UNPAID POT BILLS POSE CHRONIC PROBLEM

Off Their Pot

Medical Marijuana Patients Threatened Within Collection
Action

Any other terminally ill patient in Canada would have all his
prescriptions covered by the Canadian health care system.

Jason Wilcox owes so much money for his medication, Health Canada has
cut off his supply and threatened to send a collection agency after
him.

Wilcox, a James Bay resident, is one of about 149 federally approved
medical marijuana patients who have either failed to pay or refused to
pay for their government grown pot, leaving the government with more
than $140,000 in unpaid pot bills.

Since receiving his government exemption to cultivate and/or possess
marijuana three years ago, Wilcox has racked up more than $6,000 for
pot he purchased from the government's legal grow-op in Flin Flon,
Manitoba.

When a 300-gram shipment arrived at his subsidized housing complex
March 23, the invoice advised him "this is your last shipment."

"I've been cut off my legal supply. They've told me 'you get nothing
else until we get payment in full,'" Wilcox said. "But this is Canada.
We're supposed to have our meds covered."

Wilcox declined to identify the ailment that will one day claim his
life, except to say he was diagnosed 13 years ago and now uses
steroids to keep from wasting away.

"I'm 216 pounds, all muscle from the steroids. I was down to 155
pounds three years ago."

The health-care system will pay for all the other drugs he needs to
manage his condition, including synthetic forms of THC
(tetrahdryocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana) and all
kinds of pain medication.

Wilcox believes synthetic drugs are harmful to his system and says
marijuana works better for issues such as pain and nausea.

"They're all covered, except I don't want to take them because I don't
want to wreck my internal organs, he said.

Health Canada spokesperson Renee Bergeron said marijuana is not
approved as a therapeutic drug in Canada and therefore any decisions
regarding medical coverage would be up to provincial officials and
individual insurers.

Government policy made it clear from the beginning that medical
marijuana users would have to pay for government-grown bud, Bergeron
said, adding that patients who don't pay their bills risk being cut
off. In some case, they may contacted by a collection agency, she said.

"Seizing supply is seen as a last resort and collecting overdue
accounts is a necessary part of the program," she said. "There's no
provision that allows the patient to be exempt from payment."

Wilcox isn't alone. In fact, two other residents of his subsidized
housing complex in James Bay - Ann Genovy and Linda Rushton - have
also been cut off. Genovy, who suffers from the same ailment as
Wilcox, owes about $1,500. Rushton, who owes more than $3,000, laughed
when asked if she has the capacity to pay the bill.

"I can't pay that - it's way out of my line," she said. "It's a
stress that you don't need in your life."

Rushton, who suffers from fibromyalgia, disintegrating arthritis and
irritable bowel syndrome, said marijuana controls her pain, keeps her
appetite up and allows her to sleep at night.

Recent court rulings have ordered the federal government to provide
marijuana to chronically ill patients, making Health Canada a
reluctant supplier of the drug.

Philippe Lucas, founder of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, a
medical marijuana provider that operates in a legal grey area, said
the fact that legal users are being cut off their pot supply and
chased by collection agencies shows the medical marijuana program is
in complete disarray.

"We've never sent a collection agency after anybody and I think that
marks a real a difference between the government program and the
non-profit, community-based distribution," he said.

Health Canada has authorized more than 1,700 people to possess and use
dried marijuana as a medication. More than 1,000 of those are licensed
to grow their own.

Hundreds of others order marijuana through Health Canada's official
supplier, Prairie Plant Systems, and have the goods delivered by courier.