Club Has 700 Members

For two years, the Compassion Club in East Vancouver has been quietly
selling marijuana to people with terminal illnesses and serious diseases.

Compassion Club founder Hilary Black said the non-profit society has
had no problems with the police.

"We are completely focused on the medicinal aspects (of marijuana)
only," said Black, who was raised in West Vancouver.

Black said the Compassion Club is a registered non-profit society with
700 members. She said that on doctors' recommendations, sick and dying
people join the Compassion Club. Club members can purchase marijuana
to combat the side effects of prescription drugs, for example.

Black said Compassion Club members are HIV positive, have AIDS, cancer
including leukemia, epilepsy, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis,
fibromyalgia, arthritis and chronic pain.

Black said that marijuana can be used to combat prescription drug side
effects such as nausea and appetite loss that results from anti-viral
drugs for HIV and chemotherapy for cancer.

"Generally the only complaint we get is that marijuana is illegal,"
said Black.

"Not that they think that people that need it medically shouldn't get
it."

She said some people don't like the way some marijuana supporters are
trying to change the law.

"It's come to the point where we have had to resort to peaceful civil
disobedience," said Black.

Black said the marijuana dispensed at the Compassion Club is not
treated with pesticides and is carefully checked to make sure there is
no mould. She said that large amounts of marijuana are not kept on the
premises in order to prevent being a target by thieves.

Black said that the marijuana is given to the Compassion Club by a
"few growers." Growers who do not wish to directly deal with the
Compassion Club because of legal concerns connect with people Black
called Compassion Club "friends." These friends collect the marijuana
from growers and store it. The marijuana is then brought to the
Compassion Club in relatively small amounts.

"We don't have 20 pounds of pot here or at our homes because we are in
potentially a high-risk situation," said Black.

The Compassion Club marijuana is sold for less than street-level
prices.

Black notes that she and five others operate the cannabis distribution
of the Compassion Club. Black notes that they all get $10 an hour for
their work and "pay taxes."

"I am sure we have been under a fair amount of surveillance. They
(police) must know we are very strict, very bureaucratic, very careful
and very thorough," said Black.

She said that a person can't just walk off the street and buy
marijuana. Potential new members need a doctors' "prescription," an
appointment and must take part in an "intake session."

The Compassion Club operates an alternative wellness centre as well
which includes herbalists, a nutritionist and counsellors.

"We are trying to encourage people to use cannabis holistically," said
Black.

North Vancouver RCMP Const. Shane Tuckey, of the drug section, points
out the Compassion Club marijuana is unregulated and illegal.

Tuckey wonders who decides and ensures proper marijuana dosages and
how potential abuse is controlled.

Tuckey said that some medical people frown on marijuana use because of
its delivery system. Smoking marijuana harms the lungs and is a
concern with pneumonia prone people with illnesses such as AIDs.

But Tuckey, a 20-year police veteran, said police across Canada and
especially in B.C., have a high tolerance for simple possession of
marijuana particularly when dealing with people using it for sickness.

"If I take a joint away from somebody who is dying of leukemia, how
bad is that going to look in court? We would never proceed with that
kind of charge," said Tuckey.

Tuckey said drug enforcement resources are stretched to the limit in
dealing with major cocaine and heroin traffickers along with the many
hydroponic-grow operations linked to organized crime.

Tuckey noted that last year North Vancouver RCMP did not recommend
charges involving about 200 drug seizures of relatively small amounts.
Police call such investigations " no-case seizures."

"A lot of kids out there are just waiting to say, 'Look it's a
medicine and it's legal' and then they are going to try it," said
Tuckey. He warned that decriminalizing marijuana will result in more
pot smoking by teenagers.