GROUP GOING TO COURT FOR MEDICAL POT

KITCHENER -- A Kitchener woman, who is allowed to smoke marijuana for
medical reasons, is one of nine Canadians who will launch a civil
lawsuit this week against the federal government in an effort to ease
access to pot.

To be announced at a Queen's Park press conference tomorrow, the
lawsuit will demand in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice that
Catherine Devries, 44, of Kitchener, and other Canadians who have
legal exemptions to smoke pot be given access to experimental
marijuana crops grown by Health Canada.

Medicinal cannabis users from Burlington, Hamilton, Toronto and
elsewhere in Canada along with several doctors will speak at the
event.

The conference was organized at Queen's Park because users are too
sick to travel to Ottawa. In the lawsuit, Toronto lawyers Alan Young
and Leora Shemesh will also ask judges to rule that pot laws are
unconstitutional.

Devries, who suffers painful spine and bowel conditions, said
yesterday the federal government has created the appearance that it
has changed laws to help about 200 sick Canadians get access to
cannabis.

"The Liberal government should stop the double talk and admit they're
conning the public. . . . They say marijuana is available (but) they
have no intention of providing it for medical reasons. They have been
growing crops in Flin Flon for two years, but now they don't want to
dispense or distribute it."

Devries, who buys marijuana from Kitchener dealers or from compassion
clubs in Toronto and London, said Ottawa should distribute cannabis
through pharmacies the same way other narcotics are dispensed.

Shemesh said she and Young will argue marijuana legislation is
unconstitutional because medicinal users of marijuana can't comply
with a complex law that is difficult to understand.

She said doctors who are willing to prescribe marijuana to users have
been warned by medical insurers they won't be covered if they do
anything to provide cannabis.