A Prince George man is threatening to take the law into his own hands after the federal government announced new regulations this week that will change the way Canadians access marijuana for medical purposes.
Under the new rules, people will no longer be able to grow marijuana in their homes for their own medical use and the government will no longer produce or distribute medical pot.
"I will buy it illegally," said the local senior citizen who uses medicinal marijuana every day to cope with the long-term effects of his cancer treatment. "I'm next to death anyway, so what are they going to do? Throw me in jail?"
Tom (not his real name), 64, legally grows pot for his personal medical use as a sleep aid after enduring 18 months of cancer treatments for squamous cell carninoma or throat cancer.
Tom's odds of surviving for three years after diagnosis was 30 per cent and he's on year four, he said. He gives a lot of the credit to his ability to use medical marijuana to soothe what ails him.
"This will be a constitutional issue," said Tom. "It's also going to be a political issue."
Tom said he believes this will bring on a lot of trouble because people grow different strains of marijuana for their different needs and people won't be able to get what they need.
"It took me almost two years to perfect the dosage that I take," he said. "By taking this away from us, the government is screwing us. I knew it was coming but I can't believe the stupidity of it."
Health Canada said since the medical marijuana program was introduced in 2001, it has expanded to 30,000 people from the original 500 authorized to use the product.
"This rapid increase has had unintended consequences for public health, safety and security as a result of allowing individuals to produce marijuana in their homes," the department said in a news release.
"Under the new regulations, production will no longer take place in homes and municipal zoning laws will need to be respected, which will further enhance public safety."
Under the new regulations, the government will allow patients to buy prescribed amounts only from licensed growers who will be required to meet strict conditions.
In previous versions of the regulations, pharmacies were to distribute the product just like other medications, provoking concern from pharmacists, who expressed concerns about dispensing a product without sufficient research. They also cited security concerns.
The final version removes the pharmacists from the loop, leaving patients to rely on mail order for their medical marijuana.
"While the courts have said that there must be reasonable access to a legal source of marijuana for medical purposes, we believe that this must be done in a controlled fashion in order to protect public safety," minister Leona Aglukkaq said in a statement.
"These changes will strengthen the safety of Canadian communities while making sure patients can access what they need to treat serious illnesses."
Physicians and pharmacists alike questioned the regulatory changes, saying there is little evidence that medical marijuana is either effective or safe.
The umbrella group representing the country's colleges of physicians and surgeons said the changes won't protect people.
"We believe that the new federal medical marijuana regulations put patients and the general public at risk," Dr. Rocco Gerace, president of the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada, said in a statement.
"Physicians should not be asked to prescribe or dispense substances or treatments for which there is little or no evidence of clinical efficacy or safety."
In December, the president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Anna Reid, described the proposed marijuana rules as "akin to asking doctors to write prescriptions while blindfolded."
"Not only does prescribing drugs that haven't been clinically tested fly in the face of medical training and ethics, but marijuana's potential benefits and adverse effects have not been rigorously tested."
- with files from The Canadian Press
For more on Tom's story and how the local senior uses medical marijuana to ease the after-affects of his cancer treatment, see the Seniors page in Tuesday's Citizen.
