DECISION PROVIDES OPTIONS

Medical marijuana users like Tom Shapiro will now have more choices
when it comes to finding a supplier as a result of a Federal Court
ruling striking down a key government regulation governing the
controversial program. The Regina man, who was diagnosed with
HIV/AIDS in 1989 and is registered with Health Canada as a medical
marijuana user, applauded Thursday's ruling that found the regulation
limiting growers of medical marijuana as unconstitutional.

Federal Court Judge Barry Strayer in his decision released Thursday
essentially grants medical marijuana users more freedom in picking
their own grower, rather than being forced to rely on the federal
government as a supplier. The decision also allows growers to supply
the drug to more than one patient.

"I think it is great. It's a step in the right direction in regards
to designated production licensees within that program run by Health
Canada," Shapiro said when contacted Friday.

"This is definitely good for the designated grower. We can now have
people get together and grow medical marijuana like gardeners in a
community garden. Take a warehouse -- we can have multiple growers in
there and that would work great."

Currently, medical marijuana patients can grow their own supply of
pot, but designated growers can't supply the drug to more than one
user at a time.

The federal government had argued that medical users who can't grow
their own pot can obtain it from its contract producer Prairie Plant
Systems Inc. in Flin Flon, Man. However fewer than 20 per cent of
patients actually use the government's supply.

In his decision Strayer wrote: "In my view it is not tenable for the
government, consistently with the right established in other courts
for qualified medical users to have reasonable access to marijuana,
to force them either to buy from the government contractor, grow
their own or be limited to the unnecessarily restrictive system of
designated producers."

Ron Marzel, a Toronto lawyer representing the group of medical users
who mounted the Federal Court challenge, called the decision a
"God-send to the patients."

"Up to now the patients haven't been able to get a legal source of
supply that meets their needs. The PPS supply hasn't met their needs," he said.

Marzel said many patients have been forced in the past to get their
supply elsewhere or to get it on the black market -- compassion clubs
that do not have a licence from Health Canada and operate without any
regulatory oversight.

"In my experience they do a fabulous job supplying these patients
with the medication that they need. But the reality is that these
compassion clubs could be busted on a dime without notice at any
given moment and they realize that," Marzel said.

"Some of them have been raided and busted by the police and if that
happens these patients are out of luck when it comes to accessing
supplies (of medical marijuana)."

Marzel said this ruling opens the door to a cottage industry where
designated producers approved and licensed by Health Canada can
supply a reliable source of medical marijuana to 30, 40 or 50 patients.

"The only downside of this ruling is -- the Crown is going to send me
its notice of appeal next week," he said.