MONTREAL COMPASSION CLUB GOES STEP FURTHER

A Sworn Statement of a Chronic Ailment Allows One to Buy Up to 5 Grams
of Pot

MONTREAL -- The menu at the Montreal Compassion Club is quite unlike
those of the chic cafes and bistros that populate the city's Plateau
district.

For $7, you can get a gram of Mexican sativa. For $10, you can buy
Afghan, Blueberry or the more potent 39-Kush. For $15, you can get a
gram of "Super Moroccan" hash, which, according to the man behind the
counter, is "the best in the city."

And unlike any other compassion club in the country, people don't need
a doctor's note to get anything off the list. All that is required is
a sworn statement that the person has a chronic ailment, and they can
buy up to 5 grams of anything that helps ease the pain.

This has been the arrangement since December, 2002, said Boris
St-Maurice, a local marijuana activist and director of the Compassion
Club. Although the club has distributed medical marijuana to its 300
members since 1999, Mr. St-Maurice decided to relax the rules in late
2002 because most doctors were reluctant to endorse (much less
prescribe) the drug.

"The college of physicians wanted nothing to do with it, the [Canadian
Medical Association] wanted nothing to do with it," Mr. St-Maurice
said. "Who wants to go to war with the doctors? It was a dead end."

Instead, Mr. St-Maurice asks only that prospective patients join the
compassion club (membership is free) and go to a notary public and
make a sworn statement that they require medicinal marijuana. The City
of Montreal will notarize these statements for $5, and as a result,
more patients have been passing through city offices.

"Since February, I've done many, many declarations [for people going
to the Compassion Club]," said Louise Ladouceur, a city clerk in the
Plateau district.

The sworn statement is taken to the club's headquarters, a small
storefront just off St-Laurent Boulevard crammed with employees,
volunteers and users. A file is opened, I.D. is checked and the
prospective customer is told the club has the discretion to deny them
marijuana.

Once accepted, the new patient orders and waits, listening to
decidedly un-cheesy waiting room music -- more Black Sabbath than
Yanni. Within a few minutes, they are called behind a curtain, handed
a baggy full of dope by a man behind a set of scales, and are asked
for payment. "Montreal Compassion Club," reads the label. "For
therapeutic use only. Not for resale."

"I would defend the oath because of the quagmire surrounding doctors,"
Mr. St-Maurice said, estimating "maybe one person in 50" has lied to
get marijuana. "These are a very small minority of cases. We are
asking people for I.D. and documents. I won't hesitate to pursue legal
action" against frauds.

Nor is he particularly worried about trouble from police, given the
number of cases involving marijuana pending in provincial and federal
court. This includes three major cases before the Supreme Court, in
which decisions are expected later this year.

"It would be very unwise to proceed with anything having to do with
pot before the Supreme Court rulings. They might get egg on their
face," Mr. St-Maurice said.

The Montreal police haven't visited the Compassion Club, Mr.
St-Maurice said. A police public-relations official could not comment
yesterday.

The club gets its pot from small-time growers and people dedicated to
the cause. "Anybody but the bikers," Mr. St-Maurice said. "I've
terminated contracts with people because they were too close to
organized crime."

The Vancouver Compassion Club, considered to be the pioneer when it
comes to the distribution of medical marijuana, applauds Montreal's
club.

"I have to commend them for their courage for taking the risk to help
their patients," said Hillary Black, founder of the Vancouver club.
"All the boundaries have to be pushed."

Claude Messier is certainly grateful. The 37-year-old writer has
muscular dystonia, a rare condition characterized by constant
involuntary muscle contractions, and has been smoking up to 28 grams
of pot a week since 1999.

"The Compassion Club is very good. It relaxes my muscles. If I don't
smoke, the pain is so hard that it stops me from working."