Local sick people are worried the government is trying to nip their medicine in the bud.
Health Canada, the federal government's department that oversees the nation's medical marijuana program, announced this spring that they were considering big changes to a system that was formed in 1999 and became operational three years later.
A set of sweeping changes be a contest for dominance between the federal government and the courts. A Health Canada official revealed, through testimony, the department wanted to stop patients growing marijuana at home in favour of centralized marijuana production facilities. However, on April 11, 2011, in the case of R. v. Mernagh, Ontario Superior Court judge Donald Taliano ruled there would no longer be anything illegal about anyone growing marijuana, whether they had an illness or not.
The ruling is currently under appeal.
This, said some local patients who use marijuana for their own illnesses, threatens a plan they believe is afoot to flip control of the industry over to big business.
"[Health Canada] are trying to phase home growing out," said Eunice, a Prince George woman permitted to ingest marijuana to control the pain of her chronic disease.
"They want to make marijuana available to people, but only through government-authorized facilities," said Hugo, who likewise has a license to ingest marijuana to curb the effects of his terminal cancer.
Their names have been altered to protect their homes from burglars looking for marijuana. Citizen readers first met them in a July 21 story about divisions in the medical community over the use of marijuana as a medicine.
"Right now, you can get a license to grow your own medication in your own home, but what the federal government is proposing is to have god-knows-who grow the marijuana in some facility located god-knows-where and you would have to buy it only from them. Who knows how long it will take to get it or how you'd get it if there wasn't this facility near your house, and at god-only-knows-what price," Eunice said.
"We are sick. Some of us are really sick. Because of privacy issues, we don't even know who each other are in our own town. We don't have the energy to fight this, and some of us don't have much time and I think you know what I mean by that," said Hugo. "We worry that corporations are going to take over something we can do just fine by ourselves. It is affordable for us, but the worry is really there that it will be priced out of our ability to pay and some big company is going to make a profit off all of this."
The extension of that theory, they said, is that pharmaceutical corporations, drug store chains and even tobacco companies are really the ones behind these changes, and have the political partnership of the governing federal party.
Health Canada told The Citizen that it was law enforcement and municipal governments behind the proposed changes.
"The [federal] government is very concerned that the current Marihuana Medical Access Program is open to abuse and exploitation by criminal elements," said Health Canada spokesperson Leslie Meerburg. "These proposed changes reflect concerns that Health Canada has heard from all kinds of Canadians including law enforcement, fire officials, municipalities, program participants and the medical profession. Many of these concerns relate to public health and safety risks - such as the presence of mould, poor air quality and electrical and fire hazards - resulting from the cultivation of marijuana in homes. Health Canada has also heard from a number of concerned Canadians about the risk of home invasion due to the presence of large quantities of dried marihuana and/or marihuana plants in their communities. The proposed changes are intended to address many of these concerns. The proposed changes are complex in nature, and would need to be supported by new regulations."
Eunice and Hugo call this claim a disingenuous smokescreen. They are concerned about home invasions, so they do not advertise their addresses, they said, and "last time we looked, there were already laws against breaking in and stealing."
Hugo has eight plants growing in his home. He said there were others that grew more, but his supply was about typical for most licensees. He said "I know a lot of people who have more house plants and little herb gardens than us." There is no industrial equipment or moisture intensity involved.
A simple check by a Health Canada inspector on each grower's plantation would curb any problems, and police are already granted access to the addresses of everyone with a license, the growers said.
There have been licensees in Prince George who have attempted to break the law and grow more than their allotted amount, apparently to sell on the illegal market. This again, said the legal users, already has consequences under current law and the guilty ones can have their license pulled on top of court prosecution.
Both Eunice and Hugo wondered, with some cynicism, just how many licensees had been discovered ducking the rules anyway.
The Citizen learned at least part of that answer. According to Health Canada spokesperson David Thomas, "In 2010, Health Canada revoked a total of 44 production licenses (either personal-use or designated-person). Most licenses were revoked upon the request of the authorized person or the license holder," so at mathematical worst, 21 cases might have involved some sort of wondering.
THE COSTS
"It is not a cheap medication, and that's on top of all the pharmaceutical drugs and other treatments a patient might need for other symptoms, but we can control that one thing ourselves," said Hugo,. "Wouldn't you like to grow your own cold remedy at home, or your own headache remedy? If you could, that would make the most sense. But now we're looking at untold costs and having someone else dictate where we get our medication and from whom."
Each patient has unique features and needs, but, according to medical marijuana licence holder Hugo and Eunice, this is the typical scenario:
Patient's need: about three grams per day
Home-grower's cost: about $5 per gram
Total: approximately $15 per day, $450 per month, $5,400 per year
MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA IS GROWING
According to the latest Health Canada data, obtained by The Citizen for this report, the nation has experienced steady growth - until this year - in the number of medical marijuana licenses. This past year there was a downright explosion.
Legal licenses (Respectively: permission to possession... permission to self-grow...permission to grow for another designated patient.)
2003: 706... 385... 61
2004: 771... 448... 61
2005: 1,186... 748... 88
2006: 1,609... 990... 146
2007: 2,329... 1,358... 237
2008: 3,148... 1,895... 334
2009: 4,793... 2,782... 709
2010: 4,884... 2,822... 754
So far in 2011: 10,500... 5,983... 1,984
This year in B.C.: 3,894 for possession... 3,380 to grow for self/others
This year in Prince George: 47 for possession, 29 to grow for self/others
