LEGIT POT NOT EASY TO GET: EXPERT

A Health Canada official was in Hull court yesterday to explain the often
long and complicated process for obtaining an exemption to possess and
cultivate marijuana.

Cindy Cripps-Prawak, director of the office of cannabis medical access with
Health Canada, was called to testify by Raymond Turmel. He is accused of
possession of marijuana and cultivating marijuana with the intention to
traffic.

Turmel, who is representing himself, led Cripps-Prawak through the
exhaustive requirements to obtain the exemption under Section 56.

The department must first review the nature and seriousness of the medical
condition, said Cripps-Prawak. The benefits of using marijuana must also
outweigh the risks.

"All the therapies currently available must have been tried and failed or
seriously considered and failed to be appropriate," she told the court.

All other means of lawful access, such as clinical trials, must also have
been considered and failed, she explained.

Finally, she said, the patient's treating practitioner must be of the
opinion that the marijuana is necessary for treatment.

Under further questioning by Turmel, Cripps-Prawak said a patient who
becomes too sick to cultivate marijuana can phone Health Canada and
designate a specific "care grower."

The trial continues today.