POT VS. PAIN: GREG COOPER'S CHOICE IS CUT AND DRIED

Greg Cooper leans down over the coffee table, jamming the glass bottle
firmly against his knee. His elbow is wedged into his side for support, but
his right hand, holding the Bic lighter, oscillates erratically.

His left hand is also shaking as he grabs the tube coming from the top of
the bottle, and his eyes continue to dart around, out of sync. It takes a
minute or two, but he finally gets it all co-ordinated: he lights the
marijuana, and sucks the smoke through the bong.

Ten minutes later, the shakes are gone. His speech, which before had been
punctuated by severe stutters in every sentence, is almost perfect.

But most of all, says the 30-year-old Richmond man, the pain is drastically
reduced.

Cooper was active and healthy three years ago, working hard at his job at
Tile Town in Surrey. But one morning, he woke up shaking. He went to
Vancouver Hospital and, after two CT Scans, MRIs, and lumbar punctures, was
told he has Multiple Sclerosis.

A doctor prescribed marijuana for therapeutic purposes, which he gets
through the Compassion Club. He smokes an eighth of an ounce each week.

Marijuana helps him to stay active, he says, mainly because it controls the
pain. And sometimes the pain is excruciating.

"It's like a trillion labourers between the layers of my skin, with picks,
axes and sledgehammers, all working on my nerves," Cooper said. "I used to
work hard-I thought I knew what pain was."

Health Canada announced changes this week that would allow people with
terminal and chronic illnesses to apply to grow and smoke their own pot.

Cooper gives the move a conditional reserved thumbs up.

"It's a step in the right direction," he says. "But it's still government
control." Under the regulations, which come into effect July 31, users must
receive a prescription from a doctor (in some cases, two) and obtain a
federal photo-ID card. Eventually subscribers would also be able to
purchase marijuana from a government-sanctioned grower.

Cooper said the current situation is problematic, because there is a
Catch-22 element in asking chronically and terminally ill people to raise
the plants on their own.

"So many people need this herb who are not able to grow it themselves," he
said. "Myself, I can't do it. I hate saying that, but whatever."

For now, he continues to spend about $250 a month buying marijuana from The
Compassion Club-an illegal practice.

"We exist in the space between the way the law is written and the way the
law is enforced," club spokeswoman Hilary Black said.

The group has garnered respect from police and politicians because of its
professional nature, she said.

"We're thorough. The people we distribute to have serious medical necessity."

The Compassion Club also offers its patrons counselling and a variety of
alternative health care, including massage therapy. Black said she was
disappointed Ottawa did not choose to sanction compassion clubs, adding
that the federal decision creates a costly and unnecessary bureaucratic
process.

The Health Canada decision comes in response to an Ontario high court
ruling last year, which forced the federal government to make room in the
regulations for legal marijuana use.

Cooper said he plans to apply for the right to grow his own, and his
parents might tend the plants for him.

"They used to be adamantly against cannabis, but I've changed their minds."