MS SUFFERER BELIEVES GOVERNMENT ISN'T LISTENING ON ISSUE OF ACCESS TO
MARIJUANA FOR THE SICK

As Alison Myrden speaks she is still in bed, even though it's close to
noon. She's taking another dose of morphine, without the marijuana she
needs to feel well.

This morning the symptoms from her MS are giving her problems. She's tired
and having trouble finding kind words for the federal government's latest
initiatives to help sick people gain access to medical marijuana.

"They're still not hearing what we're saying -- they can claim that we're
being taken care of, but the problem still exists," she said. "I don't have
the money for it, but I need to smoke if I'm to have any quality of life."

Her main supplier until recently, an outspoken AIDS sufferer who's battling
federal laws against medical marijuana, was recently busted for trafficking
-- the same day he appeared in court fighting a marijuana charge.

"He wasn't even selling it to me, he was giving it to us -- that's what
they're doing to sick people, so it's difficult to say I'm happy," said
Myrden. "It's sad, but they're pulling dirty stuff on us like this all the
time."

Health Minister Allan Rock has unveiled regulations extending the legal
right to smoke marijuana to those suffering from spinal-cord injuries and
serious arthritis.

Rock has also proposed three levels of illness for those who need medicinal
marijuana: Category one includes symptoms of terminal illness, a second
category is reserved for "serious" medical conditions, and a third deals
with "other" conditions.

The second category includes severe arthritis, cancer, AIDS, HIV infection
and multiple sclerosis (MS), the illness that Alison Myrden is struggling with.

Caregivers or the patients themselves will also be licensed to legally grow
and cultivate the marijuana used for medicinal purposes. All the
regulations should be in place before August.

"Canada is acting compassionately by allowing people who are suffering from
grave and debilitating illnesses to have access to marijuana for medical
purposes," Rock said in a statement issued announcing the reforms.

As well, in December, Ottawa awarded Prairie Plant Systems Inc. a contract
to grow marijuana for research purposes, in an abandoned mine in Manitoba.
The first crop is expected to be available later this year.

The federal minister will also eliminate current limits on the quantity of
marijuana legal users can have, leaving the decision up to the patient's
doctor. Licenses are now good for a year instead of six months, he said.

The regulations are the government's response to a court ruling last year
declaring Canada's marijuana laws unconstitutional because they fail to
recognize the drug has medicinal uses.

For Myrden, 37, the latest news provides little to be excited about. She's
pleased that permissible quantities for patients are being increased, and
also that designated growers can produce the plants for patients who can't.

But it's all taking too long, and she's convinced the legal supply won't
meet the demand. She also understands the marijuana being grown indoors in
Manitoba isn't going to be as potent as the strain she needs.

And worst of all, she's still being forced to rely on street dealers for
marijuana of questionable strength and quality, at prices she can't afford.
At the same time, so-called "compassionate" growers, those not out to make
money but just help the sick, continue to be arrested.

Myrden relies on a cane to get around. Her worst symptom is secondary
tri-geminal neuralgia, a stabbing pain that attacks her left cheek, a pain
only strong marijuana can effectively relieve.

Without access to it, Myrden is again turning to pills and morphine to deal
with symptoms, which include the shakes, poor bladder control, difficulty
with vision and loss of feeling in her arms and legs.

Alison's permission to smoke marijuana was granted last year by Health
Canada. and she's exempted from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and
permitted to possess about one ounce.

Like about 200 others in Canada with what she calls a Section 56, she can
also grow a small number of plants.

But she won't, for fear of inviting break-ins at her Burlington townhouse
and also because she's been incapable in the past of growing plants of
sufficient strength and quantity.

Her story has become nationally-known, after the recent broadcast of a CBC
medical show, Health Matters.

A former youth worker, who now lives modestly on a disability pension, she
attempts to remain positive and optimistic about her circumstances.

She credits taking certain types of vitamins and the fact, until recently,
she had been able to remove herself from daily doses of prescription
morphine -- thanks to marijuana.

She's aware of other individuals with medical conditions who smoke
illegally. Advocates of marijuana say it's helpful helping chemotherapy
patients and others cope with the effects of nausea and loss of appetite.

"The relief is instant," she said. "Within 10 minutes I have no pain --
this drug has been the only reason I'm even partly able to comfortably live
my life."

But to get marijuana, she must rely, in part, on her widowed mother, Joyce,
to help with the cost, sometimes as much as $500 an ounce for the best quality.

Alison said she hates to burden her mother. "I cried when I called her last
Sunday to ask if I could have some money for marijuana, but I have to have it.

"She's a senior and works part-time to afford this, and she should be using
that money to enjoy her life," said Alison. "It pains me that I have to
rely on her for this."