MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLUBS SET UP KITCHENER, GUELPH BRANCHES

Kitchener and Guelph will soon have clubs that plan to break the law by
supplying marijuana to people for medical use. And Waterloo regional police
warned Monday they will enforce the law and charge anyone selling or
distributing pot.

The Medical Marijuana Clubs of Ontario wants to establish branches across
Ontario that would use civil disobedience to help people who use pot for
medical reasons.

Many people in the community with various ailments could benefit from using
marijuana, says Jeannette Tossounian, founder of a local chapter.

``I do know a lot of people who suffer, and they usually don't when they're
smoking,'' said Tossounian, 22, of Kitchener.

She hopes to have her group operating by late March or early April,
providing pot for people with such diseases as cancer, AIDS/HIV, muscular
dystrophy, glaucoma, epilepsy and intractable pain including arthritis.

``I have talked with many people, mostly in the AIDS community, and some
epileptics, and there is an interest there,'' she said.

Medical Marijuana Clubs plan to lobby the government to decriminalize the
possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Last week, Justice Minister Anne McLellan said the federal government is
``willing to look at the question of decriminalization.''

But Tossounian is skeptical. ``With most politics, they just talk about it
for a while and then let it go.''

Tossounian operates a company that uses hemp to produce clothing. She
became involved in Medical Marijuana Clubs because ``I'm just the kind of
person who likes helping people.''

She said marijuana can alleviate nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy
and induce a healthy appetite among AIDS sufferers. Tossounian uses it to
help cope with insomnia.

Marijuana should be decriminalized altogether, she said. While it can be
abused, ``people can abuse anything.''

In Guelph, Derek Wildfong plans to establish a Medical Marijuana Clubs
chapter by May.

Wildfong operates the Hemp Asylum, which sells products made of hemp like
cloth, clothing, briefcases, food and health and beauty products.

Like Tossounian, he hopes to find sympathetic marijuana growers to help his
group sell therapeutic marijuana at a reduced price, likely by delivering
it to people's homes.

Wildfong said marijuana is ``really an inexpensive product to make'' at
about $30 a pound. However, sold illegally, the price skyrockets to as much
as $3,000 a pound, he said.

Wildfong said he's only an occasional, recreational user himself. But he's
involved in the decriminalization campaign because he has ``seen enough
people sick and dying who could have benefited from this.''

Staff Sgt. Kevin Chalk of Waterloo regional police said police would have
to charge anybody selling marijuana, even if for medical purposes.

``We would be doing our duty and enforcing the law,'' he said

As for the marijuana clubs, Chalk said: ``Their argument is with the
legislators.''