MEDICAL POT USERS TO FORM BUYER NETWORK

We're Not A Bunch Of Back-Alley Drug-Dealers

I smoke five or six joints a day. If I don't smoke for eight days, then my
mind is denser. I'd shake a lot -Lynn Harichy, 36 year-old, buys marijuana
to reduce the pain, nausea, and paralyzing effects of Multiple Sclerosis.

They smoke marijuana and they proudly inhale.

They say they dont do it for pleasure but to reduce pain.

But those in group of about 50 people who met at 519 Church Street
community center last night must produce a letter from the letter from
their doctor before they can get marijuana through the non-profit Medical
Marijuana Buyers Clubs of Ontario, said Neev Tapiero, who represents a
Toronto Buyers Club.

The club opened a location in Toronto more than 18 months ago; another is
scheduled to open soon. Mississauga, Oakville, and Etobicoke are accepting
applications. The London centre is expected to open in late March,
Peterborough, and Kitchener in April, and Guelph in May.

Only one other marijuana medical buyers club exists in Canada, said Alan
Young, a lawyer for the group. The Compassion Club is located in Vancouver.

The group cautions that it sells to medical users only: We're not a bunch
of back-alley drug dealers, Tapiero said.

Those receiving the illegal drug must claim to have conditions ranging from
AIDS/HIV to muscular dystrophy, glaucoma, epilepsy, paraplegia or
quadriplegia.

Lawyer Alan Young told those gathered that selling pot was not something to
be taken lightly. Those who sell cannabis potentially face life
imprisonment for trafficking, he said.

Federal drug laws make it illegal to possess cannabis or its derivatives
which include marijuana, resin, and hashish.

The group promises to sell marijuana that is pure and free of mould at
prices below street value. Members say they plan to keep about 30 grams on
hand in their buyers locations.

Street value for marijuana is about $90 for 7 grams, the group said.

Lynn Harichy, who with her husband Mike operates a buyers club in London,
says the paralyzing effects of multiple sclerosis are greatly reduced when
she smokes marijuana.

I smoke five or six joints a day, she said. if I don't smoke for eight
days, then my mind is denser. I'd shake a lot. She noted marijuana
reduces her pain and nausea, too.

Her husband Mike thinks it is a lot safer for people who need the drug for
medicinal purposes to buy it from a recognized group. Otherwise yourself
in jeopardy, said Mike who has bought his wife marijuana from biker gangs.

AIDS activist Jim Wakeford, 53, was noticeably absent from last nights
meeting.

Wakeford wishes the medical marijuana clubs well, but is skeptical about
their hopes for success: I think their hearts are in the right place.

Wakeford was part of such a group called CALM last winter, started by
Tapiero. But after 4.5 months, the club closed - in part because of
peoples fear of entrapment, Wakeford said.

At this point Wakeford smokes half a joint to a joint a day to ease nausea
from a potent cocktail of 40 AIDS pills he must swallow each day.

The former executive director of the Casey House Foundation is going to
court to change the law so people with HIV and AIDS can use marijuana.

If my case can help others I would be the happiest man in Canada.

Wakefords case is to open in Ontario Court, general division, May 4.

In December, a provincial court gave epiliptic Torontonian Terry Parker the
right to smoke marijuana to ease his symptoms - a ruling has been appealed
to a higher court.

Wakeford hope to raise $15,000 to bring medical experts from abroad to
testify to the medical benefits of marijuana for those with AIDS. (Those
who want to help can reach him at 540 Church Street, #311, Toronto, Ontario
M4Y 2E1.)