POT SHOP RESPONSE ARCHAIC

Dear Editor:

I am writing in regards to the roadblocks being faced by the founders
of the Re-Leaf Dispensary Society in their efforts to establish a
medical marijuana dispensary in Deep Cove, where I have resided since 1992.

I woke up paralyzed on Feb. 1, 2006, the result of an abscess formed
by a staph infection that, without warning, punched my spine out of
place. I am now a paraplegic living with chronic, excruciating pain,
particularly in what is called the "pelvic girdle," meaning the area
immediately surrounding the genitalia -- not at all a fun place to
have pain, especially if your only way of voiding urine is to use a
catheter six times a day.

For the past five years, I have been subjected to legal pain
prescriptions from physicians, virtually all of which have been
useless and have led to horrendous side effects: loss of muscle
strength, lumps on my body, acute depression, suicidal thoughts and
preparations.

The pain-control medications and programs I have been placed on are a
joke, starting with the unbelievable pairing of Tylenol 3 and Ativan,
the former of which could have harmed my liver, the latter of which
left me with an addiction. They did nothing to alleviate my pain.

I have been repeatedly denied medical marijuana, which means I have
to score it on the street to the tune of $240 an ounce. I use
half-an-ounce a month.

As a self-employed writer/author, I am only eligible for a small
government disability, over which I am allowed to earn an additional
$500 a month. Any money exceeding that -- I make $600 a month writing
a magazine column -- must be returned to the provincial coffers,
meaning I give back $100 of my earnings each month and am effectively
legislated to impoverishment with no hope of earning a sustainable or
upward income due to the hideous pain which makes it virtually
impossible to do my job. This does little for my psychological or
financial well-being.

Marijuana mitigates the intensity of chronic pain. Besides the
obvious loss of so-called "quality of life," pain saps the body of
energy and motivation. We're not talking about hangnails -- this is a
life-altering condition brought about by nerve pain, the perpetual
and debilitating effects of which are due to the slow regeneration
(one millimetre per month) of nerves.

I am currently on Oxycodone, but have been moved by the St. Paul's
Hospital pain clinic to Oxycontin; i.e., hillbilly heroin. It's
extremely addictive and responsible for countless overdose
fatalities, including some notably high-profile deaths among
celebrities and athletes.

Those who oppose the use of medical marijuana do so based on
ignorance, not experience. The attempt by municipal governments to
stomp out compassion clubs is in part a response to a voting
constituency steeped in the lore of archaic stigmas, and in part to
the non-taxation of the substance.

When municipal and provincial governments are dumping millions of
dollars into outdoor Canucks parties and asinine self-promotional
endeavours such as the Olympics, it is simply criminal and
unconscionable that the health-care system is in the wretched state it is.

There is a need and a place for medical marijuana. Wake up. It's
2011. Your petty objections only add to the current cultural climate
of dumbness and apathy.

Greg Potter

North Vancouver