prescribed by the patient’s physicians!
But back to the marijuana issue…The Harper government is claiming that this new medical marijuana plan will grow into a 1.3 billion dollar business by 2024. The government is already referring to medical cannabis users as “consumers’ instead of patients. This is a huge step backwards.
In the state of Maine, patients are allowed to grow 6 plants per patient. Furthermore, medical marijuana patients are allowed to buy edible cannabis products, tinctures and oils.
Imbibing medical marijuana in forms other than smoking is frequently a more efficient and useful way to access the medical qualities of the plant. In Canada, patients will be required by law to smoke cannabis only, all other methods of ingestion will be illegal.
Why is this? Perhaps it is because other methods of ingestion, by cannabis oils or infusions, for instance, are a much more efficient and economical way to take cannabis? And by making patients only smoke their medical cannabis, the government hopes to sell more?
Most registered medical marijuana users and growers have invested money in systems to grow and protect their small crops. This represents a significant outlay of money on their part, all of which will now be useless and for which they will most certainly not be reimbursed!
Many medical marijuana patients cannot take pharmaceuticals, and are too ill to work, and will not be able to afford this new medical marijuana plan. It will not generate billions of dollars for the government, it is a step back into the dark ages and will create more street dealers.
Terry Perkins is asking folks to help start a boycott of this new plan. He is asking for support from across Canada from all medical marijuana patients. Call him at 506-392-1910 or email him at terry.perkins1@bellaliant.net to share your support and stories as to how this new law will affect medical marijuana patients and their families.
