MUM'S THE WORD ON GROUP GIVING POT TO THE SICK

A local club that provides marijuana to ill people began operations last
week, with organizer Jeannette Tossounian saying she's prepared to risk
going to jail for supplying cannabis to members.

Waterloo regional police have warned they will charge anyone selling or
distributing pot, whether for medicinal purposes or not.

"It does concern me," Tossounian, 22, of Kitchener said in an interview.
However, she said, "If I have to put myself on the line, that's what I have
to do."

Tossounian noted that federal Justice Minister Anne McLellan plans to
explore the possibility of decriminalizating marijuana for medicinal use.
But, she said, "it's not like I'm going to sit there waiting for the
govenment to decide to change something. I mean, they're thinking about it
now but they were thinking about it in the 70s."

Tossounian, who is studing to be a chartered herbalist and runs a hemp
clothing company, recently established a local chapter of the Medical
Marijuana Clubs of Ontario to serve people in the Waterloo Region and
Guelph.

She calls her chapter Marijuana Used for Medicine, and chose the acronym MUM
not as a reflection of the expression "mum's the word."

Rather, she said: "I like it because the (mum) plant is a flower."

And mom or mother is ideally known for her "nurturing" qualities.

That's what she's trying to bring to the suffering people she lovingly calls
"my patient."

40 INTERESTED

About 40 people have asked for membership forms and, to date, 10 people
suffering from HIV, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and epilepsy have returned
the forms signed by there doctors.

Only two physicians have declined and the fact that 10 individual doctors
have co-operated shows "there is a large support from the medical
community," Tossounian said.

Doctors are asked to verify that a patient suffers from a particular medical
condition and to sign the form which says: "I have discussed with my patient
what I am aware of in terms of the health benefits and risks of marijuana. I
would consider prescribing it if I were legally able to do so."

Tossounian phones the doctor's office to confirm the signature is legitimate
and then meets the members. That way, she said, "I get to know exactly how
much pain they're in and that they're sincere to the cause."

In a club brochure, Tossounian advertises her phone number -- 744-4721. But
the club's marijuana is not kept at or distributed from her apartment.

CONFIDENTIAL LOCATIONS

Rather, she arranges to pick it up and deliver it at locations that are
"pretty much confidential."

Still, it's not an overly clandestine affair. "I don't want to have to meet
anybody on some corner of the street or that sort of thing."

The fledgling club is off to a modest start, she admitted.

In her first deliveries last week,she provided members with barely an ounce
of grass in total, or enough for somewhere between 80 to 100 joints.

Meanwhile, she's looking for a supplier who is sympathetic to the cause and
will offer marijuana at a dicounted price. "I don't have a good supply yet.
I'm getting it here and there."

Currently, she pays the going street price and members reimburse her.

Tossounian, meanwhile, is off to Vancouver on Tuesday to spend a week
studying the operations of a medicinal club there.

When she returns, she'll be working on organizing a fundraising event which
she hopes will generate enough revenue for her to open an office.

GETTING SUPPORT

She's getting support from people who tell her "it's great what you're
doing. it's about time."

And they come from all walks of life, not just stereotypical "hippie" types.

She knows some people who smoked grass in the 60s and 70s and noted that
"now they're lawyers and doctors. It doesn't seem like marijuan got in the
way of their lives."

As for her civil disobedience in organizing MUM, she said: "I just don't
like watching people suffer."

Wistfully, she adds: "I really wish I could do this legally."