'THIS ISN'T SOME GANGSTER OPERATION'

Marijuana Compassion Centre Gets Set To Raise Its Visibility

For the past year, Stan Sambey has been quietly operating a compassion
centre in Ottawa, a place where about 40 carefully screened patients can
obtain cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Now, in light of a federal government announcement that it will supply
marijuana to chronically ill Canadians, he's looking to take his project's
visibility up a notch, by finding downtown retail space where the centre
can operate in an environment similar to a doctor's office.

Forced into action by an Ontario court deadline, federal Health Minister
Anne McLellan recently announced a plan to supply marijuana to chronically
ill Canadians. The government decided the federally grown drug will be
distributed by doctors for $5 a gram.

But most doctors are not eager to be gatekeepers for a drug whose benefits
they say have not yet been scientifically proven. Only 322 doctors across
the country have been willing to take on that responsibility, and many are
hesitant to distribute the pre-packaged 30-gram bags from their offices
because of the security risks.

Enter Mr. Sambey.

He envisions a waiting room with a receptionist and an expert to provide
information on what strain of the product would best serve a patient's
ailment, as well as offer tips on cannabis growth.

It's not legal, but similar projects in Toronto and British Columbia are
tolerated by police.

"We've changed the public's perception that this isn't some gangster
operation," said Mr. Sambey. "It's like any other pharmaceutical institution."

So far Mr. Sambey, who is also co-founder of the federal Marijuana Party,
has been delivering the drug quietly to the Ottawa members the Nation's
Capital Compassion Society, either in the form of cigarettes, concentrated
oils, lip balm or baked goods.

In order to get cannabis, they have to get a doctor's prescription, which
is verified by the club's staff.

Occasionally, they will pick up their prescription in a small office tucked
away in the back of a retail store, the location of which Mr. Sambey
refuses to disclose.

Members are not allowed to purchase more than two ounces a month, a way for
the Nation's Capital Compassion Society to ensure the product is not being
resold on the street.

The 32-year-old Mr. Sambey got involved in marijuana advocacy in 1994 and
designed a Web site promoting the industrial use of hemp.

"I was a cannabis user and I didn't want to get busted for using something
that is safer than table salt," he said.

Mr. Sambey became more active in lobbying for the legalization of medicinal
marijuana when he saw what it was doing for chronic pain sufferers.

"All you have to do is sit in a room with someone with MS and physically
watch what happens to them when they use marijuana," he said.

Russell Barth, who suffers from fibromyalgia and arthritis, is one of the
people who gets cannabis.

He said that every morning when he wakes up, his body is wracked with pain
and his stomach knotted with nausea.

After he inhales a long, deep toke of marijuana, the pain gradually eases,
he is hungry for breakfast and his anxiety subsides.

Mr. Barth, 34, still worries that his medicine is not legal. He is afraid
that someone will take it away or that he'll run out of money to pay for it.

In Mr. Barth's ideal world, he would have a secure place to go that is
accepted by police and the public, a place where he can get information and
counselling, like a traditional drugstore. Places like those that exist in
B.C. and Toronto.

There are about six well-known compassionate centres in Canada; they
operate as cannabis drugstores.

Patients who have been given prescriptions from their doctors go through an
initial orientation at a centre. They can make a decision about what they
want based on a menu that lists where the product was grown and under what
conditions.

After they make their choice, they can walk away with up to two ounces of
cannabis.

There is no single method of operation.

In Vancouver, members of the B.C. Compassion Club Society can smoke
marijuana in the club's smoking room, but Victoria's Vancouver Island
Compassionate Society does not permit the use of the product on its
premises because society officials deem that too controversial.

Most places keep stashes of marijuana in the centre, guarded by bars on the
windows and security alarm systems.

However, several Toronto clubs have experienced break-ins, a fact that has
fuelled Mr. Sambey's decision to operate the Ottawa club as a delivery system.

Mr. Barth purchased his marijuana through the centre, but he said he would
worry far less if Ottawa's centre was regulated.

"Just like I wouldn't have to worry about having my prescription filled at
the drugstore," he said.

"There are sick people hunched over the toilet praying for a joint to fall
from the sky I know, 'cause I was one of them," said Mr. Barth.

Mr. Sambey said the ideal location for his centre would be right in front
of the Ottawa police station.

"I'd feel much safer there. We have no fear of law enforcement.

"Our only fear is the criminal element."

Hilary Black, founder of the B.C. Compassion Club Society, Canada's first
centre, said over the years they have received many requests from Ottawa
residents wanting to purchase marijuana for medicinal use through their
mail order list.

"Ottawa is definitely ready for this," said Philip Lucas, director of the
Vancouver Island Compassionate Society.

"But they must be willing to fight for it in court."