ONETIME ACTIVIST TOO TIRED TO FIGHT

Former leader in medical-pot movement now example of laws' cruel
deficiencies

Alison Myrden can barely speak. She squints against the thin light from her
window on a winter afternoon and slumps unconscious on her bed in the middle
of a conversation.

She hardly looks like the outspoken activist who once climbed courthouse
steps to wave placards and protest against the unfairness of Canada's
marijuana laws.

For several years the 38-year-old was at the forefront of the so-called
"medical-marijuana" movement, which successfully forced the government to
rewrite federal drug regulations so that people who need pot are not
prosecuted for using it.

But over the past few months, Ms. Myrden, who suffers from multiple
sclerosis and a severe nerve disorder, has become an example of the cruel
shortcomings of the new regulations.

"I haven't got the money to do anything more for her," said Alison's mother,
Joyce Myrden, 73, watching her daughter sleep at her apartment in
Burlington, Ont.

About 800 Canadians, including Ms. Myrden, have proven to doctors that their
conditions require treatment with marijuana. They have received written
exemptions from drug-possession laws.

But none of them gets any help from governments or drug plans to find their
medicine. Those who cannot grow their own supply must rely on illegal drug
dealers whose wares are often expensive, unreliable and unsafe.

Ms. Myrden and her widow mother tried farming their own pot, but they could
not grow enough, they could not find the correct seeds and their plants were
attacked by mould and insects. "It was a bust," Joyce Myrden said.

So Ms. Myrden's mother and boyfriend have been draining their savings
accounts of about $1,200 each month to buy about 12 grams a day on the black
market. They try to find the strain that is best for Ms. Myrden, called
"Willy Wonderful" or "Wonderful Willy," but too often she has no idea what
she is smoking.

Lately, they have had trouble affording enough marijuana to stave off Ms.
Myrden's symptoms of MS and trigeminal neuralgia, a disorder that causes a
stabbing sensation in her face so severe that medical textbooks have
labelled it the worst pain known to science.

Before they started running out of marijuana, Ms. Myrden was able to walk
her dog, Jake, around the block while she used a cane.

Now she is taking 33 pills and capsules each day -- paid for by government
health insurance -- and can hardly stay awake.

"I threw up 14 or 15 times yesterday," she said. "That's the only things I
do now: sleep and throw up. I know the government can help me and they're
not."

Help for people such as Ms. Myrden may arrive later this year. The Ontario
Superior Court ruled earlier this month that federal regulations for medical
users are unconstitutional because patients have no access to a legal
supply.

The court's decision gives Ottawa six months to amend the regulations and
offer a government-controlled supply to the patients or allow the
marijuana-possession law to be struck down.

Lawyer Alan Young, who has led the court challenges, said the government may
balk at becoming a large-scale pot dealer. "It may be easier for them to
turn a blind eye and let the law die."

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon has promised to introduce new marijuana
legislation this spring, including decriminalization of possession of small
amounts for personal use.

But Joseph Neuberger, another lawyer who represents medical-marijuana users,
said decriminalization would only help his clients indirectly, because while
it might lower the street price of the drug, it would not fix the problem of
finding a safe, legal supply.

"If they give you a right, but it really is illusory because it really
doesn't give you anything, then it's unconstitutional," he said.