IT'S ENOUGH TO MAKE HIM VOMIT

Red tape has a Regina man feeling green with nausea, after a
bureaucratic loophole left him facing a criminal charge and forced to
live without the medical marijuana he needs.

"I threw up all day yesterday," said Tom Shapiro, who uses marijuana
to control the side effects of AIDS. "My body's going crazy without
it. Who knows? I may get down to the police station and throw up for
them."

Shapiro has been licensed to grow and use medical marijuana for about
five years, to help him cope with the extreme nausea caused by his
illness and medications.

He says his problems began in October, when the annual renewal of his
medical marijuana licence was delayed by a series of bureaucratic
issues-- including whether his dosage should be increased-- and
ultimately lapsed for about three months.

But while Health Canada was processing the application, Shapiro got a
visit from police officers with a search warrant who searched his home
Tuesday evening, seized his marijuana plants and all his growing
equipment and informed him he might be charged with a criminal offence.

On Thursday, Shapiro went to the police station with a faxed copy of
his new licence to plead his case, but to no avail.

City police charged him with one count of production of a controlled
substance, marijuana, under the Control Drugs and Substances Act.
Shapiro will make his first court appearance on March 7.

Shapiro maintains he was misled by Health Canada into believing he
could continue growing medical marijuana until his new licence was
approved, but city police spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich disagrees.

She said even if Shapiro has a valid licence now, he didn't produce
one at the time the search warrant was executed, and growing marijuana
without a valid licence is illegal.

"Marijuana is a controlled substance, so you either have a permit or
you do not," she said. "If you do not have a permit, it's contraband,
so police seized the equipment and the plants and are continuing their
investigation."

Health Canada would not comment specifically on Shapiro's situation,
but said it's up to medical marijuana users to ensure their licences
are kept up to date.

In the meanwhile, Shapiro says he's being unfairly punished for a
bureaucratic problem between Health Canada and his doctor, and has
been left without the drugs he needs to control his nausea.

Even with a new licence in place, he says it will take months to grow
new plants and he can't afford to buy more growing equipment.

"I hope that maybe there's some compassionate people that will send me
some stuff as donations ..." he said. "That's all I've got to hope on.
I'm not counting on it, all I know for sure is that I'm going to get
pretty sick and it's the fault of Health Canada."

Shapiro had 21 plants at the time of the bust. His new licence allows
him a higher number.

Insp. Al Trainor said all the evidence seized during the search would
be kept until the matter goes through court, but any property he's
legally entitled to -- such as the growing equipment-- could be
returned to him if he's found not guilty of the criminal charges.

Trainor said he didn't know whether the seized marijuana could be
returned as well.

This isn't the first time Shapiro lost his supply of medicinal
marijuana. In 2003 he filed a Saskatchewan Government Insurance claim
after someone broke into his home and stole his stash.