Canada has been much less savage than DEAland in its enforcement of marijuana prohibition, but in some ways it is lagging us in its dealing with the medical marijuana issue, in part because all of the Canadian laws are all national, even though the local authorities obviously exercise some discretion.

However, this was an action by the Canadian Feds, the Mounties. Does this reflect a split in the Canadian government?)

RCMP DRUG RAID WAS DOPEY
March 19, 1999
From The Ottawa Citizen
Editorial
letters@thecitizen.southam.ca
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/

The sight of AIDS victim Jean-Charles Pariseau crying as he watched RCMP officers smash marijuana-growing equipment outside a Vanier home this week brought the issue of medical marijuana home with a thud. For people like Mr. Pariseau, whose weight dropped to nearly 70 pounds before he began using marijuana to stimulate his appetite and help him gain pounds, the issue is neither political nor ethical. It is simply necessary.

But Canada is far from leading the way in rethinking marijuana. Wednesday, just about the time RCMP officers staged a raid on the Vanier basement apartment, an advisory panel to the U.S. government said marijuana can help fight pain and nausea and should be tested.

See
Will The Titanic Of Marijuana Prohibition Be Sunk By The Ice Cube Of The IOM Report?
-- Analysis.

People like Mr. Pariseau have already found that out through sheer desperation. They have set up an informal network so that there is a safe supply of the marijuana they need and use. That is what the St-Denis Street apartment, where police seized 178 plants and growing equipment, was known as to a number of local AIDS and cancer patients who use marijuana: a place where they could get a steady discount supply of the drug. Mr. Pariseau and others say the RCMP raid means they will now be forced to buy drugs on the street.

All of which raises a number of questions. Why, two weeks after the federal government has given the official green light to studying medicinal marijuana, was it necessary to swoop down on one of the biggest local suppliers of the drug to the sick and dying? Why not wait until the federal government position on medical marijuana becomes clear? Why make it harder for sick and dying people to get some brief relief?

What purpose did the raid serve? Do we want to protect people like Mr. Pariseau, who is dying, from some adverse health effects? Don’t our police officers have better things to do?

The RCMP was, of course, just doing its job. "It’s not a debate for us," said Cpl. Marc Richer. "The legislation is still there for us to enforce."

Even so, according to Stats Canada, nearly half of the 66,000 drug charges laid in Canada in 1997 were for simple possession of marijuana.
See
Two Leading Canadian Anti-Prohibitionists Quoted
As Their Papers Actually Report On Canada’s Marijuana Arrest Statistics.
2 Amazing Articles

So police forces are still stuck with legislation that is enforced with relish in some parts of the country and seldom enforced in others. That is a problem, one that elected officials will have to deal with sooner, rather than later.

Meanwhile, we have a recognition at many levels that marijuana is valuable for many sick and dying people. This growing awareness is underlined by the federal government, which announces plans to study the medical uses of marijuana.

What a strange time for the RCMP to become zealous about cracking down on marijuana grown for medical purposes, even if they suspect some of the marijuana they seized might be used for non-medicinal purposes. People like Mr. Pariseau can’t wait for the clinical tests to be completed and evaluated. They can’t wait for the debate about medicinal marijuana to work its way into policy.

They will die before there is an official answer to what is, after all, a pretty straightforward question.

Shouldn’t people in pain be allowed some relief?
See
Three Articles On Pain -- From Washington, The UK, And Arkansas –
And Two Are Even About Medical Marijuana -- Analysis By Richard Cowan

Copyright: 1999 The Ottawa Citizen

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA OPERATION BROKEN UP IN RCMP RAID

March 18, 1999
From The Ottawa Citizen
letters@thecitizen.southam.ca
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/

By Gary Dimmock

AIDS Patient Weeps As Mounties Smash Drug-Growing Equipment

A marijuana-growing operation that provided a steady discount supply to AIDS and cancer patients was raided by police yesterday, forcing the region’s terminally ill users to buy their medicine on the street.

The raid came shortly before 10 a.m., when about 10 RCMP drug agents stormed a rented basement apartment on St-Denis Street in Vanier, a hydroponic site maintained by maintained by Aubert Martin, operating as a business under the name Canna Pharm Canada.

RCMP agents seized 178 plants and growing equipment and arrested Mr. Martin, a key supplier in the region’s underground medicinal marijuana network.

Mr. Martin’s arrest marks the end of a supply to a small circle of AIDS and cancer sufferers who smoke marijuana to ease their pain.

Jean Charles Pariseau, 32, an AIDS patient who smokes marijuana on the advice of his doctor, cried softly as RCMP officers smashed the equipment located directly below his apartment.

The bust means people like Mr. Pariseau must now buy marijuana on the street from "common criminals."

"If I have to buy on the street I won’t know what I’m getting and that scares me," Mr. Pariseau said. "I don’t think people understand how it helps me. It helps me eat and it helps me to forget that I am sick and dying."

Mr. Pariseau began smoking marijuana after a prescribed diet of appetite stimulants and nausea drugs failed to keep down the 30-odd pills he takes to help him digest food.

But the marijuana, according to him and his physician Dr. Don Kilby, finally revived his appetite. He gained about 10 kilograms and his life expectancy was extended three years.

"I don’t know what I’m going to do now," he said yesterday.

Mr. Pariseau appeared tired and frail and he grew so weak by noon that he took a seat in his wheelchair. His fight for a government permit to smoke pot for medicinal purposes gained national attention in 1997 when he was arrested on possession charges.

"He’s just a good guy who wants to help out sick people," Mr. Pariseau said.

"It’s not a debate for us. The legislation is still there for us to enforce," said Cpl. Marc Richer.

In the afternoon, RCMP also raided a branch site of Canna Pharm in Hull, where they seized more equipment such as lamps and humidity-control devices and 160 plants.

In all, RCMP estimate the seized marijuana has a street value of up to $4.2 million. This is calculating by estimating that the 338 plants could have yielded between 340,000 and 850,000 joints that could have sold for up to five dollars each.
(Marijuananews note: This is the first time that I have ever seen the arithmetic explained. The Canadian dollar is around 66 US cents, but this number is still ridiculous.

However, let’s just take them at their word. This means that people with AIDS and other serious health problems will now have to pay over 4 million Canadian dollars for marijuana of uncertain quality on the street, if they can find it.

Is it the policy of the Canadian government to further impoverish its most vulnerable citizens, while the Health Minister gets his act together?)

Mr. Martin and two unidentified men were arrested on charges of production of cannabis.

All three were released on a promise to appear in court to face production and possibly trafficking charges, police said.

The raids come just two weeks after the federal government announced plans to conduct human clinical tests to see if smoking marijuana can reduce pain in terminally ill patients.

When Health Minister Allan Rock announced the plan, he said the tests should not be seen as a step towards legalizing marijuana.

Though he acknowledged anecdotal evidence that the plant can ease pain in terminally ill patients he said there are no scientific facts supporting such claims.

Copyright: 1999 The Ottawa Citizen

(Marijuananews note: This article in the Sun is significantly inferior to the Citizen’s coverage.)

RAIDS NET $1.7M IN POT PLANTS

March 18, 1999
From The Ottawa Sun
editor@sunpub.com
http://www.canoe.ca/OttawaSun/
http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html
By Maria McClintock

Medicinal user out of luck

Three men were arrested yesterday after RCMP drug raids at homes in Vanier and Hull.

The raids netted 338 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $1.7 million.
(Marijuananews note: No, the numbers in the two articles don't match up, but maybe the reporters talked to different Mounty mathematicians.)
At 10:30 a.m. the Mounties raided a first-floor apartment in a St. Denis St. duplex in Vanier.

The apartment appeared to be solely used to grow hydroponic marijuana, said RCMP Cpl. Marc Richer.

Two men, aged 40 and 42, were arrested and about $8,000 in growing equipment and 77 pot plants were seized.

The raid drew particular attention because Jean-Charles Parizeau, an AIDS victim who smokes pot to ease his pain and has been crusading to have pot legalized for medicinal purposes, lives in the upstairs apartment.

Meanwhile, in another raid at the same time in Hull, 261 pot plants and growing equipment worth $10,000 were seized from the basement of a Frontaine St. home. One 49-year-old man was arrested at the Hull address.

Richer said the cases are linked and were part of an ongoing investigation.

Charged with producing marijuana is Aubert Martins, 42, of Hull.

He made a brief court appearance in Ottawa last night.

The other two men were released on promises to appear in court on another date so their names were not made public.

Despite Parizeau living at the same address as the Vanier raid, Richer said he was not arrested.

Pro-pot Bloc MP Bernard Bigras said he rushed over to Parizeau’s home yesterday when he heard of the raid.
(Marijuananews note: He is not a part of some pro-pot Bloc, but is simply a member of the Bloc Quebecois in the parliament who is in favor of medical marijuana. I am in favor of a free press, but that does not make me "pro-hack.")

"The reality now is that Parizeau doesn’t have his medicine anymore and he’s suffering," he said.

Bigras asked Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay to instruct the RCMP to show compassion and back off people who use pot for pain.

He also called on Health Minister Allan Rock to use his department’s powers to provide legal access to pot for AIDS and cancer victims.

Bigras said those moves are needed now since his Commons motion to legalize weed for medical purposes only passed first reading earlier this month. At that time Rock also announced the start of clinical tests on the medicinal use of marijuana.