A HEALTHY HAZE

For Lorna, (not her real name) the debilitating pain began in her
mid-20s. Surgery on her spine when she was a teen and the ensuing
degeneration of the discs in her back constantly cause nerve pressure
and muscle spasms that can leave her virtually incapacitated for days.

"When I get muscle spasms, it's as though someone is squeezing me
really tight and I can't breathe," she says. "I also get pain from
the nerves shooting down my legs. You know when you hit your elbow
and you get that shooting pain? Well, it's like that, but more severe
and longer. Then I'll get a numb foot all day, as a result."

Tylenol 2s and 3s, anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants - the list
of drugs the Simcoe County resident has been prescribed over the
years is endless, and their side effects are as crippling as the pain
that brings her to her doctor.

"When I took my prescriptions, it was like I had a stroke. I'd drool
and my face would feel like it was sagging," she explains. "I
couldn't lift my feet off the floor. I would have to shuffle. My
(eight-year-old) son would have to do the cooking because I couldn't
walk. My friend bathed my children for me because I couldn't make it
up the stairs."

Marijuana changed all that.

In fact, it has changed Lorna's life. By relaxing her muscles so they
aren't tense, she says the drug has allowed her to hold down a job
and even do moderate exercise. She hasn't needed a prescription in
five years.

She smokes three joints a day - sometimes more if the pain is really
intense. "The pain is still there, but it's tolerable. It's always an
ache (like a headache). There's always that dull ache happening. So,
that will never go away. In the morning when I wake up, it's the
worst because I'm so stiff. As soon as I smoke, my whole body relaxes
and I can just feel a big difference," she explains.

Unlike approximately 750 people across Canada, Lorna has not been
granted permission from the federal government to possess up to a
30-day supply for medicinal purposes. Rather, she is one of an
estimated 400,000 people who admit they use marijuana for medicinal
purposes, but do not have official permission.

"I've told my doctor and he asked me if it works and I said, 'yeah.'
And he said, 'great,'" says Lorna, who adds she has never formally
approached him about getting the drug legally.

The national debate came to a head in the summer of 2000 when the
Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that Terry Parker, a Toronto resident
who suffers from severe epilepsy, could use and grow marijuana for
medical purposes. The ruling also said Canada's cannabis law was
unconstitutional.

Last summer, the government began allowing certain patients with
chronic or terminal illnesses to apply to Health Canada to use the
drug. Still, getting this permission can often be a long and arduous
process. An exemption to the constitution to possess cannabis, under
Section 56, requires documentation from one specialist - sometimes
more - who recommends cannabis as medicine after all other treatments
and therapies have been attempted.

"You have to submit 35 separate forms in triplicate to Health Canada
who verify that all the information is correct and then you can wait
anywhere from four weeks to three years," said Neev, founder of CALM
(Cannabis As Living Medicine), an unincorporated organization that
acts as a non-profit to provide marijuana in Toronto. "It is not
unheard of to be delayed because a date or postal code is incorrect."

Use of the drug is most often recommended for people who have serious
illnesses, like AIDS/HIV, multiple sclerosis, cancer, spinal cord
injuries, epilepsy, glaucoma, hepatitis, severe arthritis or who have
less than a year to live. While some approvals are granted, there
isn't a legal way to obtain the drug because the federal government
is still testing the cannabis grown on its behalf and hasn't started
supplying it to qualified patients. That brings hundreds of very ill
people to the doors of cannabis clubs, like CALM.

Despite a dozen applications to Health Canada for a licence to
possess, transport, import, distribute, cultivate, test and analyse
cannabis, all requests have been refused and therefore CALM is
considered illegal. For this reason, they go through great pains to
remain unidentified.

It's simply a nondescript house that sits anonymously in downtown
Toronto. Although there is a 'rec-room' casualness about the place,
the atmosphere is balanced with the conventional cleanliness of a
doctor's waiting room. The directions are simply: "Centrally located
to Cabbagetown, the Esplanade, the Financial District and the Church
and Wellesley Gay Village," but more and more people are finding it -
including up to five per cent of its customer base that comes from
Simcoe County - and word of mouth is helping expansion.

Despite the anonymity, Neev says his group has contributed to
licensing issues, like the amount allowable to possess, testing and
analysing. He also notes they have had positive communication with
their local politicians.

Advocates for cannabis clubs say they take the criminal element and
danger out of buying marijuana because it doesn't involve meeting up
someone in a back alley to buy some pot - which is what an
overwhelming majority of people do because they don't have access to
such organizations. The club prides itself on a safe, clean
environment, customer service, affordable prices, screening for
moulds and pesticides, regular business hours, weighing product in
front of customers, guidance on government regulations, and offering
a number of different cannabis products.

"You need to know what strains are right for you," advises Jay, a
volunteer at CALM, which offers five different strains of marijuana
in a variety of baked goods. "Most people prefer baked goods because
it goes into the body differently when it's baked. It's better for
body aches."

For many, coming to a cannabis club involves a huge shift in their
mindset. Card-carrying members include former teachers, lawyers,
police officers and other professionals. And not just anyone can
join. A licensed Canadian doctor must provide a verifiable letter on
letterhead that confirms the patient has one of the above chronic or
terminal illnesses and these letters are checked for authenticity.

Lorna grows marijuana for her own personal use because of the expense
of buying it on the street. Although police caution that they will
enforce the law as it is spelled out, she believes breaking the law
is worth it because of the side effects she has when using
prescription drugs.

"(People who are legally exempt) should carry their certificate on
them at all times and make police aware of it if any investigation
came to light," advises Supt. Jim Hutchinson, director of drug
enforcement for the OPP. "Certainly anything we find that's outside
the certificate of exemption, then we deal with it as if it were an
offence under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act. For example, if
there are more plants than the certificate allows, then it's against
the law."

But Lorna sees it as the lesser of other evils. "When you look at
what alcohol does to people and their lives - I used to have a few
drinks and that would really make we relaxed, but non-functioning and
my moods would get really snippy and cranky," she says. "With
prescription pills, I was sleeping and non-functioning. With
marijuana, I don't get like that."

It's estimated that there are about eight cannabis clubs in Canada -
three in Toronto and five in British Columbia. Some believe it's only
a matter of time before there are more, possibly legal, clubs.

"I think we're doing something right here," says Jay. "We see people
on a regular basis. A lot will come in several times a week. Some
people couldn't survive without us."

Up to 5 per cent of one Toronto cannabis club's clientele comes from
Simcoe County.