DUO SEEKS TO SELL MEDICINAL POT

Some say the ill should have easy access to the drug: Two Nanaimo men
say they are in talks to rent space for their Compassion Society

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 expand and physically establish the
Mid-Island Compassion Society.

A downtown location would provide a source of safe, clean marijuana
to more medical users throughout the region 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's 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 expanded society succeed.

Payne said he was optimistic about negotiations for renting space
downtown, but wouldn't provide details until the deal was finalized.

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 immediately available for comment.

Philippe Lucas, executive director of the Vancouver Island Compassion
Club, said that about 5% of their 750 members come from north of the
Malahat to buy pot for medical purposes.

"I'd be happy to have them honour the membership for our members in
order to save them the long trip down from Nanaimo," he said, adding
that many Canadian compassion clubs fail quickly due to operational challenges.

However, Lucas points out that the Victoria Club, which has been
operating for nine years, only allows membership if the patient has a
specific recommendation from a doctor for marijuana.

A second organization in Victoria, the Cannabis Buyers Club of
Canada, only requires proof of illness.

"I understand that because of the reluctance of some members of the
medical establishment. . . that the simple proof of condition might
be enough to gain entry into a compassion club. We certainly see that
in other jurisdictions as well," said Lucas, who is also a graduate
research fellow with the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C.

Lucas adds that in the first six months of operations, the Victoria
club sold marijuana to patients with certain conditions if they could
provide proof of their illness, such as a doctor's note.

But after a campaign to educate the medical community there about
medical uses of pot, more physicians in Victoria began recommending
the drug and the club tightened up its rules for gaining membership.