[420 Girl]

Have the terms and conditions of conventional medicine got you out of joint? Then get on the Pineapple Express, and roll a fatty -- if you can.

As hospitals cut corners to save cash, creating longer wait times for patients, it's no wonder more Canadians are looking to marijuana for relief.

Sure it'll make your eyes red and your mouth dry. You'll get the munchies, and perhaps a little giddy, but marijuana is a proven alternative for pain relief, with fewer side effects than quitting coffee, and poses less risk than driving down the highway, breathing city air, drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco.

Yet marijuana has been considered a crime in Western society for more than 70 years for reasons, some say, that are based solely on misinformation propagated by the pharmaceutical industry.

Today, about 4,000 Canadians -- patients who have satisfied Health Canada's rigorous medical and legal conditions -- are free to use marijuana. But it's no easy feat (for a poor quality strain of the drug) and as a result, thousands of others are choosing to grow their own, or bargain with illicit drug dealers.

Ottawa has long been urged to relax its regulations which prevent licensed marijuana growers (other than Health Canada) from supplying to more than one patient. While new rules implemented in 2009 allow designated producers to grow for a maximum of two patients, supply still fails to meet demand, and activists remain frustrated with the bureaucracy and limitations.

Decriminalizing production and use of marijuana by anyone (for medical or recreational purposes) would divert millions of dollars from organized crime and gangs that currently profit from its illegal status.

At present, the greatest danger in the medical use of marijuana is its prohibition, which imposes anxiety and expense on suffering individuals, forcing them to face the black market and the threat of criminal prosecution for the possession of a powerful remedy.

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