'COMPASSION CLUB' ATTRACTING YOUNG, HEALTHY PATRONS, LOCALS
COMPLAIN

A new "compassion centre" in Montreal that purports to sell medical
marijuana to the ill is sowing discord among residents and merchants
who say it is attracting hordes of healthy-looking young buyers.

"No one going into that place is in need of compassion," said the
owner of one business around the corner from the Culture 420
Compassion Centre in the borough of Lachine. "I mean, really, you have
to go upstairs to get in -- there isn't even wheelchair access."

Growing marijuana for medical conditions has been legal since 2001,
but selling it isn't. Compassion club operators, however, say going
the legal route through Health Canada can take years.

"We have something called a duty to provide for people's needs, and
sometimes they're life-sustaining needs," Culture 420 co-founder
Pavlos Papadakis said yesterday.