MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

Westbank resident Richard Babcock has been stonewalled by the medical
system in his efforts to use pot with his pills.

A local man suffering from AIDS and hepatitis C says he's being stonewalled
in his pursuit of medical marijuana, a drug he claims is helping keep him
alive.

"Without it, I can't keep my other medications down," says Richard Babcock,
43, of Westbank. "I just puke them up."

Sitting in the living room of his rented trailer, an agitated Babcock
brandishes a letter from the Ministry of Human Resources explaining why it
has denied him funding for the drug even though he has an exemption from
the federal government that allows him to use it for medical purposes.

The letter informs Babcock that purchasing a controlled substance is
illegal regardless of his exemption, and that the ministry has no authority
to either purchase medicine or give out money for their purchase.

"All my other prescriptions are covered but not this one," says Babcock grimly.

His fight began last year when he applied to the Office of Cannabis Medical
Access, a division of the federal government's Health Canada, for what's
known as a section 56 exemption.

It allows him to possess up to 120 grams of dried marijuana for medical use
and spells out the strict conditions that apply to the exemption.

Like others in his situation, Babcock had expected to be able to get access
to marijuana grown by the federal government. However, an abrupt about-face
by federal Health Minister Anne McLellan last fall means the pot grown
under contract in an abandoned mine in Manitoba is off limits, reserved for
clinical trials.

Babcock turned to the Compassion Club, a non-profit society started in the
'90s in Vancouver that dispenses the clean marijuana that Babcock and
others like him require.

"I know their stuff has been completely flushed of all chemicals," he says.
"I can't take a chance on the street stuff. It could kill me."

But with a price of between $6 to $10 per gram plus the $10 delivery
charge, Babcock says it's out of his league. "And the delivery charge is
the same, even if you order one or two grams," he says. "I'm on a
disability claim. I can't afford that."

Babcock was politely but firmly turned down by the College of Pharmacists
in his request to have marijuana included in the drug schedules regulation.

Again, the reason stated is that marijuana is subject to the controlled
drugs and substances act plus the narcotic control regulations, which the
college claims supersedes the drug schedule.

Even the Office of Cannabis Medical Access has put obstacles in his path,
denying him the first person he put forward as his designated grower
because the man lived in Ontario and was already the subject of an earlier
application.

The last straw, Babcock says, came when a local infectious disease
specialist, the doctor who had previously supported his application for a
section 56 exemption, recently refused to sign the application for its
renewal at the end of May. "He said he'd only signed it the first time as a
courtesy," Babcock says.

He leans back on the couch of his trailer and lights up a joint, his second
of the day, and takes a long toke, before telling his story.

Born in Hamilton, Babcock was raised in Abbotsford, though in a
less-than-tranquil home. "I was on the streets by the time I was 14," he says.

What followed was a patchwork life of odd jobs, petty crime and drug abuse.

When he was 29, Babcock drifted into IV drug abuse, shooting up cocaine
whenever he could get it.

It was in 1998 that it all caught up with him in the form of a positive
test for both HIV and hepatitis C and B.

"I quit right then and went into treatment," Babcock says. "I haven't done
it since but it was too late."

Now Babcock exists in semi-isolation in his trailer, his T-cell count too
low to risk catching a cold or flu. "I don't go out or socialize much at
all. I don't have anyone over that's sick," he says. "That could kill me."

He's fatalistic about dying, knowing it could go either way if he doesn't
respond to treatment.

"I'm at a crossroads," Babcock says. "If I don't get proper treatment, I
won't make it but if I get proper treatment, and that includes medical
marijuana, there's the chance for more time."

There are some bright spots. Somewhere along the line, he fathered a
daughter with whom he has since rekindled a relationship after not seeing
her for 15 years.

And Babcock has recently hooked up with a grower in B.C. who is providing
him with clean marijuana for $100 an ounce, much less than he can get it
from either the Compassion Club or on the street.

"I'm going to get it one way or another because it's my only chance at
living," he adds ationship after not seeing her for 15 years.

And Babcock has recently hooked up with a grower in B.C. who is providing
him with clean marijuana for $100 an ounce, much less than he can get it
from either the Compassion Club or on the street.

"I'm going to get it one way or another because it's my only chance at
living," he adds.