[420 Girl]

MONTREAL - About 25 people, including 10 arrested in police raids in June at four Montreal compassion clubs - medical marijuana centres - milled about the Montreal courthouse corridors Friday discussing the risks in providing pot to manage pain.

Those arrested, including another group in Quebec City, face charges of possession with intent to traffic, trafficking, and conspiracy.

They learned that court hearings are to resume Oct. 4 and 5 for those connected to the outlet on Papineau St. and another in Plateau Mont Royal. At that time the Crown is expected to disclose its evidence to defence lawyers.

Among those arrested was Marc-Boris St-Maurice, founder of the federal Marijuana Party, who pointed to what he considers the irony of current laws - it is illegal to sell pot, but it has been allowed in Canada for medical use for almost a decade.

At St-Maurice's Plateau compassion clubs, a diagnosis from a doctor that you suffer from pain, muscle spasms, nausea, weight loss and/or loss of appetite would qualify for membership.

Most strains were listed at $12 a gram, or seven grams for $60.

After several years of tolerance by police, St-Maurice blamed controversy over the Culture 420 Compassion Club on 15th Ave. in Lachine for "causing certain waves" and "we got painted with the same brush.

"Neighbours were complaining, the mayor complained, and the police could not pick and choose.

"We're sort of collateral damage in this," he said, in spite of developing "a great reputation" in a decade of operations.

The crackdown means that people who need pot as an analgesic now depend on the black market, or Health Canada, for their drug supplies.

"We tried to have the best quality, when it comes to THC count," St-Maurice said, referring to Tetrahydrocannabinol, or the main psychoactive ingredient in pot.

"We try to offer a variety, from lower to higher count," he said, while on the street consumers cannot know what they are getting. He declined to identify the source of the marijuana.

Gilbert Higgins, who is HIV positive, said he needs marijuana occasionally for pain reduction and considers his condition is sufficient to qualify for compassionate pot use.

"When I have pain and feel like vomiting, it stops immediately when I smoke marijuana," he said in the court corridor.

Wearing a button with a diagonal line through the word pain, Eugene Feig of Laval explained he could not get relief from the usual analgesics for acute pain to his spinal cord following an accident that has lingered since 1997.

He carries a card from Health Canada authorizing him to possess the drug.

"I could get it (pot) from other sources but I am presently supplied by Health Canada," he said.

Feig added he fully understands why police felt the need to act, saying that some people "out of compassion were not as vigilant as they should have been and they ruined it for everybody."

The answer is for Health Canada to get more involved in "every step in the chain. including warehousing and distribution."



NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Montreal Gazette - Breaking News, Quebec, Opinion, Multimedia & More
Author: Irwin Block
Contact: The Montreal Gazette
Copyright: The Montreal Gazette
Website:Compassion clubs "painted with the same brush": St-Maurice


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