NANAIMO POT STORE EYED

Only Those With Doctor's Note Will Have Access

NANAIMO -- A group that provides marijuana to sick people hopes to
expand into a storefront location in downtown Nanaimo within a few weeks.

Local resident James Younger has been delivering pot on his bicycle
to about half a dozen chronically ill residents in the city for the
past few months, but has now partnered with Nanaimo marijuana
activist Richard Payne to establish the Mid-Island Compassion Society.

A downtown location would provide a source of safe, clean marijuana
to medicinal users, who currently have to buy the drug on the streets
or travel to organizations in Victoria, such as the Vancouver Island
Compassion Club, that sell pot to patients, Payne said.

"It gives us legitimacy. We're not a couple of drug dealers running
around and dealing drugs," said Payne, who ran as a candidate for the
B.C. Marijuana Party in the 2005 provincial election, and said his
connections with "growers" will help the society succeed.

Payne said he was optimistic about negotiations for renting space downtown.

In order to buy marijuana, patients would have to provide a doctor's
note stating that they have a medical condition that could be treated
by marijuana. Unlike some compassion clubs in Canada, the society
wouldn't require a doctor's recommendation for pot.

The government licenses people to use marijuana for certain illness,
but Payne said that many people are afraid to go this route for
privacy reasons and because it could limit their ability to travel
into the U.S.

At first, a minimal amount of marijuana would be stored on-site until
the group gauges the reaction of the RCMP.

But Payne stressed that the Compassion Society won't attract crime.

"The people we're getting aren't gangster drug dealers," he said.
"We're going to show [the community] that we can be responsible."

Nanaimo RCMP weren't available for comment.