TEA OF POT OR POT OF TEA, IT'S NOW FREE

Halifax woman overwhelmed after province ordered to pay for her
medical marijuana

Sally Campbell no longer has to choose between buying a bag of apples
or a few grams of marijuana.

The Halifax woman is on social assistance and the subject of a Nova
Scotia Supreme Court ruling that the Community Services Department
must now pay for her medical marijuana.

"I'm really glad it's over," the 61-year-old woman said of her
five-year court battle to get her federally approved marijuana covered
as a special need by the department.

"It's been a long road, but I feel justice has been served. I can't
believe it, I was overwhelmed yesterday," she said Thursday, the day
after learning of the decision.

Campbell said she feels the department called her integrity and
credibility into question, as well as that of her doctors, by refusing
to acknowledge that her marijuana is medically necessary.

"It's embarrassing," she said of the public process.

After reviewing the evidence that the department had, Justice Gerald
Moir ruled he could see no other conclusion than that Campbell's
marijuana is "essential" to her health and quality of life and ordered
the province to pay for it.

"My gut feeling in reading the decision is that this is prying the lid
off Pandora's box," said Debbie Stultz-Giffin, chairwoman of
Maritimers Unite for Medical Marijuana.

"It's opening up to most people on assistance who require medical
marijuana and have a doctor's authority, and have Health Canada's
authority, to apply to have their marijuana covered.

"I was extremely delighted (by the decision), knowing how long and how
hard Sally fought for this and realizing how many people this is
ultimately going to benefit," she said.

Stultz-Giffin said she is aware of three other people on social
assistance who have asked the Community Services Department in the
past couple of years to pay for their medical mari-juana and have been
turned down.

The province has not decided whether to appeal the ruling.
Stultz-Giffin believes Nova Scotia will be the first province in
Canada to cover the cost of medically approved marijuana for someone
on social assistance.

Veterans Affairs Canada pays for the medical marijuana of veterans on
disability benefits, providing their medical condition is related to
their service.

Spokeswoman Janice Summersby said 13 veterans have their marijuana
paid for by the federal government, with the first claim processed in
February 2008.

Campbell's ailments include hepatitis C, rheumatoid arthritis,
fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, liver disease and disc degeneration.
Medications such as interferon and ribavirin gave her debilitating
side-effects.

She said she kept her mari-juana use hidden from most people for years
because of the stigma attached to the drug.

"I just couldn't stand the social pressure. It's only when I got
really ill that I came out of the closet," and even then people
accused her of using her illnesses as an excuse to get high.

Every year, she applies for an exemption from Health Canada that gives
her permission to use two grams of marijuana a day. She pays $8 a
gram. Given her limited income, Campbell said there are times she has
to choose between eating and marijuana.

"It comes out of my food allowance," she said of her pot money. "I
have to decide whether I want to eat or I want my medication.

""Fresh fruits and vegetables, that's what I do without when I have to
choose and I really miss it."

She said it makes little sense to choose food over medicine because
she gets nauseated and the hepatitis C makes her extremely lethargic.

"There are times you feel so dreadful, you feel like what's the point
in getting out of bed if you don't want to cook."

Campbell smokes her pot, but also cuts up the leaves, pours boiling
water over them and steeps the tea on the stove for 90 minutes. She's
just received permission to increase her use to 10 grams a day, so she
plans to use the leaves to make butter, cookies and brownies.

Stultz-Giffin takes six grams of marijuana a day for her multiple
sclerosis. She's been on various pain medications, steroids and
anti-inflammatories, but most made her very ill, which only worsened
her symptoms.

She said she developed a terrible rash over 80 per cent of her body in
reaction to one drug and landed in hospital with a severe gastritis
attack in reaction to another. It took her a year to recover from each
reaction. Today, she takes only the marijuana and is managing well.