SOURCE: London Free Press
CONTACT: letters@lfpress.com

THE CASE FOR MEDICAL REEFERS
A constitutional challenge failed, but now marijuana laws are being
fought from another angle.

By Morris Dalla Costa, London Free Press

Lynn Harichy is going to break the law.

She isn't planning on hurting anyone, she isn't planning on hiding,
she isn't planning on denying the fact she broke the law and wants to
go to court.

Some time in the next month the 36yearold mother of two, who has
had multiple sclerosis for 18 years, will smoke a marijuana cigarette
somewhere the police will have to arrest her. She wants to be
charged. Once charged, she will begin a challenge to marijuana laws
on the basis of her medical condition.

"I don't want to do it," she said. "I have a lot to lose. But I've
already lost so much. But this is my life we're talking about.
(Challenging this) is a small price to pay for my health."

Harichy was in the courtroom last week when Justice John McCart
struck down a constitutional challenge to marijuana laws by Londoner
Chris Clay. It was a bittersweet day for many who had hoped to see
McCart challenge the existing laws on possession for personal use.
While McCart opted to not challenge any laws, disappointing many, his
judgment and his reasons for the judgment certainly put many reasons
for not decriminalizing marijuana to the torch. While he indicated
any changes in the law would have to come from Parliament, he gave
ample ammunition for anyone who wants to pursue the challenge at a
higher court.

NO NEED:

The one issue he didn't address was Clay's submission about the use
of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Since the defendants had no need
to possess marijuana for medical purposes, McCart saw no reason to
rule on that issue. He did quote John P. Morgan, a professor of
pharmacology in New York State, who sent an affidavit to the trial.

"A number of studies have shown that marijuana is effective in
reducing nausea and vomiting. Lowering intraocular pressure
associated with glaucoma, and decreasing muscle spasm and spasticity.
People undergoing cancer chemotherapy have found smoked marijuana to
be an effective antinauseant often more effective than available
pharmaceutical medications."

He went on to write that it helps those with AIDS fight nausea and
vomiting and that it stimulates appetite, allowing them to gain
weight and prolong their lives."

MEDICAL PURPOSES:

Harichy suffers from wasting, anorexia and pain. While she believes
possession of marijuana for personal use should be decriminalized,
she will challenge the laws which make using marijuana even for
medical purposes, a criminal offence.

There is frustration in Harichy, a frustration that grows greater
with the tingling and numbness in her hands and the onandoff loss
of the ability to see colors.

To have a drug that can alleviate that discomfort, a drug that is
less harmful than tobacco or alcohol, and yet be told that she can't
use it because it is illegal, just adds to the pain.

"People don't know what I go through. I don't look like I have (MS),
so people just don't understand," she said.

"A lot of people are worse off than I am. I look down (below her
chest) and I have the sensation that I'm falling off a cliff. That's
okay if you only feel that way for 10 or 15 minutes but imagine what
it's like for hours, days or weeks at a time.

"Everyone is passing the buck. The judge says it's up to the
government; the government doesn't have time to deal with it so I
guess I have to take the buck. I'm going to have to get busted and
not have them (the police) let me off."

Harichy already has the makings of a defence team. There is already a
fund from donations to help in the Clay defence at Hemp Nation and
some of those funds may be used to help her.

"I'm not angry at people who don't want marijuana legalized, even for
medical purposes," she said. "They just aren't educated. When I was
young, I thought it was bad. It might not be for everybody but they
don't have to use it."

Sue Barnes, Liberal MP for London West, is one of the more
progressive members of the government in terms of bringing drug
legislation into the 20th century. She saw to it that the penalties
for personal possession of marijuana were eased while increasing the
penalties for traffickers and those dealing to children.

But she is, like many politicians, in a difficult position, having to
serve several masters.

"When society is ready and when scientific studies are more complete . ." she says about the possibility of decriminalizing marijuana. As for the legal use of marijuana for medicinal purposes: "I think we should aggressively look at putting it in a
different category."

LETTER TO MPS:

"I don't have time to wait for yet another scientific study," said
Harichy, who has sent a letter to every MP asking for their personal
feeling on decriminalizing marijuana. She received fewer than 10 replies.

So some time in the near future, she'll get tanked for toking in public. She'll ask the question asked so often: How can anyone avoid legalizing a drug that medicinally would ease someone's pain? Have we become a society so mired in myths about marijuana

that we can't even take that step?

Everyone knows someone who has gone through chemotherapy. Some know
people with AIDS or other diseases in which the body wastes away,
gradually, painfully. Others know someone with a longterm incurable
disease that brings pain every day.

Picture them and then tell them you think marijuana is bad for their health.