MEDICAL POT HELPS HIM COPE WITH PAIN

He looks more like a librarian than someone at the leading edge of the
battle to make medical marijuana available to Canadians.

Yoram Adler, the licence holder for the Marijuana Factory grow
operations in New Westminster, is a 40-year-old father with wire-frame
glasses and a knitted wool vest.

An admitted marijuana smoker for all of his adult life, Adler says
that pot provides relief for both his arthritis and chronic pain.

But two years ago, when he was diagnosed with deterioration of his
liver, Adler also discovered that marijuana was one of the few pain
relievers that did not affect his ability to fight off other infections.

"I can't take ibuprofen, Tylenol, Motrin or other pain relievers
because that would damage my liver," Adler told The Record during a
tour of the Marijuana Factory pot growing facility in Queensborough
last week.

"But marijuana is working for me," he said. "For the past eight years,
I've been using it as a replacement for other (prescription) drugs."

Adler, a Vancouver resident, is the full-time deputy director of the
Merlin Project, the umbrella organization that is trying to help other
pot smokers obtain their legal marijuana possession and cultivation
licences.

While the Merlin Project has about 3,000 members, no more than 20 of
those people actually have their marijuana possession licences issued
by the federal government's Office of Medical Marijuana Access.

While the laws are changing in favour of marijuana, there are still
many obstacles to the total legalization of cannabis. For starters,
Adler said many Canadian doctors are still leery of prescribing marijuana.

"When I first went to my general practitioner to talk about cannabis
for my chronic arthritis and pain control, he cited political
concerns," Adler claimed. "He said he was worried about the reaction
from the Americans, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons."

Rejected in his first attempt, Adler was later diagnosed with a more
serious condition that his family doctor was unable to treat. Once he
was referred to a specialist, Adler received the doctor's note that
stated marijuana was in fact aiding his condition. With that note, he
was able to apply and obtain his marijuana possession licence.

Today, Adler spends most of his time helping other people apply for
their own marijuana possession licences. He believes that of the
estimated two million marijuana smokers in Canada, Health Canada has
received over 80,000 applications for the licence to possess cannabis,
but only 800 licences have been issued. (The Office of Marijuana
Medical Access Web site, last updated on Feb. 7, states that only 541
licences have been issued.)

Not surprisingly, Adler encourages anyone who smokes marijuana or who
believes the drug can provide relief for a medical condition, to apply
for their own license.

"Unless people stand up for their rights, those rights will continue
to deteriorate," he said. "That's why we're standing up for our
rights. We are here to protect people, not hurt them."

Adler and the Marijuana Factory can be found on the Internet at
www.themerlinproject.org.