REEFER RULES RIDICULOUS

One judge after another has ruled marijuana has a legitimate role in the
lives of sick Canadians.

It was not societal pressure to legalize another recreational drug that
swayed them. Rather, judges listened to Canadians for whom marijuana
offered real and unique relief from epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other
serious illness.

Judges listened to persuasive testimony about how marijuana makes a
difference in the quality of people's lives and have ruled it should be
among the controlled drugs available to the ill.

It was for that reason alone this week that marijuana entered the
pharmacological mainstream in Canada. The federal government unveiled a
process for seriously ill Canadians to legally possess marijuana, the first
nation to make it available for that purpose.

But hold on. The new rules didn't come without moaning and foot dragging by
the medical establishment and government. For its part, Ottawa responded
only because an Ontario court ordered it to change its rules to accommodate
the sick or risk having all use legalized.

Yet, the process created is an obstacle course, surely devised by
bureaucrats intent on obeying the letter of a judge's order, while
disregarding its intent.

Sick Canadians shouldn't have to break the law, but under this process that
will continue. It can be easier to get legal narcotics than marijuana. The
impulse on encountering a paranoiac system requiring photo identification
and two doctor signatures is to return to the street. Not what courts intended.

Doctor groups argue they know little about marijuana and will refuse to
prescribe it. It's a ludicrous position given patients are effectively
self-prescribing. Surely, a doctor brings superior knowledge, or are
patients better off getting advice from pushers?

Patients who found relief with black-market marijuana will not accept a
father-knows-best attitude from doctors or government. This plan is more
smoke than substance and it seems destined for yet another day in court.