MED POT'S SLOW ACCESS

As the Montreal Compassion Centre gets ready to celebrate the
official opening of their new digs on 72 Rachel E. this Tuesday, Oct.
9, at 6 p.m., relations between the benevolent marijuana distribution
organization and the bureaucrats running Health Canada's Medical
Marijuana Access program remain as stilted as ever.

"Sadly," says Montreal Compassion Centre president Marc-Boris
St-Maurice, "Health Canada's program is not the product of social
demand and medical necessity but a court-ordered directive, which
they honour less than enthusiastically. Communicating with their
office is cumbersome and, most times, futile. A simple phone call can
take a week before it's answered-if it's answered at all. There are
major delays processing things like applications and licence
renewals. I mean, 18 months ago, we requested a supply of application
forms that we still haven't received."

St-Maurice also cites frequent, "disturbing" reports of doctors being
pressured by Health Canada to reduce their patients' recommended
daily dosage of the sweet, healin' herb.

"The federal government's Medical Marijuana Access program is an
embarrassing oxymoron," fumes St-Maurice. "We believe the time to
acknowledge and legitimize our contribution to the Canadian health
system is long overdue."