MUNCHIES AVAILABLE AT MEDICAL MARIJUANA EXPO

TORONTO - Ivy Lovell's gourmet cookies and brownies are guaranteed to
give you a buzz.

She was one of dozens of vendors at a medical marijuana show at the
Metro Toronto Convention Centre called Treating Yourself Expo that
opened Friday and runs all weekend.

"They are medicated and effect people differently," Lovall of
Buzzworthy's Bakery said.

A peanut butter cookie costs $6 and a ginger brownie costs
$12.

"I would advise people to only eat half of the ginger brownie at a
time," Lovell said.

"I haven't had one yet today because I don't want to screw up making
change for people but I will have one at the end of the day," she said.

About 30,000 people are expected to attend the expo which focuses on
the medical use of marijuana.

"As a patient myself, I know the need to educate the government,
caregivers patients as well as the general public on the benefits of
medical marijuana for people who suffer from any one of a number of
illnesses," said the expo's producer, Marco Renda, who uses medical
marijuana for hepatitis C and arthritis.

"Only through education can we hope to have people understand the
necessity of making medical marijuana available to those in need of
its many beneficial properties," Renda said. "Legal substances like
nicotine and alcohol as well as many often subscribed drugs like
opiates and barbiturates are far more addictive than marijuana.

They are also more harmful," Renda said.

Ben Kilpatrick, 23, had liver cancer in 2008 and has a government
permit to use medical marijuana to fight his pain.

"It works better for my pain than other medications," Kilpatrick said
while in the lounge at the expo where people can smoke marijuana in
bongs.

The pros outweigh the cons when it comes to medical marijuana, Jim
Mahon, the expo's show manager, said.

"This expo is about educating everyone about the numerous benefits of
medical marijuana," he said. "It will not affect everyone in the same
manner, but for some it is the drug that can help them and others. The
side effects are far less debilitating than those of other
prescription drugs."