POLITICIANS LACK INTESTINAL FOTITUDE TO EASE MARIJUANA LAWS

Dear editor,

I am writing to protest the laws that required the RCMP to shut down
the Compassion Club in Courtenay last Friday.

I credit the RCMP in the professional and polite manner they used
while doing their duty. It is unfortunate that the politicians in
this fine country do not have the intestinal fortitude to enact laws
that would allow those of us who feel we need this drug in order to
make our pains a little easier to bear.

I feel the club was performing a much-needed service to the people
who use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

When I considered joining the Compassion Club, it was mainly because
of the following reasons:

1. I am 66 years old and am dying of leukemia. I have had a triple
bypass and also have Type 2 diabetes, but those last two conditions
have nothing to do with the use I have for what I consider to be
essential to my well-being.

2. I was assured of a safe, friendly place where I could obtain what
I need without fear of being robbed, beaten or just plain afraid of
the person or persons paranoid that I might be there to arrest them or worse.

3. I could be sure that the product I was getting was not altered or
added to in any way and was of good quality.

4. While I could resort to prescription drugs to ease my occasional
depression, I would much rather use a substance that I can control,
not one that controls me. I want to be able to enjoy what life I have
left, not go through it in a constant numb state.

5. I was informed that the Compassion Club, while operating in a grey
area of the law, was known to the police and was allowed to operate
because of the immense good they were doing. Apparently, something
either changed or the police were pressured into action, as the
Compassion Club has been supplying marijuana for medicinal purposes
for quite some time in this area and many others across Canada.

The sad thing about this is that the members of the club, now without
a reasonable, somewhat legitimate, supplier, will now have to deal
with the underbelly of society just to get the medication they feel
they need. Cannabis has been used pretty much throughout the world
for medicinal purposes. Canada was the first nation in the world to
offer medical marijuana to its patients.

On the Health Canada application information form, it asks how you
were referred to the plan and one of the options was the Compassion
Club. The government knows the club is out there, and accepts
recommendations from it, so why is the RCMP obliged to arrest and
charge those who sell and use marijuana for medicinal purposes in a
safe, controlled environment?

I have applied for a legal licence to use marijuana for medicinal
purposes and am awaiting further information and forms from Health
Canada in that respect, but my hopes of being accepted are slim as
there are probably only a few thousand people in Canada who have
permission from the government of Canada. The American war on drugs,
a valid one as far as hard drugs goes, has influenced the politicians
of this country to the point where they are afraid to institute the
legalization of this soft drug.

It saddens me that I dare not add my name to the bottom of this
letter. The inability of those who refuse to make decisions to step
up and show some moxie, despite all the recommendations resulting
from the studies they financed with our tax dollars, has driven me
into a position of anonymity.

Name withheld by request