WEED FOR HEALTH

Compassion Centre employee says medical marijuana clients have to
prove they're sick before they get high on his supply

Name: Stephane Gauthier

Age: 33

Occupation: Admissions director/horticulture consultant at the Compassion
Centre.

Bio: This upbeat Plateau heartbreaker says he'd be thrilled to lose his job
as director of admissions at the Montreal Compassion Centre if it meant
Canada had finally succumbed to the inevitable and legalized the sale and
possession of cannabis. Until then, however, he's the man you'll need to
convince you're sick enough to legitimately score the primo weed on offer to
the roughly 1,500 members of the local Compassion Club at 72 Rachel E.
Having laboured as a translator, a high-end Italian chef and a bridge
inspector "before falling into marijuana," since 2005, Stephane has devoted
himself to the cause "because money isn't that important to me right now and
when I'm working with members, improving their quality of life, well, I
guess it just makes me feel good. Dealing with sick people all day keeps you
grounded, in touch with what's real." He drives a 1998 Subaru Impreza.

How to score weed at the Compassion Centre: The first thing you'll need is
to be sick. "But it's very difficult to get a prescription from doctors,
most don't have any idea what marijuana really is. So all we demand from new
members is a signed statement of diagnosis from a licensed physician. And
then members have safe access to quality marijuana without having to turn to
street dealers. Most of our members are over 40, sick and don't want to deal
with that. We're open seven days a week and have many different strains,
each cultivated to address the specific symptoms of the illnesses our
members suffer from. Some strains are better for pain management, others for
anxiety, depression, insomnia."

A few illnesses that might enable you a membership: "Marijuana is very
helpful for diseases that carry these symptoms: pain, lack of
appetite, weight loss, insomnia and spasms. Most of our members have
either HIV, hep C, chronic insomnia, chronic pain or multiple
sclerosis. The marijuana really helps them deal with the side effects
of their meds. You have to realize marijuana was legal until fairly
recently, and at one time, roughly 80 per cent of all medicine was
marijuana-based, the other 20 per cent opiate-based. A lot of our
members don't really care about the euphoric effects of marijuana
anyway. In fact, they're happier when they don't get high because it
can interfere with their going about their daily business."

How often people walk in demanding weed without the requisite
paperwork: "A few times a day, at least. But most soon understand this
is a place for sick people. It's very rare when we have altercations
or misunderstandings."

The legalities involved with respect to their existence: "We're sort
of illegal but un-prosecutable. We've been tolerated by the police for
years, they've actually been quite nice about it. Our strict admission
system has earned their respect as well-you can't just come in and
fake an illness, we verify everything with the doctors first."

What their weed costs: Between $6 and $10 a gram. "We'll usually have
about seven to 13 different strains, as well as hashish, capsules,
cookies, tinctures, muffins."

Last book read: Le bol et la baton, by Taisen Deshimaru.

Musical preferences: R.L. Burnside, Hank Williams.