PROPOSED MARIJUANA REGULATIONS WILL HURT NOT HELP

Dear Editor,

The Canadian government's proposed changes to the medical marijuana
regulations are not an improvement for sick and dying Canadians as
they claim. Instead, it will actually affect many who presently have
access to their medication for the cost of growing it who will no
longer be able to do so. The only part of this proposal that makes
things easier for sick Canadians to access their medication, is that
they will no longer have to request a licence from the government,
instead they will receive a prescription from their doctor that you
will take to a commercial business, much like people do with
pharmaceuticals. The cost of growing one's medication can be as low
as $100 per month, which is much less than a person having to pay the
commercial price of $1,500 a month or up to $18,000 a year for the
same amount of medication that a person can grow for $1,200.
Unfortunately, the new regulations do not mention anything about
medical coverage for patients who cannot pay the commerc! ial price.
This will force patients to take the government to court to fight for
their right to affordable medication instead of being forced to go
without it or forced onto addictive narcotic painkillers.

Courts in other provinces have forced provincial governments to cover
the cost of people's therapeutic cannabis. Here in Ontario those who
cannot afford to pay for this medication will be requesting that ODSP
and Trillium start to allow for special coverage for the cannabis,
just as they do presently for other drugs. This will increase the
cost to our health care system.

The government is accusing sick Canadians of being involved in
organized crime and abusing the program with this decision. Is it
right that so many lose out because of the few who don't follow the
rules? If, as they say, this is why they are removing the growing
licences, then why are pharmaceuticals companies still allowed to
make pills. Our communities are filled with illegal pharmaceuticals
on the street as Ontario has a $50-million oxy-cotin and Percocet
addiction problem, yet no one seems to be attacking the suppliers of
these harmful addictive drugs. We're taught not to paint everyone
with the same brush and that people are different, meanwhile our
government is accusing all sick and dying cannabis using Canadians of
supplying organized crime.

The government loves to create fear. You can read it throughout the
regulations and it's even in the title. Mr. Norlock even reminds
voters about the situation in Port Hope. That situation in Port Hope,
a large licensed commercial size location, is exactly what these new
regulations will create.

This regulation has been found unconstitutional several times,
including this spring. In the most recent case, the judged ruled that
the government had 90 days to improve it or cannabis would be legal
come mid-July. That ruling has now been stayed by the Ontario
Superior Court and will be heard by the Ontario's Appeal Court
sometime this fall.

Back in around 2003 the government did not meet the requirements of a
court ruling and cannabis was actually legal for 18 months. These
rules etc. are "regulations" and are not law. A law would require the
government to pass it before parliament and these regulations have
never been before parliament to become law.

The taxation and regulation of cannabis would go a long way to making
our communities much safer than prohibition ever will. It would
create jobs, create money through the collection of taxes from sales
and the employment it creates. It would create a new crop for farmers
to grow since it will grow in almost any soil. It could be used as
bio mass fuel, save trees and reduce the strain on our health care
system. Instead Canadians are now involved in the United States' war
against cannabis where they spend $60 billion a year fighting drugs.
The number of Americans behind bars in 2009 in federal, state and
local prisons and jails was 2.5 million or one in every 99.1 adults,
the highest incarceration rate in the world. Cannabis has over 200
health benefits and over 50,000 uses but yet it's more dangerous than
asbestos in this government's eyes. As Canadians put more money into
jails and enforcement and less into schools and social programs for
skills for children, you will see w! hy places like Texas have built
77 jails to one school.

In the end this looks to me to be a more of the public fear campaign
on the backs of sick and dying Canadians.

Al Graham,

People Advocating

Cannabis Education,

Campbellford