RECOMMEND MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER STILL BREAKING THE LAW

Martin Kaneva has been breaking the law each time he uses marijuana to
ease the symptoms of his stomach cancer, even though he has a doctor's
prescription for the weed.

Kaneva, former executive chef at Carmen's Banquet Centre, is entitled
to what's known as a medical marijuana licence from Health Canada, but
has been caught in a bureaucratic runaround and massive wait list
since a Toronto internist prescribed the drug in June.

An increasing number of Canadians are caught in Kaneva's circumstance
- - although the exact number on the wait list is not known. MP Ujjal
Dosanjh, federal Liberal health critic, says "the problem appears to
be widespread."

"Forcing people who require medical marijuana to remain without
licences because of delays effectively makes criminals out of
patients," said Dosanjh, a former federal health minister.

"It's important to understand that if there is a legitimate need for
medical marijuana, which is sanctioned by Canadian law, it is the
government's obligation to make that process as smooth as possible.
Many of these cases have a very tortured history."

Kaneva, 39, who has a feeding tube and a 50-50 chance of surviving,
was diagnosed in December with metastatic gastric cancer requiring an
extensive course of chemotherapy and radiation - treatment he hoped to
manage in part with legally obtained marijuana.

But he's now almost finished the treatment, and Health Canada has
still not delivered the promised permission for him to use marijuana
for medical purposes - a licensing procedure that is supposed to take
eight to 10 weeks. Late Friday, a Health Canada official called Kaneva
to say the licence would be expedited by courier by the end of the
day, but it still had not arrived Monday - almost five months after
Kaneva applied.

So to stimulate his appetite, ease his depression and offset the pain
while he waits, Kaneva continues to buy and use marijuana illegally,
grinding it into a powder, then burning it in a vaporizer that
converts the weed into an easily inhaled mist.

"This is about my rights," the once-energetic Kaneva said.

"It's not like I'm here partying. I'm medicating."

Kaneva's battle to get the authorization has included calls and
callbacks from Health Canada asking for documentation he'd already
sent, and dozens of broken promises to send the licence in what the
government says should be a much easier process for those with end-of-
life conditions or certain diseases, including cancer.

Health Canada does have "a temporary delay in processing
applications," said spokesperson Christelle Legault, "due to a sharp
rise in the number of applications received in recent months,"
although application numbers are not provided.

As of January 2010, the last month for which Health Canada provided
figures, 4,884 Canadians - 1,873 of them in Ontario - had been
authorized for medical marijuana under categories that allow patients
to grow weed themselves or receive it from a supplier contracted by
the federal government.

Kaneva said he intends to grow his own, in a non-residential location
approved by a landlord, in small amounts that would save him money and
aggravation.

Right now, someone has to drive him to Toronto to buy weed at a cost
of about $200 an ounce from a compassion club he does not want to
identify because the transaction is also illegal. He said he uses
about two ounces a week, in small amounts - sometimes every hour - to
give him the energy and pain relief to eat, shower or occasionally
take a walk.

"The only other drugs I take right now are an acid reducer for my
stomach and antibiotics for an infection around the feeding tube in my
stomach," Kaneva said, noting that without the weed he would be
limited to antinausea drugs and prescription pain relievers.