[420 Girl]

Regardless of the science, there seems little doubt from the anecdotal experience of many who suffer from chronic health conditions that marijuana can offer them relief of a sort not available from the multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical industry.

The evidence is compelling enough that the same government that has made pot illegal has also offered exemptions for those who need to use marijuana for medical purposes.

It is debatable whether Nanaimo needs a so-called "Compassion Society" to make sure those who need medical marijuana can get it. The phenomenon of the compassion clubs is where the line between genuine medical need and the recreational user gets murky.

Some clubs only need evidence of illness, others need what amounts to a prescription from a doctor. Either way, the risk of those exploiting the availability of medical marijuana for recreational use is high.

Before going further, the issue of legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana has to be considered. Either way, the result will be the drug becoming readily available, and we already have a highly destructive drug easily with reach -- alcohol.

Our widespread abuse of alcohol indicates that this society is not ready to make marijuana easily available. That said, it has to be admitted that pot is almost as easy to get as booze, and is one of the top cash-producing crops in B.C.

The very real concern is that the compassion clubs, despite their best intentions, become fronts for organized crime. And it is organized crime that is raking in the billions of dollars annually from the worldwide marijuana crops, from indoor growing operations in Nanaimo to large plantations in Latin America.

Police agencies have been saying it, and there is no doubt that marijuana profits serve as the base for other criminal operations of organized crime. They use it to finance the cocaine and heroin trades, to buy guns that get to the streets of our cities and to foster corruption among those with money and power who can benefit their cause.

That's a long way from the streets of Nanaimo and a couple of guys who want to provide good quality pot for those who need to use it for medical purposes. What needs to be remembered here is that as long as marijuana is illegal, then there is at least a link of criminality. As with anything else, if the law against pot is a bad law, then it has be changed through the democratic process, not by just breaking that law.

Unfortunately that's just what someone in Nanaimo is planning to do; to illegally possess and distribute marijuana.

One thing this situation demonstrates is just how badly the federal government has botched up the medical marijuana program. People can get exemptions to use and grow pot, but there are some serious problems arising from how this has been administered.

People who get the exemptions are forced to buy it illegally because the government has not found a way to produce and distribute it. As for growing it, that sounds much simpler. But growing is not easy for many, and even for those with time, space and knowledge to do so, they find themselves at risk of either being broken into for their plants, or raided by overzealous and under informed police.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...na-fiasco.html