DIGIBUD ON THE INFOBAHN

Online Marijuana Delivery Sparks Controversy

Marijuana home delivery is no longer just for recreational stoners, thanks
to the entrepreneurial marijuana advocates in Montreal who have launched
www.marijuanahomedelivery.ca, a service created for Canadians in need of
medicinal marijuana.

The site was launched in part by Marc-Boris St-Maurice, the leader of the
Marijuana Party of Canada, which advocates the decriminalisation of
marijuana. St-Maurice is also the director of the Montreal branch of the
Compassion Club, a Vancouver-based group that works to provide the
chronically-ill with a safe alternative to black-market cannibis.

Visitors to www.marijuanahomedelivery.ca can peruse a list of over 150
ailments said to be treatable by medicinal marijuana, including everything
from cancer and multiple sclerosis to hiccupping and pinkeye. According to
guidelines on the site, applications for marijuana delivery must be
accompanied by proof of illness in the form of a doctor's note or a sworn
declaration from someone authorised to administer oaths, such as a lawyer
or a priest. After the testimony has been verified and the fee, which is
slightly higher than the black market price, has been paid, marijuana is
guaranteed at the client's doorstep in six to eight weeks.

But the question of legality remains. The Compassion Club says probably,
doctors say possibly, and Health Canada says absolutely not.

The federal government recognises that medicinal marijuana is currently
unavailable to patients, but cannot support an illegal delivery service,
according to an information officer for Health Canada, Andre, who declined
to give his last name.

"The Ministry of Health is working on its own solution to the problem," he
said. "We recognize the need for medicinal marijuana, but we do not support
the Compassion Club. What they do is absolutely illegal."

But the Marijuana Party argues that those in need of medicinal marijuana
are unable to obtain it through legal means, despite the fact that a
federal law passed in 1999 permits its use.

"The use of therapeutic cannabis has become a question of constitutional
rights," reads the marijuana home delivery web site. "With prohibition, an
individual who has been prescribed marijuana for medicinal purposes has no
legitimate avenue to seek treatment."

St-Maurice said non-governmental providers of medicinal marijuana have
clashed with law enforcement officials in the past, citing raids of
Compassion Clubs in Ottawa and British Columbia last year in which
marijuana was confiscated by authorities. But, he noted, no prosecution
ever followed.

Norbert Gilmore, a professor of medicine at McGill and employee at the
Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, says the Marijuana Party's delivery
site will likely enjoy relative freedom of operation until the federal
government hammers out its own provisions for medicinal cannabis.

"The law right now is a murky mess," Gilmore pointed out. "Because the
government can't provide for those in need of medicinal marijuana, even
those with exemptions are forced to obtain it illegally. Until other laws
get sorted out, no one wants to prosecute."