POT LAW SPARKS LOCAL PROTEST

Local News - High winds nearly foiled a 51-year-old woman's attempt to call
attention to the medical marijuana issue yesterday.

Michelle LeHeup, a Kingston artist, smoked marijuana on the steps of
Kingston Police headquarters on Queen Street at noon, but for a moment it
looked as though she wouldn't be able to get it lit.

LeHeup said she was defying the law in order to draw attention to what she
sees as the near-impossibility of cancer patients to get permission to use
medical marijuana.

She said the current regulations mean 'you have to be dying' before you can
get permission.

Her son died of testicular cancer at 26, and 'no one saw it coming,' she
said.

LeHeup had surgery to treat kidney cancer in January, 2003. She is now
cancer-free, but has been told there is a high risk of the disease
recurring.

She said that every time she stops smoking pot, she gets sick.

In 2001, Health Canada created three categories for patients who can smoke
marijuana for medical purposes.

The first one is for patients with terminal illnesses, whose life spans are
likely to be less than a year.

The second is for people with specific symptoms: severe pain or muscle
spasms related to multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury or disease;
severe pain, weight loss or nausea due to cancer or AIDS/HIV or severe
arthritis pain and epileptic seizures.

The third is for people with serious health problems not listed in category
two. Hepatitis sufferers sometimes apply for marijuana use under this
category.

Patients in all three categories have to get at least one doctor to state
that conventional medication has been tried or considered.

In all cases, patients must apply to Health Canada to grow pot for
themselves or choose someone else to grow it for them.

The Canadian Medical Association has expressed concerns about the Health
Canada regulations.

In 2001, the CMA's president wrote to former Health Minister Allan Rock,
suggesting that more study on the effects and benefits of marijuana was
needed.

LeHeup's demonstration ended without incident. At one point, two officers i
n
civilian dress came out of police headquarters, but did not speak to her.
They went back inside once she left.