STIRRING THE POT WITH NEW MARIJUANA CLUB

TORONTO (CP) ­ She knows firsthand the devastating effects of having her
home raided by police searching for pot.

That's why Lynn Harichy is willing to risk going through it again. She's
started a medical marijuana club that begins distributing pot today,
providing a service she hopes will stop anyone enduring what she did.

"We don't want to be criminals but there is a necessity for it," Harichy,
who suffers from multiple sclerosis and smokes pot to ease her symptoms,
said in a telephone interview from her home in London, Ont.

Harichy is scheduled to appear in court later this month on a pot
possession charge but lawyers were headed to court today to postpone the
appearance until the fall.

Harichy, 37, is well aware she's breaking the law again by distributing
weed to members of her club but she says it's a price she's willing to pay.
Helping people reduce their pain is her reward.

"It's nice to see people not have to suffer so much," she said. "We're not
making any money off it ... this is just for compassion reasons.

"You have to be sympathetic to these people that are suffering. It's not
right to have people suffer especially if there's something out there that
can help them."

There are about 70 members of the London club. All clients must submit
letters from their doctors stating their medical condition and marijuana is
provided for them by the club. The drug is considered effective in
alleviating symptoms of multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, cancer and AIDS.

Members are given a quarter ounce of organically grown marijuana a week or
one ounce a month, said Harichy.

She says she's met both Health Minister Allan Rock and Prime Minister Jean
Chretien and she believes medical marijuana will soon be available.

Derek Kent, a spokesman for Rock, declined comment on Harichy's club.

But he noted that Rock has already said the government is "examining the
issue of using marijuana for medicinal purposes."

Buyers' clubs are already up and running in Toronto and Vancouver. In
California and Arizona, state laws have been reformed to allow marijuana's
medical usage. More Ontario clubs are in the works.

"Nobody's had any problems to the best of my knowledge," said Alan Young,
the lawyer who sought government authorization for the Ontario clubs.

"Police are very noncommittal on the issue," he said. "They'll probably
wait until there are complaints or the buyers' clubs become a nuisance in
the community."

Harichy and other club owners are committing acts of "civil
disobedience""to push the government into making reforms, Young said.

"We can't wait. There's too many people who are suffering now. We have to
go ahead with it," said Harichy.

But Terry Parker, an epileptic who supports medicinal marijuana, says
buyers' clubs aren't the solution.

"These people would be much better off if they got more public support for
legalization," he said.

Parker uses pot ­ "it's the best drug in the world""­ to control his
seizures. In December, cultivation and possession charges against him were
stayed by an Ontario court. The ruling is being appealed by the federal
government.

"It's not a great idea to (open the centres) and get busted. I've been
through this rigmarole and it's a pain in the ass," he said. "I'm not
trying to deter these people. Their heart's in the right place but their
brain's not."

Parker is critical of the federal government's decision to legalize hemp
production while it continues to oppose medical marijuana use.

"I find it kind of off the wall that we put material purposes over the
sanctity of human life," he said. "If you want to grow it for greed that's
OK but if you want to grow it for need ... you're going to jail."