VANCOUVER TEAHOUSE TO SPECIALIZE IN MARIJUANA

Chronically Ill Patrons Licensed By Health Canada To Use Pot: Police To Monitor

VANCOUVER - The operators of a new teahouse where the sick can use
marijuana to ease the pain of chronic illnesses are promising to seek court
protection if anyone tries to shut them down.

"We are willing to defend our Charter rights if forced to do so," Yoram
Adler, a director of the Marijuana Teahouse, said yesterday during an
opening ceremony.

The threat was made as the Marijuana Teahouse faced immediate hurdles,
which include the absence of a permanent business licence.

"They have no approval for anything after 1 a.m. today," said Paul
Teichroeb, Vancouver's chief licensing inspector, suggesting he provided a
one-day licence in the rush so the teahouse's planned opening ceremony
could go ahead.

But the founders of the teahouse, located in the gritty Downtown Eastside
neighbourhood that has been ravaged by the effects of crack, sketched out
big goals yesterday.

They see the establishment -- which they describe as a Canadian first -- as
a quiet haven in which people grappling with such illnesses as AIDS and
multiple sclerosis can try marijuana in a supportive atmosphere.

The austere cafe, located in the former restaurant of an Eastside hotel,
consists of two rooms. The first resembles a mix of a bar and a coffee house.

In a rear room, visitors will be able to self-medicate with marijuana they
are licensed to use under Health Canada rules that allow approved people to
use marijuana to ease their suffering.

A spokesman for the Vancouver Police Department said it will monitor the
situation, but plans no action as long as the teahouse sticks to municipal
laws and Health Canada regulations.

Organizers expect most people who take pot will do so by working the drug
into tea or butter. Only a minority will actually light up.

"We're not ... going to be walking around with Jamaican-sized joints to
impress the public about our smoking abilities," said Michael Maniotis,
another director.

"That's not the purpose here. Eighty per cent of what's going on here as
far as medicating will be through ingestion, which means eating it."

One prospective customer yesterday said he was looking forward to using the
teahouse as a peaceful place to learn new ways, besides cigarettes, to take
his pot.

"Mark," a 37-year-old man diagnosed with HIV, said he had learned marijuana
quells the side effects of drugs he must take but which kill his appetite.

"The benefit of something like this is exposure to people who have
knowledge of using marijuana in spaghetti sauce and other things," he said,
declining to give his last name. "Smoking is not the best way. It's
detrimental to your lungs."