Cannabis Health - [Mar/Apr 2004]

8/9/2019 Cannabis Health - [Mar/Apr 2004]

1/36


2/36


3/36


4/36

2 CANNABIS HEALTH Journal

Editorial ........................................................................................... 4

Letters.................................................................................................................................. 5

Legal Eagle ..................................................................................................................... 6

John Conroy QC comm ents on the Supreme Court decision.

Kirk Tousaw ....................................................................................................................10

Prohibition causes corruption.

Fill the Hill......................................................................................................................11

Jody Pressman organizes protest on Parliament Hill June 5t h.

NDP Candidates .............................................................................................................12

A lex Atamanenko...............................................................................................................12

A lison Myrden.....................................................................................................................12

Li bby Davies ........................................................................................................................16

Choosing cannabis for children ............................................................................16

A parents dilemm a.

Educators for sensible drug policy .....................................................................19

A replacement for DAR E.

Changing times for High Times...........................................................................20

Comment s about t he new direction of High T imes Magazi ne.

Book Review..................................................................................................................24

The Best of A sk Ed reviewed.

Cannabis Clinic .............................................................................................................26

Micro and Macronutrient d eficiencies explained.

Weed 101 ............................................................................................28

The basics of growing cannabis from Klozit K ing

Product reviews..................................................................................29

A hash extractor bag and vaporizer reviewed.

In the News..................................................................................30/31

Montel W ill iams.................................................................................................................30

Pot crusader dies of MS. ....................................................................................................31

Friendly Business Directory..............................................................................29,30,31,32

W here you can pick up y our issue of Cannabis Health

Medical Cannabis help listings........................................................................................32

I N S I D E@C A N N A BI S H EA LTH www.cannabishealth.com

Editor: Brian Taylor - Production: Brian McAndrew - Sales: Lisa Smith -Accounting Barb Cornelius - Distribution: Mandy Nordahn - Shipping &Receiving: Gordon Taylor - Store:Lorraine Langis - Web:Brian McAndrew.Cannabis Health is published 6 times per year by Cannabis Health Foundat ion,P.O.Box 1481,Grand Forks, B.C. Canada V0H 1H0, Phone: 1-250-442-5166 Fax: 1-250-442-5167No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form,print or electronic,without writtenpermission of the publisher. For advertising informat ion use phone or fax or e-mail:[email protected]. Cannabis Health is also reproduced on the web in downloadablepdf format at cannabishealth.com/archive.html.

Recent schoolincidents haveshown shockingimages of studentsas victims of prohi-bition, disillusionedat the hypocrisy,confused by themixed messagesand treated like

criminals.The cover picture

was shot by AlyseFowler and the girlin the photo isWhitney St. Jeanboth are grade 12high school stu-dents in Grand Forks BC. They volun teered for the covershot because they support improved drug education andcleaner safer schools. The photo was then manipulated tolengthen the hallway and blur the background to empha-size feelings of isolation that victims of prohibition feel.

Brian McA ndrew

C O V E R

The Cannabis Health Foundation was formed in the spring of2002 as a non-profit foundation.

Our m andate as a n on-profit foundation is to provide accurate up-to-date informationon Cannabis Marijuana and Cannabis Hemp in a conservative style magazine thatappeals to the general public. We are pleased to announce the journal is now beingmade available to: Governmen t h ealth organizations, patient support groups, medicalassociations, research foundations and other cann abis related corporations at th e verylow bulk distribution rate of: $1.00 per copy + shippingAdvertisers in the journal receive up to 300 free copies per issue.

SUBSCRIPTION / DISTRIBUTION INFORMATIONIf you would like to receive 6 copies per year of the most informative resource for med-ical marijuana available, subscribe to Cannabis Health by sending your name andaddress to Cannabis Health Foundation, P.O.Box 1481, Grand Forks, B.C., V0H 1H0$25cdn in Canada (USA send $45.00cdn and foreign send $75.00cdn)

Bulk distribution rates in boxes of 100 at $1.00 per issue plus shipping. E-mail: [email protected]

NOTESIn the Mommys Funny

Medicine article in issue #8,the picture was missing namesof the people involved.

From t he left, Christine Lowe,Mike Foster an d Russell Barth .

Our apologies for missing it.


5/36


6/36

4 C A N N A B I S H E A L T H J o u r n a l

ED I T O R@C A N N A B I SH E A LTH

The Canadian Supreme Court decision find-ing Canadian marijuana laws constitutional,was a psychological blow, if not a st rategic setback. Rendering some speechless with indig-nation it seems to have challenged others tosearch for new paths to enlightenment.Three out of nine aint bad, but it shows theneed for education, beginning with our chil-dren an d it places the responsibility squarelyon the rule makers, the politicians.

The Goose Creek incident has shaken

America; like a drunk waking up in th e gut-ter, Americans saw themselves as hittingbottom. My god we are now arresting ourchildren.

Canadian schools face many of the same

challenges that US schools face. Kids wantschools to be safe and clean of drugs. Like amicrocosm of the larger community, schoolsafety often comes with a price, less privacy,and less respect.

Since I have on a few occasions expressedmy frustration with Health Canada and theMedical Marijuana Access Program, let me

give credit to some hard working front linestaff. Recently I was re-applying for a pro-duction license for a new patient, and forwhatever reason I messed up the paperwork.The staff that dealt with me recognized thepanic in my voice and helped me out of a fixby expediting some of the process. The lessonI sometimes forget is that individuals weneed to influence are ones closer to the top,the generals who place parameters on theflexibility of front line staff.

Molson is a small town down the road afew miles to the West of Grand Forks, BC onthe US side of the border, actually right at theborder. In the heydays of prohibition the

Molson crossing was one of many routes forCanadian booze flowing south . And yes, thisis the same family that has become synony-mous with quality Canadian beer.

The Barrie Molson Park grow op bust had

an in teresting impact on the cann abis debate,it was not the 1000 lights or the fact that 50people worked the show, or even t hat severalother businesses shared the site, it was thehit you on the head comparison to alcoholprohibition. Th e light wen t on for a new seg-ment of the Canadian population, this washard-working entrepreneurs taking over

abandoned space and putting dozens of peo-ple to work. Today Molsons, tomorrowMaple Leaf Gardens. Could this be jobs thatbreathe fresh life into the stagnatingCanadian economy, and maybe, maybe, fundsome of Prime Minister Paul Martins prom-ise of a new deal for provinces. Sorry aboutgas tax revenu es but lets see what you can dowith pot.

Our next edition will once more focus onthe economics of cannabis. In this annuallook at the often overlooked business side ofthis legal and emotional issue, the journalwill look at companies with progressive laborpractices, new ideas and original concepts

that are positioning them to be part of thecannabis boom.

BT

Glenn Smith was born inWinn ipeg, Manitoba in 1970. Hewas raised in Osoyoos, BritishColumbia and attended schoolthere. Glenns life was almost cutshort in high school due to

scathing cartoons drawn of thestaff, but soon managed to escapeto the UniversityCollege of theCaribou to studyarts.

Glenn spent tenyears working in BC Parks, in both the Okanaganand Caribou Districts where he continued to annoyco-workers and supervisors with his never endingbarrage of cartoons of park life and situations.Campers are a great source of humour! BC Parks,rather than sentence Glenn to permanent bearpatrol, relented and published some of his cartoonsin BC Parks magazine.

After a particularly funny cartoon about the

Minister of BC Parks, Glenn embarked on a career as a chef. Heworked in many different hotels and restaurants and is now current-ly employed at a hotel in the South Okanagan in British Columbiawhere he is not allowed to touch a pen.

Glenn is a sculptor of soapstone, as well as a cartoonist, and has hadworks in galleries in Canada and the US. He current ly lives alone in

Osoyoos, B.C. with his dog Ellen.

B EH I N D N ED

cartoon by Glenn Smith from Osoyoos, B.C.

LETTERS

Dear Uncle GordIm writing to let you know of my first successful

grow using T he Grow Safe.

Using a 1000w light and a 400 CFM fan with 10plants in 5 litre pots, I was able to produce 1.5 lbs.in t he first cycle. In the 5.5 cubed. box, the light isso intense that when the plants were introduced

Brian Taylor Editor-in-Chief

Glenn Sm ith


7/36

C A N N A B I S H E A L T H J o u r n a l 5

from outside, they immediately stoppedupward growth and bud development wasspectacular!

I have a few su ggestions for improving theproduct that Im hoping you can pass on tothe man ufacturer. A smaller door, no pre-cuttop air hole and they should try to make thefloor flatter.

T. Hinter, California

Uncle Gord says:

Th anks for t he great letter. All of the abovesuggestions have been incorporated into thenew design.

Send me more Blueberry

Across Canada police are cracking down onmarijuana growers, busting big growingoperations. While this may please the sup-porters of prohibition to hear, it is doingnothing, not even putting a dent in the quan-tity or the quality of marijuana. While theAmerican government complains and threat-

ens Canada about harmless marijuana, tonsof cocaine is flowing through the UnitedStates into Canada.

I commend t he brave Canadian growers fortheir part in supplying "me" with marijuanain th e United States and the part they play inover growing their government. Marijuanawould be legal in Canada if only the

Canadian government was half as ingeniousand successful as Canadian marijuana grow-ers. Keep up all the good work and if I maymake a suggestion, please send us down moreBlueberry!

J. A. California

L.E.A.P. in Canada

Thanks for sending me the sample copiesof your excellent journal. I have reallyenjoyed reading them, and have passed a fewcopies on to a relative who suffers fromMultiple Sclerosis and may someday need toseek relief using cannabis. If she ever does, I

want her to be able to make informed deci-sions and the articles and advertisers in thejournal will help her do so.

Aside from the journals content, which isextremely well written and presented, thephysical quality of the jour nal itself - with itsglossy paper, excellent typesetting and richcolour is yet more evidence to me that the

war on cannabis is in fact already over. Werethe responsible use of cannabis not alreadysufficiently support ed within a large segmentof mainstream society, the journal would bean underground newsletter printed onsmudged 8 1/2" x 11" photocopy paperinstead of the high quality visual and intel-lectual delight that it is. If only our lawmak-ers could understand this.

Enclosed is my cheque for a two-year sub-scription. Please keep up the good work!

Sincerely, John A. Gayder, Founding mem-ber Law Enforcement Against Prohibition,St.Cathar ines, On tario. E-mail [email protected]

LETTERS

PRINCIPAL RESIGNS OVER SCHOOL

DRUG RAID

MONCKS COR NER , S.C. Source: A ssociated

Press Pubdate: 01/5/200 4 (A P)

A high school principal announ ced his res-ignation Monday after coming under fireover a November dr ug sweep in wh ich policewith guns drawn ordered students to thefloor. I realized it is in the best interest ofStratford High School and of my stu dents forme to make a change, George McCrackin

said in a statement. School officials askedGoose Creek police to come into the schoolNov. 5 after receiving reports of marijuanasales on campus. Police said dogs sniffed drugresidue on 12 book bags but found no drugs.No one was arrested. The raid led to allega-tions of excessive force and racism, becausemany of the students were black. DistrictSuperintendent J. Chester Floyd saidMcCrackin will be reassigned toa still-undetermined position, but he saidMcCrackin will probably spend the comingweeks preparing for two lawsuits filed by stu-dents over the incident.

POLICE WARN OF GROW-RIPPERS

Source: Province, The (CN BC)07/01/2004Police issued a warn ing yesterday about a scarytrend in the marijuana industry. Grow-rip-pers intent on stealing top-quality B.C. budare targeting grow-ops and mistakenly hit-ting the homes of innocent people who havemoved into the site of a former grow-op. Grow-rippers have hit four homes in Richmond inthe past month and two were the homes ofinnocent people.

BRITAIN R ECLASSIFIES POT

Sources: The Western Gazette of 29 /01/2004

Th e new British Cannabis Law took effect

on January 29. The dru g has been down-graded to the same status as an abolicsteroids and antidepressants. This meansthat cannabis possession will no longer leadto arr est in most casses. According to a n ewpoll of 2,500 Britons 52 percent said theysupported reclassification.

KUBBY, FEDERA L EXEMPTEE,

REPORTS POLICE HARA SSMENT

On Wed. February 4th Steve and MicheleKubby went for a h ike on the Sunsh ine Coast

of BC, as part of Steves daily therapy to helpburn off his excessive and toxic levels ofadrenaline. When Steve went to find a dis-crete spot to medicate, he saw a hiker andtwo dogs approaching and took an alternatetrail. The hiker then altered his course andcame up to Steve asking if it was pot that hesmelled and when Steve said it was, thehiker/undercover officer grabbed Stevesonly joint and crushed it on the ground.

Michele was very distu rbed th at an officerwould confront her husband and deprivehim of medicine. The confrontation was anunwarran ted and reckless threat to her hus-bands health.

Friday morning Corporal Meyer phonedand explained that if Steve could produce aletter from Health Canada saying thatpatients are specifically allowed to smoke inpublic he would immediately e-mail everyofficer on the Sunshine Coast and tell themto leave Steve and all other exemptees alone.

The Kubbys immediately tried to contactthe Director Generals Office but everyonewas out till Monday.

This is obviously a very important issue.

The patient card needs to have language thatofficers can easily understand and follow.Furthermore, rather than Health Canadaissuing letters to all the patients so that theycan carry this letter with them and educatepolice that exempt means exempt, the policeshould stay informed as to what the law is!Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for thepolice to use either.

Michele Kubby added that as Libertarian s,we hate the idea of having to carry any kindof identification or letters, but this is wartime and weve got to stop the killing beforewe focus on curing.

O FF TH E W I RE


8/36


The Supreme Court of Canada appeals -

Malmo-Levine, Caine and Clay. Reflections one

month later and the implications for medical

marijuana users, growers and dealers now that

recreational users, growers and dealers have

been relegated to the criminal classes.

As I am sure all of you are now aware, onDecember 23rd, 2003, just a few days beforeChristmas, the Supreme Court of Canada ren-

dered, what in my opinion, is not only themost disappointing judgement of the Courtthat I have read in a long time, but also itsmost political and the most inconsistent w ithsome of its prior decisions. Betting my moneyon th e courts proved to be an unmitigated dis-aster, not only financially, but also emotional-ly and intellectually. We were robbed of thevictory to which we were entitled!

The court ruled that our Federal CanadianParliament can prohibit the possession ofCannabis (marijuana) to control it as a psy-choactive drug that causes alteration of men-tal function, under its broad criminal lawpower, because the use of cannabis clearlyraises issues of public health and safety, bothfor the user and those in the broader societyaffected by the users conduct. It held thatParliament is entitled to act, on a reasonedapprehension of harm, even if on some pointsthe jury is still out on the existence of anyharm at all. They can even criminalize con-duct that threatens no harm or even justharm to the particular users.

In th e courts opinion, Parliament is en titledto choose a public policy to advance the pro-tection of certain vulnerable groups, consti-tuting a small percentage within the marijua-na consuming population that cannot bedetermined in advance, namely, chronicusers, pregnant women, schizophrenics,

those with pre-existing illnesses and imma-ture youths (who among other things mightbecome chronic users). These are the harmsthat t he legislature has in mind to suppress asthe evil or injurious or undesirable effectupon the public to which the criminal law,with appropriate penal sanctions, is directed.

Just because Parliament has chosen this pol-icy with respect to Cannabis does not meanthat it has t o choose the same policy in orderto protect vulnerable groups affected by theconsumption of alcohol, tobacco or users ofother psychoactive drugs that alter mental

function. Indeed in their prior decision inRJR MacDonald (the tobacco advertisingcase) the Court held that Parliament couldcriminalize the consumption and sale oftobacco (remember the evidence supportsthat t obacco kills) but had chosen not to do sobecause it would be impractical. The messagetha t some will draw from this will be, its nowa purely a political matter and the way to w inis to make the law impractical to enforce. Inother words a policy of continuing to over-grow th e government would appear to be thelikely appropriate activists response makeit impractical! It seems to me that we arealready quite close to that now if we haventalready passed that milepost.

While, very disappointingly, the courtrejected the harm principle as a principleof fundamental justice under s. 7 of theCharter an d a limiting factor on Parliamentscriminal law power, it seized upon theavoidance of harm to those subject to thelaw as being a state interest which would jus-tify Parliamentary action. Once it is estab-

lished that there is a reasoned apprehension ofharm from the conduct in issue that is notdeminimis or not insignificant or trivial,the precise weighing of the nature and extentof the harm is for Parliament. As long asParliaments response is not grossly dis-pro-portionate to the state interest it seeks to pro-tect, it can do so within its constitutional pow-ers. In other words, if the use of the criminallaw is shown to be grossly disproportionate toits effects on accused persons, when consid-ered in light of the objective of protectingthem from the h arm caused by marijuana use,the prohibition would be contrary to funda-mental justice and s. 7 of the Charter.

The problem with th is of course is that un tilthis decision, the test under s. 7 was one ofdisproportionately and n ot the h igher stan -dard of gross disproportionately that is usedunder s. 12 of the Charter to establish that onehas been subjected to cruel and unusualtreatment or punishment. Now the citizen, toestablish a s. 7 violation has to establish thatParliaments response is not simply dispro-portionate but that it is grossly dispropor-tionate, before the onus of proof shifts to thegovernment under s. 1, where, among otherthings, in an attempt to justify the law as areasonable limit on constitutional rights, thegovernment only has to show that its responsewas proportionate. Presumably we are now

back to the situation that if a s. 7 violation ismade out then, absent a war or n ational emer-gency, the government could never meet thetest under s.1.

Never mind that in all of the courts priorinterpretations of s. 7 and its relationship tos.1, the test has been enunciated to be one ofproport ionality. This time th e Court decidedthat threshold would be too low, when theonus is on the citizen with few resources, andwhen the government is the party in posses-sion of the evidence upon which it relies toassert potential harm and justify restricting

our liberties. In effect, they changed the goalposts, on us by raising the standard to thedegree of gross disproportionality. Implicit inthe decision of the majority is that they toofound the law to be disproportionate likethe minority, but decided that the test wasnow higher 6 to 3. Under th e law that existedat the time the case was started in 1993, andat the time of argument in the Supreme Courtof Canada in 2003, some ten years later, itshould have been 9 to 0 for the free citizens.As I said above, we were robbed!

The court did say that, except in very excep-tional circumstances, imprisonment for sim-ple possession of marijuana would constitutea demonstrably unfit sentence and, if such asentence was imposed, would rightly be setaside on appeal. It said that imprisonment isgenerally reserved for situations that alsoinvolve recidivists, trafficking or hard drugs.Just because the Controlled Drugs andSubstances Act (the CDSA) makes imprison-ment available when it deals with a variety ofprohibited drugs, doesnt make the criminal-

ization of possession of a psychoactive druglike marijuana contrary to the principles offundamental justice. The availability ofimprisonment in such a statute is not uncon-stitutional and its rare imposition for marijua-na offences should be dealt with under ordi-nary sentencing principles.

While the court goes on to say that it is notunconstitutional for the state to attempt todeter vulnerable people from self harm bycriminalization of the harmful conduct backedup, where appropriate, by the threat ofimprisonment, they nevertheless say that thevulnerable groups that are the target of thedeterrent approach, are not (presumably in

reality), in fact threatened with imprisonmentnor would the imposition of a prison term, inthe circumstances, be upheld as a fit sentenceor a constitutional sentence for such persons.

Lets see if we can make sense out of that!Its okay to threaten simple possessors andthose in the vulnerable groups with impris-onment but dont worry, because judgesdont have to sentence such persons toimprisonment and because of a well devel-oped sentencing system, judges, in their dis-cretion, wont impose unfit sentences and ifthey do, it is simply a matter of appealing toa higher court. No question about the cost ofdoing this is mentioned of course nor theirprior decisions in which they have made it

very difficult to win sentence appealsbecause of th e general principle of deferenceto the trial judges imposing sentences and aneed to show an error in principle or th at asentence is outside the range. Something thatis very difficult to do given the broad sen-tencing ranges that have been set both byParliament and the courts.

Further, it looks like this might encouragea person t o become a member of one of th osevulnerable groups as soon as possible so as t oavoid impr isonment because it looks like itsall the others who might go to prison for a

L E G A L E A G L E : O N T H E S U P R E M E C O U R T D E C I S I O N

John Conroy, Q.C.,

photo by Kim O'Leary


9/36


second offence. I guess the chronic usercategory is the best bet for those who areolder, arent or cant become pregnant, andnot yet in sane. Once again th is would appearto result in exactly the opposite occurring tothe message the Cour t says Parliament is tr y-ing to achieve by the so called deterrentaspect of the law itself.

On the sentencing issue, lets take forexample the recent decision of the BC Courtof Appeal in the case of Paul Horn by (its onmy webpage in the library under medicalmarijuana) who was growing, at no morethan cost, special strains at th e request of theBC Compassion Club Society that its mem-bers said were specifically working for them.He was also testing the marijuana for moldsand metals to ensure th at it was safe for theirconsumption. He received an 18 month con-ditional sentence order with house arrest etc.at tr ial, primarily because he displayed somehope for future financial reward from hiswork if he found the magic bullet that wouldenable the production of the medicine with-

out th e intoxicating aspect.The BC Court of Appeal upheld the sen-

tence as fit. This was notwithstanding therecent decision of the Ontario Court ofAppeal in Hitzig, which affirmed the needfor medical users to access the black marketas a result of the governments inadequateprogram. While Dr. Hornby was helping fillthe exact void left by the government andidentified by the Ontar io Court of Appeal, hereceived a sentence as if he was a commercialgrower. The past decision of the Court ofAppeal in BC in similar circumstances wasthat of Bill Small, who received an absolutedischarge for his first offence from Mr.

Justice Wong, in BC Supreme Court an d thena conditional discharge from the Court ofAppeal for his second offence of growing forthe BC Club. Suddenly the range of sentencefor growing and dealing for and with a com-passion club has gone from an absolute dis-charge to an 18 month conditional sentenceof imprisonment. So much for the principleof similar sentences for similar conduct andwhat does it tell us about the subjectivenatu re of this concept of proport ionality. Ifanybody out there has $50,000 USD to fundan appeal to th e Supreme Cour t of Canada, orat least an application for leave to appeal sowe can thr ow these lines back at th em, pleaselet me kn ow as soon as possible.

Th e other problem is that this resort to dis-cretion to avoid a constitutional violationbased on a reasonable hypothetical that -because imprisonment is available for simplepossession, a court could impose a sentenceof imprisonment on a simple possessor,including one belonging to one of the vulner-able groups, is inconsistent with the Courtsprior analysis in such a situation inR.v.Smith, where it held that the exercise ofa discretion could not avoid the pr ovisions ofs. 52 of the Chart er wh ich says that if the lawis inconsistent with the provisions of the

Constitution it is, to the extent of its incon-sistency, of no force and effect.

In Smith, the accused was charged withimporting cocaine and subject to the manda-tory minimum seven-year sentence ofimprisonment. The mandatory minimumwas challenged as being unconstitutional ascontrary s.12 of the Charter in that it could

result in the imposition of cruel and unusualtreatment or punishment. In analyzing thesituation the court said it was appropriate tolook at reasonable hypothetical circum-stances such as the possibility that a personcould be given a sentence of seven yearsimprisonment for bringing one joint of marijuana across the border. The governmentargued that Crown prosecutorial discretionwould ensure that would not happen andthat the person would only be charged withsimple possession and not importing. TheCourt said that resort to such discretioncould not avoid the hypothetical constitu-tional violation and struck down the manda-tory minimum. Smith got more than seven

years in the circumstances because the courtfelt that h is condu ct warran ted a greater sen-tence though the mandatory minimum wasstruck. For some unexplained reason it isnow acceptable to resort to judicial discretionto avoid the potent ial constitu tional violationhere when it was not acceptable to resort toprosecutorial discretion to avoid such apotential violationin Smith.

So the situationfor medical growersand dealers in thisprovince is betweenthe decisions in

Small and Hornby,anywhere from anabsolute dischargeto a conditional sen-tence order ofimprisonment.Medical possessors,who do not have agovernment exemp-tion, are not likelyto go to prisonexcept in exception-al circumstances, ifthey have a pastrecord and are traf-ficking as well or

dealing in harddrugs. In my opin-ion medical usersare likely to be cate-gorized in the sameor better fashionthan those in thevulnerable groupscategory. Medicalusers have the bestchance of establish-ing that criminaliz-ing their conduct is

grossly disproportionate under the new s.7test and that to prosecute them is unconsti-tutional. While one apparently brings theweight of the criminal law power, and all ofits consequences down upon oneself if use isrecreational, the element of choice isremoved if use is medical. As the SupremeCourt said at paragraph 88 of Malmo-Levine,

and Caine:However, if the marijuana was requiredfor medical purposes, a very different issuewould arise.

Th is paragraph also hints that if the drug inquestion is addictive then different consider-ations might apply. Consequently a test casechallenging the en tire CDSA should be t akenusing heroin and crack cocaine statistics toestablish the ineffectiveness of prohibitiongenerally and how this policy approach hasresulted in approximately 5,500 deaths in BCalone in the last 8 years and is contin uing onan almost daily basis. I wonder if that wou ldbe sufficiently grossly disproportionate forthem? Again, anybody out there with at leasta half million USD to fund a test case fromscratch all the way to the Supreme Court ofCanada over the next five years, Id like tohear from you as soon as possible. Pleasedont ask me to do it again pro - bono or evenpartly so. Im all tapped out literally and fig-uratively and I have to be paid proper ly if Imto go back there and possibly hear them say



10/36


the t est has been elevated to very gross dis-proportionality!

Hopefully, the Hitzig appeal will be wonand we will be back to the old pre - Parkerregulation 53 but with the Parker establishedconstitutional right of access so as to avoidyour having to choose between your libertyand your health. Hopefully medical access

will be from a regular market and not somegovernmen t monopoly.

Gonthier J. has now gone from the courtand Major J. is next to retire. That willknock the six down to four. Morris Fish J.replaced Gonthier J. and from all accountsis most likely to side with the rest of theminority from Quebec making it a 4-4 splitwith Majors replacement holding the swin gvote. Binnie, Bastarache, Iacobucci andMcLachlin C.J. are for the government.Arbour, LeBel, Deschamps and likely Fishare with the people.

I am exploring the possibility of a motionfor re hearing under s.76 of the Supreme

Court Act with my Ottawa agents. It is obvi-ously a long shot. However I am told thatsuch re- hearings are granted sometimeswhen:

1. An entirely new issue or argument hasarisen in the course of the internal discus-sions among members of the Court afterargument and the Court feels that it is only

fair and appropriate to hear from counselbefore issuing the final judgment;

2. The case is decided but on a point w hichwas never argued by the parties and the par-ties apply for a re-hearing.

It seems to me that we fit int o both of thesecategories and that there is also some inter-nal inconsistency in the courts reasoning.

The transcript of the hearing in December2002 (on my webpage in the Caine archive)when they adjourned us to the spring seemsto make it clear that certain ly Major J. in h isinterchange with me and, more importantly,Binnie J. in his several exchanges with theCrown, David Frankel, thought the test wasone of proportionality consistent with thecourts prior decisions. That they were con-sidering a new testwas not made knownto us and, in fairness,it should have been.

However, suchapplications are

rarely successful andonly granted inunusual cases. Thequestion is whetheror not there is evi-dence we could haveadduced in light of the new standard so thatwe can persuade the Court that perhaps a dif-ferent order disposing of the case should

have been made. Can weestablish that there wasunfairness to theAppellants in that theycould have put forwardadditional evidencewhich might have

affected the result? Ifthe consequences of thecriminal law from arrestto conviction and recordare discounted by theCourt is being self-induced, the question iswhat other evidencecould we have broughtforward to meet thehigher test of gross dis-proportionality now?Are we precluded fromestablishing gross dis-proportionality now

because Cannabis isnon-toxic and nobodydies? Would police cor-ruption, as alleged inToronto, or taking thelaw into their ownhands, as admitted inVancouver, bring us upto and over the line? Ithink Id settle for adirection to have anew hearing in one ortwo years, giving us

that time to collect a sufficient number ofhorror stories across the country in an effortto tip the balance in our favour. By then wewill know who has replaced Justice Majorand we will be in a better position to assesswhether the time and money spent would beworth the effort. Any thoughts or funds tocarry on would be appreciated.

Finally, what implications ar ise from thesedecisions for the n ew Cannabis Bill (C-38)?

In my opin ion there are thr ee, as follows:

If the government truly decriminalizesby legislating regulations under a differenthead of power such as the POGG clause,their jur isdiction is tenuou s as they will haveto establish that the subject matter goesbeyond local or provincial concern and must,

from its inherentnature, be the con-cern of theDominion as awhole (see para-graphs 69 70). This

is probably why thegovernment hasstopped using thedecrim term andnow calls it alterna-tive measures.

The new Bill should not contain threats toliberty by way of imprisonment for a firstoffence of simple possession. This seems tobe a political given.

The government should be careful if itdecides to include mandatory minimum sen-tences for any offences as they may be foun dto be grossly disproportionate un der s.7 or12 of the Charter.

I am told that a great big cheer went upfrom BCs growers and dealers when we lost.No doubt similar but perhaps more discreetcheers also went up from the Defense Bar,and all the ad hoc drug prosecutors. Thepolice? Well thats a given isnt it.

Remember what Doris Lessing said in herbook African Laughter- There is n o onemore furiously cynical than an idealistbetrayed.

John W. Conroy QC, Counsel to the

A ppellant Caine.

John Conroy, Q.C., CONROY & COM PA NY

Barrister and Solicitor 2459 Pauline Street,

A bbotsford, BC V 2S 3S1 Telephone: (604)852-511 Fax: (604) 859-3361

Website: www.johnconroy.com


The message that some

will draw from this will

be, its now a purely a

political matter and the

way to win is to make the

law impractical to enforce.

E-mail: jconroy@johncon roy.comWebsite: www.johncon roy.com

CONROY & COMPANYBarristers and Solicitors

JOHN W.CONROY, Q.C.

Barrister and Solicitor

2459 Pauline StreetAbbotsford, B.C.Canada V2S 3S1

Ph: 604-852-5110

Toll Free:1-877-852-5110Fax: 604-859-3361


11/36


12/36

Recentdevelopmentsacross Canadaremind me ofan old adageabout history

if we do notlearn from it,we aredoomed torepeat it.

The develop-ments alsohighlight oneof the many

evils caused by our current drug policies official corruption reaching to the highestlevels. Because of prohibition, the drug busi-ness is extremely profitable. Marijuana (aplant that grows like a weed, pardon the pun)is a multi-billion dollar industry in British

Columbia alone, with fur ther billions in prof-it generated in every other province inCanada. And that is just marijuana; thecocaine, heroin and other drug markets reapmajor profits each and every day across thisnation.

With th at kind of money at stake, it shouldcome as no surprise to learn of corruption of

police and government officials. From theallegations of massive corruption in theToronto drug enforcement squad to the sus-pected links between organized crime andBritish Columbia bureaucrats (and promi-nent Paul Martin supporters), we see indica-tions that prohibition-related drug profits arecorrupting those in whom we repose ourhighest trust.

And, let us be candid, these allegations maybe just the tip of the iceberg. It is not unrea-sonable to assume that instances of police andofficial corruption often go undetected. Or, ifdetected, unreported because the very per-sons charged with investigating illegal activi-ty are those that may be participating in it.

But this shou ld not be a sur prise, advocatesfor drug policy reform have pointed out foryears that official corruption is an unavoid-able by-product of prohibition. And, make n omistake, prohibition is the culprit. Withoutprohibition, the massively inflated profitsfrom the drug markets disappear. Moreover,in a legal, regulated environment, corruptionis drastically reduced or eliminated.Starbucks is not bribing police to stay awayfrom its operations, nor are the provincialliquor stores.

And the corruption is not going to goaway. Nor will harsher penalties solve theproblem. If anything, increased enforcement

will make things worse. With in creased risksto the participants come increased incen-tives to corrupt. Bottom line: prohibitioncauses corruption.

How do we know this? History teaches us.Alcohol prohibition created all the sameharms that drug prohibition currently caus-es. For example, Mackenzie King and othermembers of government were touched by, ordirectly implicated in, the Customs Scandalof 1926 a situation involving alcohol smug-

gling to and from th e dry United States andofficial corru ption by customs officials at th ehighest levels. Why? Because alcohol wastremendously profitable to smuggle into theprohibitionist Un ited States.

The parallels between the 1926 case andthe r ecent allegations in BC are informative.Then, high-placed officials with ties to the

Prime Minister were implicated in wrongdo-ing. Now, high-placed officials with ties tothe Prime Minister may be implicated inwrongdoing.

Th en, alcohol would be smuggled into th eUS and, in exchange, drugs and cigaretteswould be smuggled back into Canada. Now,marijuana goes to the US and guns andcocaine come back. Then, police madeenormous efforts to curtail the smuggling,to no avail. Police efforts are similarly inef-fective today.

How did we put an end to this corruption?Not with increased enforcement and harsherpenalties. The corruption ended when prohi-

bition ended. Faced with increasing corrup-tion, the rise of organized crime and thewidespread violation of an ti-alcohol laws, theUS finally ended prohibition in 1933. It wasthe most rational solution to the problem ofofficial corruption and the other social illscreated by prohibition.

Unfortunately, those ills have been rebornunder drug prohibition. History teaches usthat proh ibition causes corrupt ion. The ques-tion now is whether we will learn from it.

Kirk is the Policy Director of the Briti sh Columbia

Civil Liberties Association. He has held this posi-

tion since April, 2003. Previously, Kirk was an

LL.M. student a t the UBC Faculty of Law, where he

researched cannabis prohibition. He is an arti cling

student with the Law Society of B.C. and is admittedto practice in the state of Michigan and the Uni ted

States 6th Circuit Court of A ppeal. Prior to coming

to B.C., Kirk practiced comm ercial an d crimin al lit-

igation at Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss, P.C., one of

the largest firm s in Detroit, Michigan. Kirk holds a

Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Wayne State

University School of Law and is a m ember of the

Order of the Coif. In addition, Kirk obtained his

Bachelor of A rts from Jam es Madison College, part

of Michigan Sta te University, where he majored in

political philosophy


LEARN FROM HISTORY: PROHIBITION CAUSES CORRUPTION

Kirk T ousaw


13/36

Hello, myname is JodyPressman. I amwriting todayto ask you to bea part of a con-certed, organ-ized, and unit-

ed effort by themarijuanacommunity to

stage a historic political demonstration onParliament Hill on Saturday June 5, 2004. Itis important to capitalize on the growingmedia interest and public awareness of theneed for an honest debate on the issuesimportant to our community. I have admiredthe actions of other activists in the commu-nity for a long time but only recently decidedto become more active in doing my share tohelp change the marijuana laws. I have donethis because I realized that if I wasnt pre-pared to make an effort why should I expect

anyone else to?I am a student at Carleton University in

Ottawa studying Law and Political Science,and have had an avid interest in politics foras long as I can remember. I can rememberseeing a CBC documentary featuring AlanYoung who reminisced that his int erest inthe law was sparked by his rambunctiousyouth and his curiosity as to why seeminglybenign behaviour would be so har shly target-

ed by the fullforce of the legalsystem. Alansconstant ques-tioning of thestatus quo anddesire to betterunderstand howthe political and

legal systemwork, played animportant role in sparking my own interestin politics and th e law.

Prior to prorogation of parliament in thefall, I attended all of the public hearings onBill C-38 (the so-called decriminalizationbill). I saw first hand what most had fearedall along, most elected MPs arent really lis-tening to the marijuana community. Theydont feel public opinion is on our side, andthey dont feel pressured t o act for change. Inthe wake of th e callous disregard that t he fed-eral government has shown medical users,and the disappointing Supreme Court deci-

sion, 2003 was a disappointing year. Bothmedical and recreational users looked for-ward to th e Supreme Court decision as a dayof liberation; unfortunately it turned out tobe a black day with crushed dreams, hopes,and expectations.

With five solid mont hs of pre-plann ing andorganization, we will orchestrate a very pow-erful expression of our strength and organi-zation as a marijuana community and we

need your help and support to do it! Thisevent will be an esteem boost, providingempowerment and a newfound sense of dig-nity for all marijuana users across Canada.Far too long have politicians, police, andother prohibitionists dominated the debateon what Canada should do with marijuana.With the Supreme Court ruling making itclear that drug reform must come from par-liament, it is imperative that we bring ourvoice to Ottawa and put a new face on themarijuana debate.

The Fill the Hill: Freedom March onParliament Hill event is an important oppor-

tunity for national expression by allCanadians who are tired of continued con-tempt for cannabis users demonstrated byour federal government. Please help themovement for change and be there inOttawa, Saturday June 5th, 2004.

For m ore inform at ion,

visit www.fillthehill.ca

Jody Pressman



14/36

I have decided to run in the next federalelection because I feel that the ND P presentsthe only viable alternative to a Paul Martinled Liberal governmen t.

We as Canadians seem to be under moreand more pressure to conform to theAmerican corporate agenda. A direct exam-ple of this is our province where social serv-ices, health care and education find them-selves under assault as a result of theprovincial Liberals ideology. In addition, ourforeign policy is under pressure to conformto American led initiatives such as the war inIraq and the proposed Ballistic MissileDefense Program (BMD).

It is time to stand up for those Canadianvalues that we believe in, such as a publiclyfunded healthcare system, working through

the United Nations to promote peace, andfighting poverty by closing the gap betweenthe rich and the poor.

A New Democratic government willwork with Canadians to promote socialjustice and will ensure t hat we have a goodeconomic relationship with the U.S. basedon mutual respect and understanding. We

realize that 87% of our trade is with theU.S., but this does not mean that we haveto become subservient to Am erican protec-tionist trade measures whether it be insoftwood lumber or beef.

The NDP remains faithful to the 1999convention resolution calling for thedecriminalization of cannabis. We wantCanada to take steps that reflect a moreintelligent and compassionate direction formarijuana use. This, together with oursupport of same sex marriage, is one areathat differentiates us from right-wingAmerican policies.

The time has come for all progressive

thinking people to come together, to putaside their differences and to unite againstthis wave of neo-conservative ideology that isundermining the social fabric of our nation.The NDP, under Jack Layton, is the partybest positioned to unite the left and to offera sane alternative with a social conscience.We owe it to fut ure generations of Canadiansto elect an NDP government. T his is why, inmy third year of retirement from teaching, Ihave decided to become involved.

For those who do not know me, I live nearCastlegar where I taught French Immersionat Stanley Humphries Secondary andRussian at Selkirk College. I was born, how-ever, in New Westminster, B.C. in 1945 to aworking class family. I had the opportunityas a young person, to work at the lumber millwhere my father spent 38 years of his life.Career-wise I have worked in the area ofSport, Recreation and Culture in theCanadian Armed Forces, as well as for theGovt. of Yukon. For example, I coordinatedYukons involvement in Canada Games in1977and 1979.

I am also a qualified Russian interpreterwith the federal government and have takenpart in diplomatic missions including thePrime Ministers visit to the USSR in 1989.

It has been my pr ivilege to live in every majorregion of Canada and I am fluent in English,French and Russian.

My task between now and the election,which will most likely take place in May, is tobecome familiar with the man y diverse issuesthat affect people in our huge riding. To thatend, I will be making regular visits to all of

our communities where I hope to meet withas many people as possible to discuss theirconcerns.

Alex T. A tam anenko NDP Federal Candidate

B.C. Southern Interior

E-mail: [email protected]

At first glance, you wouldnt know thatAlison Myrden has multiple sclerosis. Hersunny disposition hides the severe nervepain that ravages her face. When shes upand about, bounding around at events, courtdates, or even at t he local Tim Hor tons, youwouldn't know that her wheelchair isnt aprop.I have to ration my energy very care-fully. One of the most common misconcep-tions about chronic progressive multiple scle-rosis is that patients always look well to theuninformed, Alison told me over coffee ather south Burlingtonmaisonette. Look at


N D P C A N D I D A TES - A LEX T A TA M A N EN K O

A lison My rden Picture courtesy of

the Medical Marijuana Mission an d T im Meehan.

A lex T. At aman enko

Continued pg. 14


15/36

C A N N A B I S H E A L T H J o u r n a l page


16/36


N D P C A N D I D A TES - A LI S O N M Y RD ENMontel Williams. No

one knew he had MS until the NationalEnquirer threatened to expose him, and hebeat them to it.

While Montel only came out as a medicalmarijuana patient in January, Alison hasbeen battling this issue for almost 10 years,when she was first diagnosed as an MS

patient. I was moonlighting as a medical sec-retary, and so when I first found out that Ihad been ill from MS since the age of 13, Ibegan t o use the resources around me to learnas much as I could about my condition.

By day, Alison was a youth correctionalofficer and as part of her job spent a lot oftime in court. It was here where she firstnot iced law professor Alan Youn g of YorkUniversitys Osgoode Hall Law School. Ihad to sit through a lot of cases and wadethrough tons of paperwork. I noticed onename coming up over and over again. I alsonoticed that a lot of kids were in trouble sim-ply because of marijuana possession.

By this time Alison had been introducedby a friend to cannabis as medicine. I feltstrange witnessing all this commotion andcourt time being used to prosecute youngoffenders for simply smoking a joint, whileat the same time I was doing the same thin gaway from work for health reasons.However, even with cannabis, MS began toeat away Alisons health. I hated to leave

my job, but with my energy levels gettinglower, I felt it was time.

After her retirement, Alison dedicatedherself to researching the best ways to pro-mote health. One of the things she discov-ered was Omega 3 and 6 essential fattyacids. Efamol evening primrose oil andsalmon oil, taken together in a 3:1 ratio,

does wonders for me. It works to helprebuild myelin in my nervous system. Alongwith certain str ains of cannabis used to con-trol my nerve pain (Williams Wonder helpsher tic douloureux tremen dously) and goodnut rition, I h ave been able to get out of mywheelchair and have improved the qualityof my life.

Its even given her political aspirations.Alison is curren tly seeking the NDP nomina-tion in Burlington, Ontario for the next fed-eral election, expected in May. When I sawJack Layton on Pot-TV, talking to MarcEmery about legalization, cafes, and the factthat he is a social user of cann abis himself, Ibegan to think about other needs that peoplein my position have. Affordable housing. Adisability pension geared to the cost of living.Wheelchair access. Health care waitingtimes. The list goes on an d on.

Alison explains that not everyone paysattention to these issues in society until itstoo late. When youre ill, most of your ener-gy is devoted to making yourself well again.

It shouldnt have to be used to worry aboutwhat youre going to eat, if youre going to beable to see a doctor, or if youre going to havea roof over your head next month. Stress isthe number one factor in the deterioration ofhealth in chronically ill people. This makesme even more upset at Health Canada andtheir treatment of the sick and dying as apolitical football.

As one of a gro up of people who sued thefederal governmet for not implementing aworkable medicinal cannabis program,Alison is also not taking the fight forpatients rights lying down. Alan Rock, oncehe saw the enormous benefits of medicalmarijuana, bent over backwards to help peo-ple like me. However, once Anne McLellantook over, she did everything she could tostammer and stall the program, forcing us tosue. I suppose we shall see how PierrePettigrew measures up. Of course, if everyCanadian who is angry at the treatment ofpeople like us support Jack Layton andCanadas NDP at the polls, this would be a

moot issue.

Cannabis should be legalized across theboard for medical and social purposes, andremember, this is a former corrections officersaying this. Its the on ly way to get rid of thecriminal element. And its the on ly way I canmake sure that I have a consistent supply ofthe medicine I need.

Continued from pg. 12


17/36



18/36

Libby Davies has been an outspoken advocaate

for drug policy reforms to stop the criminaliza-

tion of drug users and the harm caused by

Canadas prohibitionist policies.

Cannabis Health: What are your personalopinions?

Libby Davies: We need to start by recog-nizing that what we are doing is simply notworkin g. I believe in relation to t he responsi-ble adult users of cannabis, we should be tak-ing a n on-punitive, regulatory appr oach - like

tobacco and liquor.

CH: What are your thoughts on the medic-

inal marijuan a access program?

LD: Health Canadas record on the medicalaccess program is appalling.

They have had to be dragged, kicking andscreaming, towards a more rational andaccessible program. Compassion clubs andother groups who know what is happening

on the front line are not being consulted orlistened to. I deal personally with chron icallyill citizens wh o do not n eed the added burdenof this on top of the stress of coping withtheir illness. All they are asking for is a cleanquality and affordable supply.

Having cannabis legalized would addressmuch of the medical issue, but until then,this program must be improved and I am gladto hear that a new planned consultation withstakeholders is taking place.

CH: Where is Bill C-38?

LD: We are now at the report stage. Wehave not been successful in amending the billto include an amnesty provision for the600,000 Canadians with criminal records.We tr ied, without success, to have included a

5 plant limit at home for personal use,withou t a fine or penalty. They did include a3-plant limit, but you would still receive afine.

We are looking for some substantialimprovements and we have not yet made afinal decision on su pporting the bill.

CH: How will you be dealing with the mar -ijuana question in your own riding?

LD: I have raised this question in my ridingand w ill contin ue to do so. In a r ecent poll ofmy East Vancouver constituents through myHouseholder mail out, many people support-ed decriminalization.

CH: Where is th e NDP going with develop-ing a policy and a plan to address this intol-erable situation?

LD: We are attempting to improve thesedeeply flawed programs and propose changesto the law, however, at the same time theparty is looking beyond decriminalization tothe development of a progressive long termstrategy and a vision for the future.

Libby Davies

N D P C A N D I D A TES - LI B BY D A V I E S

by Lisa A Kirkman

Lisa A . Kirkman att ended the universities of

Lethbridge, Calgary & Poona, India majoring

in R eligious Studies. She was Assistan t to the

Editor of Cann abis Culture Magazine, Founder

& Director of the Sunshine Coast Compassion

Club, campaign manager

for th e Federal Marijuana

Party and ran for the BC

Marijuana Party in 2001.

She is a m ember of

Canadian Cannabis

Coalition and Executive

Publisher of CannaGuide, North A m ericas first

cannabis directory &

events guide.

The complexity ofissues surrounding med-ical marijuana use arestaggering and the painof knowing you can dolittle to help ease thesuffering of your sickchild is immeasurable.So why do parentschoose to or choose notto risk absolutely every-thing to offer cannabisas a medicine for theirchildren?

In case there are thoseprohibitionists out therewho still believe thatmedical marijuana is sim-ply an excuse for stonersto get stoned, let me tellyou about my son.

Issac (not his realname) is tall for his age,

dark and handsome (not a mothers bias really!). Hes very strong and active; somemight even call him hyper sometimes, butnot all the time; sometimes hes extremelyfocused. Issac is really into cars and skate-boarding and anything really physical. Hesvery intelligent and has been gifted withsome pretty smooth verbal skills. In factsometimes, youd swear hes the most polite,charming and winning soul youve ever

met.Then you wait a while, usually for some

kind of tran sition in th e day like leaving thehouse or eating dinner and then the changehappens. Just like that Im having tophysically restrain someone who is trying tobite, punch, claw, kick me and/or destroythe room around him and/or get at anyoneelse unfortunate enough to wander by likethe dog, or his 19 month old sister. Issac hasput holes in the walls of every house wehave lived in, left scars on my body fromaltercations and gets sent away from schoolon a regular basis because of his out of con-trol behaviour. Why not kick him out and

teach him a lesson about respecting therules? Because Issac is only five years oldand he, like millions of other children inNorth America and throughout the world,suffers from juvenile-onset mental illness.

Since the dawn of modern science, medi-cine has focused almost completely on adultmental health issues. Even with the focuson the adult, there are stigmas attached tomental illness to this day. One need onlylook to the streets or to our pr ison system tofind out wh at happens to too man y sick peo-

C H O O SI N G C A N N A B I S FO R C H I LD REN



19/36

C H O O SI N G C A N N A BI S FO R C H I LD RENple who cannot find proper treatment.Attach the mental health stigma to a child,and you exponentially increase the com-plexity of the issues and raise the stakes.

Once you decide to turn to the communi-ty or the medical profession for help, yourparenting skills will come into question.Perhaps you created a bad child? Perhaps

you are a bad parent? If I walked into thehospital and said, theres something wrongwith my childs heart, the whole hospital,even the whole community in some cases,would rally behind my family. But whentheres something wrong with the way hisbrain works, sorry, we cant have a telethonfor a bun ch of crazy kids! Not cute enou gh.

Issacs problems began when he was about18 mont hs old, when he would get so violenthe wou ld literally scare all the other childrenat the daycare under the table. I would regu-larly have to have team meetings with day-care staff, various government agencies andmedical professionals in order to plan out

how to take care of and educate Issac in thesafest possible way for him, the other chil-dren an d staff. He was kicked out of one day-care where he apparently bit the cat.

Aside from every parenting programknown to mankind, Issac has been to natu r-opaths, Chinese herbalists, chiropractors,homeopaths, has had allopathic and n aturo-pathic allergy testing done, reiki, healingtouch, LED light therapy and traditionalnative sweat lodges. Hes had an obsessionabout n ot eating sweets since he was thr ee,so he eats very little sugar. We have no junkfood whatsoever in the house; little whiteflour and even thats organic. My family are

not vegetarians or health food fanatics, butwe try to at least eat more good than badand we put hemp hearts and hemp oil ontoand into absolutely everything.

Yet, like a sizable and quickly growin ggroup of children, Issac continues to sufferhorribly, unable to control his impulsiveand violent outbursts and obsessions.Unfortunately, he seems to be getting worse.What makes creating an action plan so diffi-cult with Issac, so we can begin the healingprocess, is that, along with many other chil-dren battling the same issues, he h as yet tohave a firm diagnosis. The list of his possi-ble, co-morbid conditions include: depres-

sion, conduct disorder (CD), oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD), attention-deficitdisorder with hyperactivity (ADHD), panicdisorder, generalized anxiety disorder(GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD), Tourettes syndrome (T S), intermit-tent explosive disorder (IED), bipolar disor-der (BPD).

Another problem parents that have chil-dren with mental health issues face is thatmany of the doctors themselves do notbelieve that some of the diagnosis even existin children, and are actually other disorders

altogether, as in the case of bipolar disorder.It is estimated that 90% of bipolar childrenare misdiagnosed, usually with ADHD (youcan be bipolar and have ADHD, too). Theresult is that there is much in-fightingbetween paediatric specialists and some ofthe children are given th e wrong medicationsthat can actually worsen their condition.

Th ere is no doubt that some form of med-ication may be necessary to manage thesemedical conditions that take the lives of10% to 18% of sufferers. The erroneousidea that someone may control their ment alillness with sheer willpower is ludicrous.Would you tell your diabetic child to willher insulin levels up? The problem is thatvery few studies have been conducted onthe efficacy, let alone the safety of manychildrens medications.

Medications can include mood stabilizerslike the familiar Lithium and the anti-con-vulsants used as mood stabilizers such asDivalproex Sodium or Valproic Acid

(Depakote), Carbamazepine (Tegretol),Gabapentin (Neurontin), Topiramate(Topamax) and Tiagabine (Gabitril). Thenthere are antipsychotics like Risperdal,Zyprexa and Seroquel. Calcium channelblockers (Verapamil, Nimodipine, Isradipine)have recently received attention as potentialmood stabilizers for treating acute mania,ultra-ultra-rapidcycling and recurrentdepression which aremarkers of juvenile-onset bipolar disorder.For anxiety, we haveKlonopin, Xanax,

Buspar, and Ativan.The side effects of

the above run thegamut from sleepi-ness to insomnia,nausea to neuralgia,liver and kidney dam-age, rashes, loss ofappetite, stuntedgrowth, tardive dyski-nesia (very serious,sometimes permanen tslowed and haltedmovement), severemood swings amongst

others and, all ofthem can cause death.

The most contro-versial pharmacologi-cal medications usedin child psychiatrytoday are stimulantsand anti-depressants.Even the NationalInstitute of MentalHealth in the UnitedStates put out a papercautioning that per-

haps we might be over-using stimulantssuch as Ritalin, Dexedrine, Concerta andAdderall.

Health Canada put out a warning in 2003that children under 16 should not be givenany anti-depressant in the SSRI (selectiveserotonin re uptake inhibitor) family such asProzac or Paxil, because studies have proven

a high risk for suicidal thoughts in children,even w here there were non e before.

The book Jeffreys Journey by Jeffreysmother, Debbie Jeffries paints a very similarpicture to my familys experience with juve-nile mental illness.

From Debbies website www.laraynes-place.net: At seven years old, he had beenasked to leave over eight daycare/preschools, had been banned from thecounty day care system, had been tr eated byover 16 different doctors and had been on atleast 16 psychotropic drugs (alone or incombination), had been admitted on threeseparate occasions to a psychiatric hospital,

and h ad spent a year in a h ighly suspervisedand therapeutic residential care program.

After having exhausted absolutely everytreatment known for Jeffrey, Debbie Jeffrieslooked to cannabis. It worked very well,though soon after her son began using it,the state accused Debbie of child endanger-ment and threatened to take Jeffrey away.



20/36


Keep in mind that w here it would be devas-tating for any typical child to be removedfrom his or her paren t, for a child with men -tal health issues it would be tantamount todestroying his world and could send theminto an even deeper crisis. Thankfully,Debbie eventually won her case and herfamilys story has been profiled in main-stream American media, on 48 Hrs.Investigates an d Sally Jesse Raphael.

Debbie Jeffries is correct in her assertionthat cannabis is acting as amood stabilizer for her child.In the Journal ofPsychoactive Drugs, Volume30 (2), April/June 1998,Harvard Psychiatry professorDr. Lester Grinspoon andJames B. Bakalar present sev-eral anecdotal stories of bipo-lar men and women usingcannabis to immediately curbboth manic and depressive

states and also to mitigate theserious side effects of thepharmaceuticals they hadbeen prescribed. One womanclaims that it curbed hermanic rages and converselyhelps her get out of bed todeal with the day when shefinds herself in too much of a depressedstate to do so.

For years scientists have been aware of thehuman endogenous cannabinoid system,though exactly what role it plays in ourmental health is still relatively unclear. Onething that we all can agree on is that

humans have been affecting their mentalstate with cannabis since time immemorial.

Th e beauty of cannabis as a medicine forchildren is that it has n o known toxic levelsand relatively manageable side affects.While never a panacea and usually to beused in conjunction with the pharmaceuti-cals that are required, cannabis can greatlyreduce the n umber of medications a child ison, th erefore reducing th e complexity of hisor her situation. The problem with many ofthe medicines used for mental health is thatthe side effects sometimes mimic the symp-toms that we are tr ying to suppress.

It was obvious, I needed to give Issac pot!

Believe me, Ive thought about it. Ive evenhanded Jeffreys Journey out to some of t hestaff who work with Issac, who have been

working with special needs children for overthirty years and they think he should trycannabis. They know that the drugs theyusually prescribe for children like Issac doharm, physically and emotionally; not ju st tothe child, but to th e entire family.

The major irony of my life is that fromOctober of 2001 until August of 2002, I had

founded and operated the Sunshine CoastCompassion Club, a non-profit medicalcannabis dispensary and r esource center in

the small coastalcommunity ofGibsons, BC.When the clubwas shut down inAugust and I wasarrested for traf-ficking, we had70 members, twoof whom wereminors. Elevenmonths later the

Department ofJustice droppedmy charges. Iguess somethingabout my situa-tion angered theRCMP becauseprior to dropping

all the charges they decided to cause myfamily and I more legal and financial griefby sending ten officers over to our house tocut off our electricity for a week. Theycalled the Ministry of Children & Familiesand falsely claimed that there was a closetgrow-op in my sons closetless bedroom.

My husband is a long-time medical mari-juana user. Both h e and I have been ou tspo-ken activists regarding not only medical use,but the end to prohibition as a whole. Iveworked at Cannabis Culture Magazine andhave written articles for them, was cam-paign manager for Federal Marijuana Partycandidate Dana Larsen and ran for the BCMarijuana Party myself in the ColumbiaRiver-Revelstoke riding. I have appeared inmedia from the CBC to the Miami Herald. Ihave starting my own cannabis-based busi-ness, CannaGuide Publishing, and haveestablished a good reput ation already in t helocal community through my involvement

with Community Futures. In other words,people and the establishment know me,though th ey associate me with pot.

The RCMP already believe that I am giv-

ing Issac cannabis. They said so in theirpolice report from our home raid. Issacsmedical records will prove otherwise andthats why they havent tried very hard totake him away from us. If Issac were tobegin u sing cann abis and the w rong personfound out, not only would they immediate-ly take him away, they would take our

daughter away as well.Next they would go after my husband who

is an A merican citizen applying for perma-nent resident status. They would jail himfor child endangerment, which because ofhis severe neurological condition wouldthreaten his life, and they would kick himout of the country. As strong as my beliefthat cannabis will help, choosing to trycannabis for Issac could fur ther damage myfragile and vulnerable child and surelydestroy our family.

While I ran the club, and long after itclosed, I received many emotional emailsfrom parents. They described many chilling-

ly similar situations to Jeffery and Issacs.One mother was so desperate to treat herson with cannabis, she was willing to take afour day round trip once a month, just touse the services of a Canadian compassionclub and then smuggle the medicine backover th e border. Another moth er, while herchild is legally allowed to use cannabis totreat his illness, has to go to his schooleveryday and physically remove him fromschool property just so he can take hisencapsulated cann abis at the pr oper time.

There is one notable exception wherecannabis could actually worsen a mentalhealth condition if there is any psychosis

present, or if there is a family history ofschizophrenia. Formal studies, as well asanecdotal evidence suggest that both adultsand children who experience these symp-toms should stay away from cannabisstrains that contain particularly high THClevels in relation to CBD levels, as is thecase with most pure Sativa strains such asthose found in equatorial regions.

I love my children in such a way that an ypain th ey feel, whether physical or emotion-al, I feel tenfold. As an adult, I h ave benefit-ed from the glorious healing powers ofcannabis to ease both my physical and emo-tional pain. Prohibition is the evil and not

being able to help my suffering child is likea knife in my heart

C H O O SI N G C A N N A B I S FO R C H I LD REN

Lisa and Issac


21/36

E Judith Renaud, M.A. Canadian Chair,Board of Directors

We are an organization made up of teach-

ers openly committed to drug policy reform.We want to encourage open debate betweeneducators, parents, law makers, enforcersand stu dents. Our organization provides animportant foundation for reform in drugeducation.

Canada has enormous potential to influ-ence drug reform says Adam Jones, a 21year old education major at Montana StateUniversity in Billings and founder of (TAP)Teachers Against Prohibition, now renamedEFSDP Educators for Sensible Drug Policy.http://EFSDP.org

When intelligent drug policy is imple-

mented in Canada we cannot ignore the factsbecause it is so close to home. My point isthat Canada deserves an enormous amountof attention, here and now. Jones looked atthe education profession and with th e help ofother activists in the drug reform movement,brought this struggle, through Educators forSensible Drug Policy, into the ranks of ournation s educators.

Organizationally modeled to a large degreeafter LEAP (Law Enforcement AgainstProhibition) h ttp:// www.leap.cc, both groupshave much in common. EFSDP and LEAPare both trying to appeal to professionswhose members witness the end results of

the drug war on a daily basis.The reality is that some students will take

drugs and come to school high; smokingweed is not a new thing. Marijuana use andits related studies have been going on foryears. It is the most widely used illicit drug inNorth America. The National Institute onDrug Abuse (NIDA) in the US claims thatover 38% of the total population between theages 12 and 17 have tried marijuana at leastonce in their lifetime and approximately 8%are using marijuana on a regular basis.

A Canadian n ational survey of 1,250 12-19year olds revealed that getting high is main-stream. Teen mar ijuana smokers appear to

be imitating their baby-boom parents saysRichard Garlick, a spokesman for theCanadian Centre for Substan ce Abuse.

Youth ra tes are going up and are at levelsthat we havent seen since the late 70s whenrates reached their peak. Linda Dabros, spe-cial adviser to Health Canadas DirectorGeneral of Drug Strategy comments,Research we have conducted on 12 to 19year olds show us that marijuana has gonemainstream and is well integrated into teenlifestyle The last national survey in Canada

involving youth and drugs in 1994 showedthat one-third of 15-24 year olds smoke pot.

Drugs are everywhere, though just how

pervasive they truly are is unclear. It seemswherever we turn there is yet another issuethat causes us to fear for our childrens safe-ty, health and well-being. Parents are worr iedabout their children and they have everyright to be. As a community, we know theseissues are not isolated to the bigger urbancenters of Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal.We know small towns have their fair share ofsubstance abuse pr oblems as well.

I find a lack of education is one of themain reasons th at the dr ug epidemic is as badas it is. In my opinion, says one 14 year old,there should be a class all about drugs. Itshould start in the second grade, that waykids start getting educated about the harm ofdrugs from a very young age

Educators for Sensible Drug Policy has sev-eral goals:

We seek to educate the public, the mediaand policymakers about the failures of cur-rent drug policy.

We are working to cre-ate a Speakers Bureau ofknowledgeable andarticulate educatorswho can describe theimpact of our faileddrug polices on issues

like teacher safety,teacher / communityrelations, and the finan-cial and human cost.

We want to restorestudent respect forteachers, respect thathas been diminished bythe teachers role inimposing and imple-menting drug prohibi-tion, by participating inprograms such asD.A.R.E (Drug AbuseResistance Education) .

Our ultimate goal isto reduce drug warharms by ending drugprohibition.

The war on drugs isheating up. D.A.R.E.sspread across Canadaneeds to be stopped andmost importantly, analternative programmust be offered. Youn gpeople need to be edu-

cated about drugs, and we are aware fromfeedback and numerous studies thatD.A.R.E. and other abstinence-focused pro-grams do not work.

Dr. Marsha Rosenbaum directs the SafetyFirst project of the Drug Policy Alliance inSan Francisco. A medical sociologist, she haswritten books and scholarly articles on drug

use, addiction, drug treatment, and drug-using women. Dr.Rosenbaums Safety First isa program that gives parents information onhow to honestly and effectively talk to theirchildren about drugs.

School officials should develop hon est, sci-ence-based drug education programs that putthe safety of students first. This kind ofapproach recognizes that teenagers experi-ment with dr ugs, and that it is important toprovide them with credible informationabout drug use. It also recognizes that absti-nence-only curr icula, such as D.A.R.E., haveshown not to work. www.safetylst.org

In reality, the D.A.R.E. program has been

shown to be a colossal failure and has beenwritten about in more than 16 highly-respected, independent studies. Included inthese studies is a 1999 West Vancouver Policereport which concluded that In the majori-ty of studies where drug use was examined,researchers concluded that the D.A.R.E. pro-gram either had little or no effect on drug


TRU TH I N SC H O O LS


22/36

20 C A N N A B I S H E A LT H J o u r n a l

Dear Editor

You have erroneously given your readersthe impression that High Times is gone. Getwith the program, th ey have evolved!!

I will always be indebted to HT for the May1976 edition (pictured above). The SpringHome Growers Planting Guide (pg. 48) got

me into trouble, while the article in theHealth Section Marijuan a Gets a Clean Billof Health, convinced my parents that notonly was it OK, but they wanted in on theaction. Our mu lti-ethnic crime co-op remainsalive and well.

Always a fan!!

EDITOR S REPLY

Sorry for any confusion we may have caused.

I still have my copy ( dog-eared as it is). T hat

was m y f irst peek at the other world. I can see

why it rocked your world! Glad your calling

was m arijuana! Good luck wi th the co-op!

CHANGING TIMES FOR HIGH TIMES

by Ti lo, Methods of Ma yhem and GotVape.com

My first encounter w ith High Times was atthe age of eleven, smoking Florida brownhaired sensi (a.k.a. schwag); we stole thisfrom my friends older brother. After weaccomplished getting stoned we decided to goback through his drawers to see what wecould find. We didnt find any more weed butwhat we did find was a Playboy and a HighTimes mag. From that day on his brother setthe standard of cool. In the weirdest way,that moment gave me my first real taste of

freedom of speech. For an eleven year oldbreak dancing stoner, this was a bitch deal.And me, being from Ohio at that time, land ofthe more seeds than weed. InHigh Times Iwas able to explore colorful buds I neverthought existed, see people who I neverthought smoked, and even buy seeds anddrugs though mail order. At that age Ithought that was the druggy bible. Not untillater in life did I really understand the un der-lying meaning and causes High Times wasrepresenting in how it was kicking down

doors for freedom of speech. I never thoughtthat years later I would be involved with the

High Times organization, not only on thebusiness side but also on the friendship side.Not only am I involved in the industry byowning Inspector Vapors Vaporizers A.K.A.gotvape.com. I am the singer and co-founderof Methods of Mayhem with Tommy Lee,Stephen Perkins, drummer of JanesAddiction, Mix Master Mike from the BeastieBoys, and I have been on e of the main acts onOzzfest. I have toured with many stonerbands including Pantera, Incubus, Korn,Deftones, Cypress Hill, Lincoln Park, KidRock, (r.i.p. Joe C.), Hed P. E. Bone Thugs

and Harmony. I have recorded with smokerslike Wu-Tang Clan, Lil Kim, George Clinton ,and of course, with the almighty Snoop D ogg,who is by far my stoniest friend. To confirmthat, let me tell you about just one of ourtrips down to Freaknic Weekend in AtlantaGeorgia. First of all Tommy, Snoop and I exitfirst class instead of walking down the tar-mac. Snoops bodyguards h ad arranged for usto walk out the side door and enter into alimo that was basically parked underneaththe plane. Once entering the limo, Snooppulled out two huge blunts, which held

use. Some studies even foun d an increase indrug use among those students taking theprogram.

The BC Provincial Government currentlyspends millions on t his ineffective American-based program that essentially encourageschildren to do drugs while misinformingthem about the dangers. D.A.R.E. founder,

California Police Chief Daryl Gates, saw nodifference between marijuana and crackcocaine and believed that all drug usersshould be roun ded up an d shot. These harshwords obviously arent coming from a placeof prevention and harm reduction.

Prohibition is fueling police officers tocome into our schools and search studentsand their lockers. Teachers need to be a partof the liberalization of marijuana laws andalong with their students, implement thechanges that need to occur. Aggressive policeaction in ou r schools is the wrong message tobe giving our students. Our schools need to

be clean of drugs and alcohol, but also safe,healthy, communicative environments;places for debate and progressive change.Recent in cidents in Canadian and US schoolshave created anxiety and mistrust.

Educators for Sensible Drug Policy will belooking closely at dr ug policy and reform an dwe will focus on how educators can become

more informed, open and truthful. We needteachers to understand how prohibition isanti-child and anti-family. Students need toask questions and be encouraged to openlydebate drug issues. Programs need to bedeveloped for younger children because theyare the most vulnerable to indoctrination.

Drug abuse is a serious health issue; we arehopeful that H ealth Canada will help us leadthe way. Our intentions are to work closelywith federal departments, notably theDepartment of Justice and the Office of theSolicitor General of Canada. Part of our strat-egy involves changes to the law. This is why

Educators for Sensible Dru g Policy will staycommitted to providing the most accurateand up to date information for our educa-tors. We hope our actions will makeCanadas schools safer places in which toteach an d learn.

If you are an educator and want to renewyour commitment to end prohibition and

help bring drug reform into our schools,please contact us at the address below.

No movement for social change can hopeto succeed unless it makes the most advancedintellectual and technical achievements itsown, and u nless it is rooted in those strata ofthe population that are productive and cre-ative in every domain Noam Chomsky

Judith Renaud, Educators for Sensible Drug

Policy, http://EFSDP.org, Gibsons, British

Columbia, Canada (604) 886-8665

[email protected]

C H A N G I N G T I M ES FO R H I G H TI M ES

TRU TH I N SC H O O LS


23/36

C A N N A B I S H E A LT H J o u r n a l 21

Snoop and I over, (sorry Tommy youre onprobation), until we got to a store whereSnoop bought a box of fifty. The next morn-ing there were only 6 left, we had smokedlike a broken stove. What I thought was real-ly cool, was that Snoop believes it should beagainst the law for medical patients to bearrested. Some people physically need mari-

juana to eat, sleep and relieve pain. SnoopthoughtHigh Times was one of the on ly mag-azines strong enough to help others and sup-ported their efforts in the battle to legalizemarijuan a. I have also been fortun ate enoughto be involved with an d play shows for HighTimes, invite-only connoisseur events. Byknowin g lots of insiders at High Times I was

aware of the format change months ahead,and to tell you th e truth, when th e first issuewas released, show casing their new style, Iwas very disappointed. At first glance, I wasturned off because it seemed so serious andwas lacking, in my opinion, the youthful-ness. So I went back to do a little research on

High Times and who started it. I found that

Tom Forcade was the original founder ofHigh Times. His inspiration for creatingHighTimes originated in 1970 through his con-stant battling with the United StatesCommission on Obscenity and Pornography.

C H A N G I N G T I M ES FO R H I G H TI M ES

Tilo, from Methods of M ayhem & Sen Dog from CypressHill enjoying their Got Vape vaporizer


24/36


25/36


September of 1974 was the birth ofHighTimes and in November of 1978 was thedeath of its founder. Forcade died of suicidedue to paranoia. In 1979 Ratso, who hasbeen involved in numerous successful proj-ects from then up to now, saved it. Hisinvolvement ranged from NationalLampoons Reefer Madness and Howard

Sterns, Private Parts. At th at point in t ime,America was changing their drug preferenceto cocaine along with other designer drugs,which were showcased in High Times. In1988 Steven Hager took over as Editor anddecided to do away with Cocaine and itsbuddies. He changed the magazine to bemore about cannabis cultivation andactivism. Steven also started the FreedomFighters which waved hemp flags and spokeof George Washington and Thomas Jeffersonon how they grew hemp. High Times alsostarted numerous marijuana based events,ranging from the Stony Movies awards, thedoobies music award, and everyone's most

favorite award show, the Cannabis Cup, inAmsterdam. Now with its 30th anniversaryhere,High Times thought it was time for themagazine to go back to being more aboutawareness and activism, than stoner andbong of the month. So when I saw the firstissue of the new High Times I was devastatedbecause I always wanted to be the stoner of

the month. The new layout of the magazineseemed so serious, I used to be able to read itas an escape and now its filled with reality. Ihave to admit, reality is good but I have to beprepared. When you expect to see what newcelebrity is smoking and a picture of someguy with too much time on his hands an d histen foot double chamber gravity bong, you

get disappointed when you see articles onlyabout politics and science. I guess I haveADD because I like politics and science, butmy attention span bounces from serious arti-cles to lifestyle art icles and pictures. Now, itsall political, it seems.

Then I found out that High Times nowoffers two magazines, High Times and HighT im es Grow.High Times being more politicaland High Times Grow being more lifestyle. Ihave to admit, now knowing that the fun isstill there, I just have to go to Grow, to get it.I am realizing that by having High Timesoffering two different kinds of magazinesthey can appeal to a much larger base, there-

fore promoting more awareness and eventu-ally creating even more freedoms for themasses that they need and enjoy, hemp, mar-ijuana, and their bi-products. Thats just myopinion and in this world you should nevertru st just one opinion on such a large subject.I showed a few of my friends a copy of thenew High Times magazine, nick named

Classic Coke style and a copy of the HighTimes Grow and th is is what they had to say.

I like the more political edge. On tour we

have a lot of down time so I like more content in

the mag. I feel like Im getting my moneys

worth. I never cared for bong of the month. -

Kat: dancer for Brittany Spears.

My store will carry both, because for years I

have always heard complaints from my older

clientele, that they wanted more articles and

less advertisement, which they didnt care

about. They smoke out of papers and wood pipes

and have no need for the fancy stuff. My young

clientele want m ore pictures and ads and m any

don't even read the text . Now all my customers

will be happy - Big John: alternative gift s store

owner.

High Times has been family from day one

for us and I cant say I have always agreed with

everythin g t

Documents

Cannabis Health - [Mar/Apr 2004]