MARIJUANA 'MEDICINE'

With five grams of "B.C. Beautiful'' in her hand, housewife Cheryl Eburne
heads into the Compassion Club's smoking room to forget for an afternoon
the pain she feels when the cold and rain seep into her arthritic bones.

Elegantly dressed, the mother of two teenage boys quickly rolls up and
lights a huge marijuana cigarette, smokes the whole thing and for the first
time in a day feels up to visiting friends near her Vancouver home and
doing some holiday shopping.

A far cry from the Cheech and Chong-type stoner, Eburne, 50, has dropped
into the Commercial Drive pot club to pick up the outdoor organic indica
she says helps her cope with severe arthritis and fibromyalgia.

Since joining the club, Eburne has been a vocal critic of what she says are
antiquated federal laws. She thinks the time has come to legally allow
those who are sick to smoke pot if it helps their health.

Six years ago, the pain began to take a heavy toll and Eburne was put on
medication. But "my doctor was as frustrated as I was because the drugs
were making me sicker.''

All that changed last summer, she says, when her doctor decided to allow
marijuana to be her medicine of choice.

"Before, I was up for days. I'm sleeping now.

"Emotionally I'm a different person. I'm upbeat now, not depressed. When
you're in chronic pain and don't sleep, it affects everything in your life.''

The club is offering a feel-good service to about 700 people suffering from
cancer, AIDS, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, migraines, nausea and
other serious health problems by selling them high-grade marijuana at about
$5 to $10 a gram.

But it is giving the folks at city hall a big headache.

Club founder Hilary Black, 22, says the club doesn't yet have a city hall
occupancy permit to stay at its location, where it has been for seven
months. The club has a lawyer handling the negotiations.

City hall is also perplexed by the fact that the club has been given
society status by the provincial government. With that registered-charity
status, the club can solicit donations legitimately. It pays income tax for
the 10 people on staff, who work for minimum wage.

All the "clean'' and organic pot distributed by the club is supplied by
growers who sell it at discount prices or donate it.

People can join the club by supplying a doctor's note saying why they need
medical marijuana.

Black insists that the club is just trying to cover expenses. Besides
supplying the pot, it has a masseuse available and operates a holistic
wellness centre.

"Nobody is making any money here, and we can prove it,'' says Black. "It is
important city hall knows we have a lot of supporters.''

Black says the police have not yet bothered the club: "Obviously the police
know who we are, but they have never raided us yet.''

"It is a peculiar situation,'' admits Michael Twynstra, manager of the
city's properties inspection branch of permits and licensing.

"There seems to be some greyness there as to where this operation falls into.

"It's something that is not normally done in the city . . . So at this
point we don't know where we are going with it.''

Vancouver police spokeswoman Const. Anne Drennan says the police have
bigger fish to fry.

"There's no official policy with respect to the Compassion Club,'' she says.

"That [operation] is not the focus of our investigations with respect to
marijuana.

"We're interested in the grow-ops and the trafficking.''

For staff worker Ere'n Coyle, having members in the club visit on a regular
basis "makes it feel like there's a sense of community here.''

Some U.S. cities have similar clubs, and smaller operations exist in
Toronto, Kitchener and London, Ont.

"I'd love to see an operation like this in every city,'' says Coyle. "It's
so nice to have a member say: 'I've been feeling better today.'''

~~~~~(sidebar)~~~~~

WHAT THE COURTS SAY

Ottawa insists that marijuana is illegal regardless of any medical benefits.

But Canadian courts have done much to support an emerging medical and
scientific consensus that pot is relatively benign.

Among recent decisions:

In April this year, a B.C. provincial court judge granted an absolute
discharge to 44-year-old Randy Caine of Langley, who was arrested in 1993
for possessing the butt of a marijuana cigarette. Judge Frances Howard
said there is no evidence marijuana use causes health problems, and added
that the laws prohibiting the substance cause harm to society.

In September, 44-year-old Stanley Czolowski of Vancouver received a
conditional discharge -- no criminal record, no jail time, no fines -- for
using and selling marijuana for health purposes. Czolowski's lawyer said he
used marijuana and traditional medicine to treat glaucoma. He sold some of
his home-grown pot to the Compassion Club.

In December last year, an Ontario judge ruled that some sections of
Canada's Controlled Drug and Substance Act are unconstitutional when
applied to cases where marijuana is used for medicinal purposes. The judge
stayed charges of cultivation and possession of marijuana against
42-year-old Terry Parker, an epileptic.

Checked-by: Richard Lake