DISTRIBUTOR HOPES COPS WON'T WEED HIM OUT

A LOCAL AIDS victim who uses marijuana as medicine is working to help other
sick and dying patients who can't afford the high price of pot.

Don Appleby, 43, is distributing free weed to five patients who have Health
Canada's authorization to toke. His waiting list has climbed to 85.

"I can only help so many people," he said. "By the time I pay all the other
bills, there's not much left."

Denouncing compassion clubs as "drug pushers posing as helpers," Appleby is
strongly opposed to charging seriously ill patients $7.50-$10 a gram. His
"Mission of Sufferance" will supply free weed to those in need through his
own indoor garden and donations from other growers.

Those he strives to help -- many of them referred by local doctors -- are
often on disability pensions and can't afford to pay the price charged by
compassion clubs. Appleby believes marijuana should be covered by health
plans like other prescriptions, and says it's wrong that he must fundraise
to increase his charitable growing operation.

While Appleby's service is illegal under Health Canada guidelines, he hopes
he won't be arrested because there is no fee or promotion of the service.
And he believes any risk is worth taking to help those suffering from the
harsh side effects of treatment for cancer, AIDS and epilepsy.

"They can handle it with the help of marijuana," he said. "But most people
don't have an extra $300-$400 a week to kick out to drug dealers."

Staff Sgt. Marc Pinault of the Ottawa Police drug unit said an exemption
from prosecution for medicinal reasons only allows for personal use -- and
that means distribution of the controlled substance is prohibited whether
or not money is exchanged.

"Giving it away is still trafficking, even if it's to other people with
exemptions," he said.

And Andrew Swift, a spokesman for Health Canada, said those distribution
rules for the exemptees -- now totalling 817 -- will remain strict until
there's more evidence about the safety of marijuana use.

"Research will allow Health Canada to better understand for which illnesses
marijuana is an effective medicine, and to better understand the risks in
relation to these benefits," he said.

Until then, Swift said, patients must grow the plants themselves or have a
single "designate" grow it for them.

Mike Foster, owner of Crosstown Traffic, a hemp store on Bank St., said the
policy that permits marijuana for medicinal use but fails to provide a
legal source leaves patients "between a rock in a hard place." Most of the
20-or-so compassion clubs operating across the country are not-for-profit
and keep proper accounting to use as a defence if they wind up in court, he
said.

"But the harsh reality of it is that it costs money to produce pot," said
Foster. "There's no one out there who's going to risk arrest and grow it
for free to give it away."