MARIJUANA PARTY TO DISTRIBUTE MEDICINAL POT

Eccentric Millionaire To Back B.C. Project

PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. (CP) - The B.C. Marijuana Party says it will establish
a "compassion network" to provide pot to medicinal users.

Similar clubs operate in the Vancouver area, Montreal and Calgary,
providing marijuana through regional outlets at bulk prices much lower than
the drug would cost on the street.

"A lot of people who are in need of medical marijuana are in wheelchairs,
disabled or suffering certain levels of poverty," said Marc Emery, party
president. "This will insure they get regular, clean supplies at the most
affordable price in the market place."

The network will also lay the groundwork for the private distribution of
marijuana if the substance becomes legalized, said Emery, a millionaire
activist who sells marijuana seeds over the Internet and funds the
Marijuana Party as well as Pot TV and Cannabis Culture magazine.

"We want to make sure marijuana distribution and production continues to
stay in the hands of B.C. citizens, not government," said Emery. "The
people who've oppressed us for the last 30 years are hardly the people we
want to hand over our industry to."

The first phase of the network is to be set up in September in the west end
of Vancouver, Nanaimo, Kamloops, Kelowna and Prince George.

In December the distribution network will expand to Prince Rupert, Fort St.
John, Revelstoke and Chilliwack, he said.

Patients will be able to receive pot for prices starting from $7 a gram,
which will possibly go even lower if local growers can be found.

All they will need is a letter from a doctor ... not a prescription.

"The proof that people need to get involved in the program would be letter
from their doctor specifying marijuana is good for this patient," he said.
"It doesn't have to be an endorsement, a recommendation, or a prescription.
It just has to be they are aware that this person takes marijuana and they
have no cause for alarm in that degree."

Police have raided such clubs across the country but Emery does not
anticipate a major problem.