A COUPLE OF TOKES TO EASE THE PAIN

Victoria - Philippe Lucas, a former high school English teacher, says he
has no interest in being a crusader or a rebel -- he simply wants to
help people stop suffering. Lucas, 32, runs The Vancouver Island
Compassion Society (VICS), a members-only club here where people can
buy marijuana to help combat critical and chronic illnesses such as
AIDS, hepatitis C, cancer, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.

Since opening its doors in 1999, membership at the VICS has climbed to
more than 220. Over that time, the federal government has moved to
make marijuana available for limited medicinal use after an Ontario
Court of Appeal decision forced its hand.

But while the laws may have loosened, the VICS and about a dozen other
so-called compassion clubs across Canada remain illegal. The one here
has been forced to relocate three times as its notoriety grows. It was
raided by police 15 months ago, resulting in possession and
trafficking charges against Lucas, who is to appear in court in April.

Still, Lucas says he has no plans to abandon dispensing what he calls
"primary health care" for many people who suffer from debilitating
diseases and find marijuana is the only drug that reduces pain,
controls seizures, allows sleep or helps develop an appetite.

"For a lot of people who join the society, this is their first choice
of medicine, the only thing that works for them," says Lucas, who was
diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1995, 13 years after receiving tainted
blood in an operation to remove his spleen. "They take a real chance
by coming here, but they see us as their only alternative."

Lucas, an occasional marijuana user before getting sick, has quit
drinking and smoking cigarettes. A thin man who cannot afford to lose
weight with a disease affecting his immune system, he uses the drug
daily to combat nausea and a lack of appetite.

"If I don't smoke, I really don't eat," says Lucas, who takes a break
from marijuana a couple of days each month and finds at that time he's
hard-pressed to eat.

The lengthy legal debate about marijuana in Canada came to a head two
summers ago when the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that Terry Parker,
a Toronto man who suffers from severe epilepsy, could use and grow it
for medical purposes. It also said the country's cannabis law was
unconstitutional and gave Ottawa a year to make it easier for people
with debilitating diseases to access the drug legally.

The government introduced new regulations, which came into effect last
summer, allowing certain patients with chronic or terminal illnesses
to apply to Health Canada for permission to use marijuana for medical
reasons. It's open to people with less than a year to live or who have
AIDS/HIV, cancer, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, severe
arthritis or epilepsy, as well as those suffering from other
conditions, if two doctors recommend the use of the drug for treatment.

Applicants must have a doctor conclude, among other things, that the
benefits of the person using marijuana "outweigh any risks associated
with that use."

About 750 people across the country -- including Lucas -- have been
granted permission from Ottawa to possess up to a 30-day supply of
marijuana for medical purposes.

Health Canada is also testing the potency and quality of marijuana
grown on its behalf at an underground mine in Manitoba. It will soon
be distributed to those who have government approval to use it.

But Ottawa is still not supplying marijuana to Canadians legally
entitled to use it. That means those people have to regularly break
the law to obtain the drug, either from clandestine dealers or clubs
such as the VICS.

With at least 400,000 Canadians saying they use marijuana medically,
critics charge it's obvious more needs to be done to get the drug into
the hands of those who need it.

Lucas points to a survey in May, 2000, which found 92 per cent
approval for legalizing marijuana for medical use. "The problem is the
public is much more compassionate than the laws right now."

In the meantime, life will go on at the VICS. A small, non-descript
street-front location a few blocks from the heart of downtown
Victoria, it resembles an office people would visit to get their taxes
done rather than to buy a few joints, cannabis oil or ganja cookies.

There's no sign out front advertising what lies within. After opening
the front door, people are greeted by a large desk, vases of dried
flowers and the smell of incense.

Nowhere are there overt signs of the shop's extensive security,
including motion detectors and a safe. In fact, it's hard to see
anything that might need protecting.

But up a short staircase and behind a curtain, is the real reason
people come to the VICS. On a metal board, written with a felt pen, is
the daily menu of marijuana available, with descriptions of its
qualities such as "sweet, strong and lasting."

There is a shelf of items for sale, including pot pipes, rolling
papers and vaporizers that can be used to safely consume the drug.

Members, who include teachers, lawyers and other professionals as well
as a former Catholic nun and an ex-RCMP officer, cannot use marijuana
on site. In fact, each signs a promise to use the drug safely at home
and not resell it. Violation of those rules will result in expulsion
from the club.

Applicants need a recommendation from their doctor that cannabis be
used to treat their condition.

Once an application is received by mail, VICS officials confirm the
doctor's recommendation and the patient's condition. After that, the
person is called in for a registration process that takes about 40
minutes.

For club members, the VICS also offers a safe supply of a drug many
say is the only thing that works for them. Larry, 42, a former
aircraft maintenance employee who suffers from severe arthritis and
now lives on an $800 a month disability pension, says he'd have "to go
out on the street to get some" if he were not able to come to the club.

"Most of the other drugs I take don't do a damn thing," says Larry,
who asks that his last name not be used. "This allows me to function
just a little bit better."

Larry spends about $70 a month on marijuana -- less than one-quarter
the cost of the various other drugs he takes each month -- and finds a
half or full joint a day helps him eat and sleep. It also reduces pain
in his back, neck, shoulders, hands and legs much better than any of
the more expensive things he is prescribed to use.

"I used to drink quite a bit to beat the pain," Larry says. "But
drinking is bad for you."

For Lucas, the only unanswered question is when Ottawa will make
marijuana more widely available to the tens of thousands of people who
need it. Until that happens, he vows to continue running the VICS,
regardless of the legal fallout.

"What laws would you not break to help the people you love," he
says.