GOVERNMENT MISGUIDED ON MARIJUANA ISSUE

My sympathies were aroused by Jeny Forest, daughter of Jim and Susan
Doerksen, when she reminds us her mother wanted to die to escape the
daily pain the Manitoba medical system forced her to live with by
refusing to give her proper pain relief over fear that Susan might
become addicted.

As the operator of the Manitoba Compassion Club, I have had occasion
to meet several people who can put their pharmaceutical pain medicines
away when cannabis is available to them. And I have also had occasion
to meet people who contacted me but then declined to even try cannabis
when the illegal status of what I do is explained. These people feared
or respected the law to the point that they would sooner live in pain
than break the law. The case for cannabis as a painkiller has been
well established, even if the health minister refuses to believe it.
It is absolutely despicable on the part of the Canadian government
that cannabis, a wonder drug of the ages, is not readily available to
Canadians. The bottom line is that all this goes on because our
government fears a dragon of the state's creation officially called
"dependency," but better known as addiction. Addiction has always been
shown to be a myth, but that does not stop politicians from assuming
the role of St. George. Susan Doerksen had to live in pain because
society needs scapegoats to blame for social ills.

I have long suspected that many suicides are triggered by state
oppression causing unhappiness in people's lives. I wonder how many
others decided there was no hope to be realized for pain relief from
the state and killed themselves in the long six years since Susan
Doerksen has passed on?

Chris Buors

Winnipeg