POT USERS' MARCH URGES LEGALIZATION OF DRUG

TORONTO -- Marijuana users chanted "we love weed" as they marched through
downtown Toronto yesterday, smoking their hearts out and urging Ottawa to
legalize the drug. About 1,000 demonstrators rallied at the Ontario
legislature and later marched through some of Toronto's busiest streets with
a police escort.

They were led by Alison Myrden, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and is
confined to a wheelchair.

She has long fought for legalized marijuana to ease her pain.

Protest is important to raise public awareness about the medicinal benefits
of marijuana, Myrden said.

"People don't understand that sick people still don't have an affordable,
quality source of medicine," she said. "Our government is not helping us."

Many Canadians with chronic illnesses have been granted exemptions under the
law and can use marijuana legally to ease their pain.

But getting a reliable source of marijuana continues to be difficult for
many medicinal users.

Ottawa has set up an underground grow operation in Manitoba, but many
patients who have received the government pot have shunned it, citing poor
quality.

The federal Liberal government has dodged efforts to legalize marijuana,
instead proposing to decriminalize it.

Under a bill now before Parliament, possessing 15 grams or less of marijuana
would no longer be a criminal matter, but would be dealt with by a fine.

The federal bill followed a decision by an Ontario Superior Court judge last
year who ruled that possession of less than 30 grams if marijuana was no
longer against the law.

Police forces in Ontario said they wouldn't lay charges for basic possession
until the situation was clarified and that sentiment spread across the
country.