COOKIE HIGH!

Pot Advocates Bake Up A Storm In Bid To Create Alternatives To Smoking For
Medical Users

Better baked than blowing smoke: Edmonton's marijuana compassion club is
offering confections that put a new spin on the term "baked goods."

"Cookies mostly," said Munir Ahmad, the Edmonton compassion club operator.
"Cookies that can be baked in five to seven minutes."

Ahmad is the incoming executive director of a group dedicated to supplying
marijuana to people who use it medically to treat chronic pain or other
problems.

Recently, the federal government launched dedicated efforts to create a
supply of pot for people ruled medically exempt from narcotics laws.

However, delays have cropped up during Health Canada's efforts to design a
private and secure distribution system that doesn't violate international
treaties.

As the number of exemptees goes up, so too will demand, said Ahmad.

"In time, we'll grow. Demand for our club will depend on our reputation in
the community.

"Some medical marijuana users may be reluctant to give medical records to a
society that's in a grey area of the law."

The club is diversifying into baked goods because some members aren't happy
with having to smoke pot for its effects, said Ahmad.

Some parents don't like the idea of using grass around their children, he
said, and cookies are one alternative.

"We're not just trying to get different varieties of pot for potheads."
Ahmad pointed to work by the British drug company GW Pharmaceuticals, which
produced an inhaler delivering a dose of pot-derived chemicals in a
mouth-spray.

Eventually, the club would prefer this method as well, he said.

Members of the Edmonton compassion club benefit from the efforts of growers
to take advantage of how different varieties of pot affect different
symptoms, said Ahmad.

"We have many strains. What's good for one person isn't good for another,"
he said. "I have this one kind of marijuana which I thought was good. It
helps people during the day, but doesn't have the right pain-killing
properties."

As a result, some people have two varieties of pot on the menu, he said.

Dr. Helen Hayes, a prominent Edmonton palliative care specialist, said a
lot of research is going into alternate methods of delivering marijuana
therapy.

"We don't want people smoking it. It's more toxic than tobacco," she said.

Hayes has said she has patients who have turned to marijuana as a chronic
pain medication. "If you want to have maximum benefits, you have to inhale
it," she said, adding that the liver dilutes the effects of marijuana baked
into food.