MEDICAL MARIJUANA BAN HEARING DRAWS BIG CROWD

A proposed ban on dispensing medical marijuana without explicit
federal approval drew medical marijuana users, legalization activists
and residents from across the North Shore into the District of North
Vancouver's council chambers Tuesday night for a standing-room-only
public hearing.

The draft bylaw comes in response to an abortive attempt by the
Re-Leaf Dispensary Society to begin selling pot to
prescription-holding patients in Deep Cove. Police officers and
district bylaw staff converged on the premises Saturday to prevent the
dispensary from opening.

The legality of medical marijuana dispensaries is murky. The current
legislation only allows licensed patients to grow their own cannabis,
designate another person to grow it for them, or purchase it directly
from Health Canada. Any distribution or dispensing, says the North
Vancouver RCMP, constitutes drug trafficking.

But marijuana advocates say recent court decisions have supported
dispensaries, and several locations operate openly in Vancouver,
Burnaby, Maple Ridge and elsewhere with the full knowledge of police.

"I saw my grandmother suffer," Re-Leaf president Ken Starr told
council. "I tried to help her with medical marijuana, knowing that it
could help her. I don't think I made a strong enough effort so she did
suffer quite a bit. Since then I've made it a personal goal to help
people I see in my grandmother's situation. I've helped dozens of
senior citizens who I've seen stuck sitting in a wheelchair, their
hands clawed with arthritis and unable to feed or take care of
themselves. I have helped them get medical marijuana and I've seen
people who were taking 16 different medications a day stop taking
them. I've seen those same people get up out of their wheelchairs and
start walking around again and enjoying their lives. I've seen someone
start dancing."

Starr said his personal experience with medicinal pot came after he
was hit by a car and went through four years of rehabilitation before
being able to walk. Marijuana, he said, helped him stop taking
powerful pharmaceutical painkillers.

"I was born and raised here," Starr continued. "I'm raising my
children here. They actually go to Seycove and Cove Cliff, within
walking distance of the dispensary. I felt that if one is going to
open in my community, I wanted to be the one who did it. I would like
to make sure it's run properly. I would like the opportunity to help
sick people in North Vancouver."

A series of medical marijuana users addressed the hearing, reporting
that smoking, eating, or ingesting tinctures of marijuana was an
invaluable part of coping with conditions as varied as degenerative
bone disease, HIV/AIDS, osteoporosis, spinal injury, bipolar disorder
and the effects of chemotherapy. Several speakers grew emotional
during their presentations, saying it would be "outrageous," "sick"
and "inhuman" to deny North Vancouver patients access to medical marijuana.

"I don't deny the benefits of medical marijuana," said resident
Katrina Stobbart, "but what we're talking about is land use in the
District of North Vancouver. This facility that's being proposed is at
the very end of the road -- literally that you can get on the North
Shore. It's in a very small hub of a residential community. Very
little commercial enterprise takes place there. There's the proximity
of two pre-schools, three elementary schools and a high school, all
within blocks."

Several other residents echoed Stobbart's argument. If the dispensary
can operate within the law, they said, it would be more appropriate to
locate it in the cluster of medical offices and businesses centred
around Lions Gate Hospital.

Several speakers also criticized Re-Leaf for attempting to open
without seeking a business license or an inspection by the district's
building officials. District staff say the dispensary might also be
violating the permitted uses allowed under the building's zoning. The
first they heard of it, many said, was through the North Shore News.

"Under no circumstances do I approve of the North Van district
allowing a medical marijuana dispensary to open in my neighbourhood,
in Deep Cove," said David Ross. "Two reasons: the first is the
location, the second is the health and safety of our community. Mr.
Starr himself personally requested that we report to him if any of his
marijuana members were found loitering in the neighbourhood. This
leads us to believe that these customers are different from those
patronizing other local retailers. These stores haven't asked us to
report their customers. If his members are truly sick, why would they
be loitering in our neighbourhood? I suspect that the owner knows that
these people will be using these drugs in the neighbourhood or selling
them to students."

But recent Carson Graham graduate Brian Duvall disagreed, telling
council that youth already had such unfettered access to marijuana
that a dispensary would make no difference at all.

"I am the caregiver for my daughter, who is 30 years old and in
extreme pain 24-7," said Pam Miller, the self-described "squarest
person you'll ever meet."

Miller said her daughter was scared to use painkillers such as
OxyContin offered by her doctors, and resorted to medical marijuana
instead. The cannabis costs the Millers up to $700 a month and hours
spent driving to and from East Vancouver.

"If I wanted morphine or OxyContin, I wouldn't have to pay a cent,"
she said. "So nobody uses marijuana who doesn't have to because the
other drugs are paid for. And I really resent the long drive."

Miller said the strain of cannabis used by her daughter is not
available from Health Canada and she had not had any success in
growing it herself. She also defended Re-Leaf's choice of location.

"There's a pub right beside these schools. All these drunk people --
no-one's worried about them. I have been around the B.C. Compassion
Club. I have never seen people smoking or hanging around or
altercations or anything like that. I've never seen the police there.
Police get called to pubs all the time; how dare anyone say police get
called to the Compassion Club. I've been going for seven years, very
frequently."

The public hearing was closed after four hours of presentations.
Council will debate the proposed bylaw at a special council meeting,
June 21 at 7 p.m.