FAITH SHATTERED BY TREATMENT OF PATIENT

I am in a state of shock after reading the story about the police raid
on the medical cannabis user whose licence had expired because Health
Canada is behind in their paperwork. My faith in the RCMP and a just
society in Canada has been shattered. The licensing process through
Health Canada's Marihuana Medical Access Division (MMAD). is failing
to meet its court-ordered mandate to issue licences to qualified
patients in a timely manner.

If you were a safe driver of many years, and the motor vehicle branch
advised that you would not receive your licence renewal for some time
because they were dealing with a backlog, would you find that
acceptable? Driving is not essential to your health.

Seriously ill patients who have jumped through the hoops to obtain
their MMAD licence need this medicine to control seizures, to walk and
talk, to endure severe pain and nausea, to digest food, to list just
some of the medical issues. The failure of our government and police
forces to deal effectively with this issue reflects a callous approach
I never thought I would see in a country with a reputation for compassion.

Health Canada has assured many stressed and ill patients that they are
protected if they have made the proper application at the appropriate
time. The police have access to information through the MMAD program,
and I naively thought that a phone call would be made and Health
Canada would advise that the paperwork was in order and that the delay
was due to problems in their office. Case closed.

Comments have been made about the issue of two growers at one address.
This is indeed acceptable through the program. Many sick patients
subsist on meager pensions and cannot afford a property where they can
grow.

Thanks to Robert Barron for following up by contacting Health Canada
to provide more information on the issue.

Glenda Allard Barr Lantzville