DEBATE SPARKED OVER MARIJUANA USE

Region Says City Should Consider"Adverse Human Health Impacts"

OSHAWA -- The burning issue of accommodation for medical marijuana
users is now with the City's legal department.

This summer the Oshawa Accessibility Advisory Committee asked council
to look at including medical marijuana use in the City's manual on
accessible customer service.

The committee also wants council to formally recognize that "all
citizens have the equal right to take their prescribed medication in
public without fear of harassment and discrimination."

OAAC chairman Derek Giberson says the issue has become a"political
hot potato,"bouncing from one level of government to another as
policy makers struggle with the stigma associated with pot smoking
and a lack of precedent.

"There is no doubt it is an accessibility issue," he said. "If
someone has a disability and they're using a medication that helps
them to function better and live better, the moment they have
difficulty using that medication that becomes a barrier."

Oshawa council sent both OAAC requests to the Region's health and
social services committee, which in turn referred them to Dr. Robert
Kyle, the Region's medical officer of health, and Tracey Tyner
Cavanagh, the Region's accessibility co-ordinator.

Letters from Dr. Kyle and Ms. Tyner Cavanagh were included in Oshawa
council's Sept. 26 agenda -- and neither one is favourable towards
the committee's requests.

In his correspondence Dr. Kyle says Health Canada recommends medical
marijuana users not consume the drug in a public place and that
ingestion of medical marijuana by smoking is not recommended, because
of the possible risk of lung disease.

"Any proposed change of municipal law, policy and procedures to
increase its access should take the adverse human health impacts as
outline by Health Canada into account," his letter reads.

Ms. Cavanagh says medical marijuana does not fall within the Region's
customer service training program, because it is "a specific and
individual treatment, which is prescribed by a doctor."

Mayor John Henry says it's too early to say how Oshawa will handle
the matter -- it depends what the legal department has to say.

"On the one hand, if someone has a licence for medical marijuana they
have obviously met the terms and should be able to have it,"the mayor
noted."But we also have a bylaw when it comes to smoking and there
are concerns about second-hand smoke. How do we intermix the two issues?"

Legal services is expected to report back at council's Oct. 17 meeting.