COMPASSION CLUBS A BETTER ALTERNATIVE

Re: "Health Canada pot worth every penny," letter, Aug. 23.

Brent Zettl, the president of Prairie Plant Systems, claims compassion
clubs charge $10 per gram for cannabis, while Health Canada only
charges $5 for access to the 12 per cent-THC cannabis produced by his
company.

First of all, he's just plain wrong.

Non-profit, community-based dispensaries like the Vancouver Island
Compassion Society carry a wide selection of organically grown
cannabis of 15 to 25 per cent THC that ranges from $5 to $10 per gram,
as well as even more affordable alternatives to smoking that include
baked goods, oils, tinctures, and even cutting-edge oromucosal sprays.

What's available from Health Canada and PPS? A single-strain of
gamma-irradiated, non-organic, pre-ground cannabis product, period.

Mr. Zettl then states that he has "difficulty understanding is how the
black market justifies a price of $10 per gram and still claims to be
compassionate."

If end-user costs are such a concern to Mr. Zettl, whose company has
charged Canadians taxpayers around $10 million as a result of this
ongoing federal production contract, perhaps he could explain why
Health Canada marks up his product 1,500 per cent before sending it
out to critically and chronically ill Canadians?

By comparison, compassion clubs like the VICS are registered
non-profit societies actually owned by the patients they serve, and
last year this local organization gave away over $9,000 worth of
cannabis to its lower-income members.

The fact is that compassion clubs are working hard to increase safe
access to medical cannabis for Canada's sick and suffering citizens.

Philippe Lucas,

Victoria.