MONTREAL STORE TO TEST OPEN SALE OF MEDICINAL POT

MONTREAL (CP)- Pot heads won't be able to drop in for a bag or a joint when
a store opens for business selling marijuana to AIDS sufferers and those
with chronic illnesses. "It won't be just anyone who can come here," said
Louise-Caroline Bergeron, director of the Compassion Club, slated to open
Friday. "It's very controlled," Bergeron said.

Its supporters in Quebec hope to have the same relationship that a similar
business in Vancouver has with police.

"We intend to keep them up to date on the running of our operation, and we
hope to experience the same tolerance as in Vancouver," Bergeron said.

In fact, the store is located across the street from a police station.

Bergeron acknowledged that her club will operate in "a grey zone" legally.

"People will have to have a doctor's note recommending cannabis for pain
relief, and it's only for those with serious illness such as AIDS or those
undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, or people suffering from epileptic
seizures," she said.

The growing and smoking pot is illegal in Canada. But a growing number of
Canadians with health problems have been asking for the legal right to use
marijuana ever since James Wakeford, a Toronto man with AIDS, won an
exemption from the current law earlier this year to use and grow marijuana.

The federal government had received about 50 similar requests by mid-July.

The club, termed non-profit by Bergeron, will run along the lines of a
similarly named streetfront operation in Vancouver which has been in
business for two years. The two are independent of each other.

"It's a clinic more than a store because we aren't selling a variety of
products," Bergeron said.

The Montreal police department was consulting legal and medical authorities
before deciding how to react to the club, said Const. Alain Lefrancois.

Bergeron said the source of her cannabis is confidential.

She also would not say if doctors would be working at the clinic, or what
hours it would keep. She said she was trained in psychology but wouldn't go
into the background of the three-member board she said would be in charge
of the club.

Besides Vancouver, clubs providing medicinal grass exist in Toronto and
Ottawa, said David Chagnon, an aide to MP Bernard Bigras.

Bigras, who represents a Montreal riding for the Bloc Quebecois, originated
a motion adopted by the House of Commons this year calling for legalizing
marijuana for medicinal and therapeutic purposes. Chagnon said Bigras has
visited the Vancouver club, which works by membership and now has about 700
members.

Chagnon said Bigras has denied that legalizing marijuana for therapeutic
use is only a step away from making pot-smoking legal for everyone.

"That's not at all the case," Chagnon said. "There are many drugs that are
perfectly legal in hospital but are not available on the market, like many
pills, but also morphine and codeine."