PROOF THAT MEDICINAL-POT PROTESTS ARE JUST BEGINNING

I went to my first demonstration in a long time the other day. Lately I've
been suffering from teargasaphobia and boot-in-the-face-itis. But with the
anti-terrorism bills shamefully rammed through Parliament and now on their
way to the Senate I figured I better fit a demo in quick before the power
of police and prosecutors swelled to a grotesque size.

This demo, held on a cuttingly brisk Nov. 30 evening and attended by some
100 citizens and assorted cops, called for amnesty for Canadians held in
prison on marijuana-related charges, and those still facing harassment as
they try to negotiate the shortcomings of the new Health Canada
regulations. The Attorney-General's response was a succinct "No comment".

As I huddled around the warming coal of a complimentary joint, I reflected
dismally on an earlier conversation with Jim Wakeford, a 57-year-old
HIV-infected AIDS activist, busted on Nov. 9 for the fourth time this year
on charges of trafficking.

Wakeford, now a resident of the Sunshine Coast, was diagnosed with AIDS 10
years ago and was one of the first people granted a Section 66 medical
exemption to grow, possess and use marijuana in limited amounts in 1999.
Earlier in the week Wakeford had split up a pound of weed and tried to mail
out 16 ounces of half-sativa, half-indica to personal friends and
medicinal-users.

Post office employees notified the RCMP, who confiscated the marijuana. On
Nov. 9, eight Gibsons RCMP officers raided Wakeford's home in Roberts Creek
and destroyed all but the seven plants his medical exemption allows him,
and confiscated most of his dried medical cannabis, his grow light and his
computer. Wakeford said the owners of the house also faced threats their
children could be removed.

Current regulations allow medicinal-users to possess only seven plants and
30 grams of pot, which many feel is an inadequate supply.

Jim was still mightily burned when I talked to him. "They're hastening my
death! I have lost all respect for Alan Rock and Anne McLellan. And I'm
beginning to lose respect for the RCMP."

Wakeford, who smokes pot to stimulate appetite and calm the nausea induced
by his legal medications, complains of added stress and weight loss since
his arrest. He said he plans to apply to the courts to have his pot and
grow light returned.

He maintains that he gives the marijuana away to impoverished sick people
who have been frustrated by the current hoop-jumping exercise endorsed by
Health Canada or don't have the means to grow or the cash to pay black
market rates for the marijuana.

I got on the phone to Staff-Sgt. Ed Hill of the Gibsons RCMP for a polite
but rather unhelpful conversation. He refused to discuss the ongoing
investigation except to say that when a crime is brought to the attention
of the RCMP, the public expects it to act.

I asked how giving away marijuana to sick people constituted trafficking
and he said according to the statute it did. I asked whether it was
customary to take an activist's computer in an investigation like this. He
answered yes, if there's possible evidence of others involved in the crime
on it.

He had no comment on whether the RCMP would be targeting Gibsons' recently
opened Compassion Club, where Wakeford maintains pot is being sold for $220
an ounce.

My other questions about the ethics of targeting the seriously ill for
harassment were looking like a waste of a nickel so I hung up.

I was finding myself again of the same mind as Wakeford and many others who
consider the new Health Canada regulations a right without remedy that does
not allow for adequate legal access or supply.

Wakeford refuses to recognize the government regulations. It seems that the
doctors who've been placed in the unwanted position of gatekeepers of the
herb are being pressured not to comply with them either.

The Canadian Medical Protective Association, an insurance group
representing about 95 per cent of Canadian doctors, has mailed out a
three-page information letter to 60,000 doctors across the country. The
letter warns of liability or professional misconduct complaints if they
prescribe marijuana without "detailed knowledge" of the drug's risks and
benefits as well as the appropriate dosage.

Secretary-treasurer and CEO of the CMPA, Dr. John Gray, said the directive
means patients will likely "either have difficulty finding a doctor to
complete the forms or difficulty accessing the appropriate specialists."
Put that in your hooka and smoke it.