MEDICINAL POT USERS PROTEST DELAYS, RAID

Toronto -- Medicinal marijuana users lit up on a downtown Toronto street
today to protest against a delay in releasing government-grown cannabis to
sick people.

They were also voicing their opposition to a recent police raid on a
Toronto cannabis supply centre.

People in the crowd of about 100 repeated what they have been saying for
years: they are not using pot for fun.

One man with lung cancer explained how marijuana increases his appetite and
also helps him sleep at night.

Catherine Devries suffers spine and bowel conditions. She says pot quells
her nausea.

Devries is one of nine people represented who have launched a civil lawsuit
in an effort to get access to high-quality pot.

The lawsuit will be heard September 19th and 20th. It will demand that
Devries and about 200 other Canadians be given access to marijuana grown by
Health Canada in Manitoba.

Devries says she was "devastated and stunned" to hear comments this week by
Health Minister Anne McLellan. McLellan said she's uncomfortable about
endorsing marijuana for medical use and wants to see further research done.
Devries says McLellan's comments are another sign Ottawa is prepared to
delay any action to provide medicinal marijuana.