POT PROBLEM

The feds say they support using marijuana for medicinal purposes, but
you wouldn't know that from the horror stories some are telling. Cancer
patients, AIDS and arthritis sufferers and people with injuries that
stop them from working are among those who applied to Health Canada
recently for an exemption that allows them to possess and grow pot for
medicinal purposes without fear of prosecution. But all of them were
rejected, even though doctors attested to weed's therapeutic benefits
in their cases.

Rejected applicants were told to try more rehab, get a psychiatric
assessment or pain therapy.

One of them, Robert Neron, who lives in Hearst and suffers from
cervical dystonia, which makes movement painful, even got a visit from
the Ontario Provincial Police after he applied to have his pot
exemption increased from one to two ounces a week. The cops carted
away all his plants and charged him with cultivation.

Neron recently took his case to federal court. He and others have
taken their pleas directly to the office of health minister Allan
Rock, only to be "jerked around. It's ridiculous what they make us
do."

Roslyn Tremblay, a spokesperson for the ministry, admits there are
shortcomings in the approval system. "There have been a lot of
complaints. We're going through a learning curve ."