DUO LOOKING FOR POT PLACE

A new club catering to medical marijuana users is looking for digs in the
West End.

Kenn Quayle and Brian Mackenzie, co-founders of We Can, a club dedicated to
supplying marijuana to people with "legitimate" medical conditions, need to
find a space before they officially open. Whether or not pot is actually
smoked on site, as it is at other such clubs in North America, will be up
to the landlord.

"They might be allowed to smoke on site, or maybe just make a purchase,"
said Quayle, a member of the East Side Compassion Club on Commercial Drive,
currently the only such club operating in the city. "We're looking for a
friendly landlord and we're very up front about what we're doing."

People wanting to join clubs like We Can must first produce a signed form
from a doctor or naturopath stating marijuana will likely improve their
condition. Quayle, confined to a wheelchair because of a degenerative
spinal condition, said the drug eases cramps and spasm in his legs and
helps him to sleep.

The pair is anxious to start the club in the West End because the East Side
Compassion Club has a waiting list of about 100 people, and many members
live in the West End. Home to Vancouver's gay community, the West End
already hosts several services for people with HIV and AIDS-Quayle said the
Compassion Club will complement those services by helping people obtain
access to medicinal cannabis to help with pain relief, appetite and sleep.

Mackenzie and Quayle started organizing We Can after Health Canada
announced changes to its medicinal marijuana guidelines in July. The shift
followed a Supreme Court of Canada ruling late last year that a sick
Ontario man had a constitutional right to grow and smoke marijuana. Despite
the new rules, Mackenzie said he's still not sure if what the pair is
planning to do is legal. "Right now it's in a kind of legal limbo."

Rielle Capler, a staff member at the Compassion Club, said the group's
waiting list has grown in the wake of publicity surrounding Health Canada's
policy shift, and newcomers have to wait four to six weeks to join.
Currently, the Compassion Club boasts almost 1,600 members.

"If [We Can] can help it's a great thing. There's a lot of need in
different areas of the city, and if they can help in the West End, we think
it's a good idea."

Capler said smoking marijuana and hash is allowed in the smoking room at
the Compassion Club, which also sells baked goods like pot brownies and
cookies because some people prefer to ingest the drug rather than smoke it.
"It's a very different effect on body pain."

Thursday's menu included Rolls Royce Hash, Time Warp powdered hash, Big Bud
crossed with grapefruit, Sweet Tooth and Sweet Skunk. Prices range between
$7 and $12.

Capler said the club plays an important part in people's healing. "People
come here and relax and play chess. They talk about what's happening to
them and talk about their feelings."

Although the concept originated in California, the East Side Compassion
Club, which started four years ago, is one of the longest running clubs of
its kind in North America.

For information on We Can, call 604-842-6235.