PANELISTS DEBATE POT USE

Police Officer Says It's 'a Gateway Drug.' Advocate Says 'No One Has Ever
Died of Pot'

Local News - The confusion surrounding the issue of decriminalizing
marijuana was apparent Monday during a roundtable discussion at the
Elizabeth Fry Society. The conflicting opinions and research presented
during the day-long session demonstrated just how divisive the issue is.

Barry Burkholder, an advocate for the legalization of pot for medicinal
use, and Const. Robert Brunette, a Greater Sudbury Police crime prevention
officer, delivered diametrically opposed addresses.

During the discussion, Burkholder, who does not support the recreational
use of pot, said there is ample evidence to show that pot is excellent for
pain management.

Using pot has allowed him to return to work, he said, and helps him manage
the chronic pain and nausea related to Hepatitis C, meningitis and a spinal
injury.

Research, Burkholder added, has shown that THC (dronabinol) -- the active
chemical agent in marijuana -- inhibits cancer tumour growth. That
research, he said, has been suppressed by government officials in Canada
and the United States.

Burkholder's most controversial statements revolved around what he called
the duplicitous relationship between the federal government and
pharmaceutical companies. If pot was legalized, he said, the companies
would lose billions in prescription drug profits.

The government is stalling legalization to give those companies time to
develop a "pill or puffer that they can sell for huge profits," he said.

More research needed?

Health Canada, he added, argues that more research must be done on
marijuana to determine its medicinal benefits. But a considerable amount of
pot research must have been done to develop Marinol -- a synthetic THC used
to treat the symptoms of cancer and HIV/AIDS.

Tens of thousands of Canadians die each year from alcohol, tobacco and
prescription drug use, Burkholder said, but pot is relatively harmless. "No
one has ever died of pot," he said.

Brunette countered Burkholder's arguments, using mostly Health Canada
sources. Pot, he said, is as addictive as alcohol and tobacco, and
legalizing it would multiply the social and health problems linked to legal
drugs.

THC, Brunette said, increases the growth of cancer cells, and pot use has
been linked to fatal motor vehicle collisions. Marinol, he added, is a
viable alternative to the medicinal use of marijuana, an argument rejected
by Burkholder, who said Marinol users suffer severe side-effects,
particularly a heightened sense of paranoia.

"Why legalize something that is even worse than alcohol and tobacco,"
Brunette said. "We already have two bad problems, let's not add another one."

Young people are getting highly confused messages about pot-smoking,
Brunette said. The perception that the drug is harmless has led to more
widespread use, he said.

Quoting Health Canada sources, Brunette said that young people who smoke
pot are 85 times more susceptible to using other, harder drugs than those
who never smoke pot do. Pot is, in fact, a "gateway drug," Brunette said,
an argument flatly denied by legalization advocates.

After a three-year battle in the courts, Burkholder was granted a one-year
medical exemption for marijuana use in August, 2001, which allowed him to
grow, possess and use the substance.

The exemption has since expired, and Burkholder says that Health Canada has
made the process of renewing it a nightmare.

Issue 'too political'

"When I first applied for an exemption, the form was one page long,"
Burkholder said. "Now it's 52 pages, and it's almost impossible to find
doctors and specialists who have the time and the willingness to fill it out.

"The issue is too political for them to touch and they are scared they
could lose their (medical) licences or face higher insurance rates."

Burkholder incurred $30,000 in legal fees and lost his home during the
first court battle, but said he will return to the courts for a second
battle, preferring the justice system to applying for an exemption, which
he claimed has become an increasingly frustrating exercise.

"More people have won exemptions in court than by going through this
ridiculous process," he said. "A lot of people die waiting for an exemption."

It is a myth that police resources would be freed up if pot were legalized,
Brunette said. Possession charges for pot are usually the result of broader
investigations related to more serious crimes, he said.

Young people who are convicted of pot possession, he said, are not branded
criminals for life, as some argue. They can apply for a pardon.