A 'COMPASSIONATE' APPROACH TO POT

Re: Making Canada A Leader In Medical Marijuana, Alan Young, May 3.

Although I applaud the recognition of the therapeutic potential of
cannabis by "big business," media moguls and law professors are not
the only people in Canada currently conducting research on this
medicinal herb. Despite remaining unregulated by the federal
government, our nation's compassion clubs and societies are involved
in a number of medical cannabis studies, including a sociological
examination of the patrons of compassion clubs sponsored by the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

The fact is that Canada's compassion clubs are helping far more
critically and chronically ill Canadians than Health Canada (10,000
compassion club patrons vs. the 1,300 currently enrolled in the
failed and expensive federal program). We're producing more
peer-reviewed medical cannabis research than any other organization
in Canada and we're doing all of this at no cost to the Canadian
taxpayer. How much longer must our nation's sick and suffering
citizens wait before Health Canada has the wisdom and compassion to
license these remarkable community-based cannabis research and
distribution centres?

Philippe Lucas

Founder/director/researcher,

Vancouver Island Compassion Society.