Once again a Canadian court has spoken up and said it's time for the federal government to stop choking off supplies of medical marijuana to the more than 2,000 users it licenses. And once again, the government is expected to seek every conceivable obstacle, use every possible loophole and exhaust every avenue of appeal that might help delay the adoption of a logical, humane medical marijuana policy.
Until last week, licensed users had three options for obtaining the drug lawfully: buy the much-criticized weed from the federally contracted factory in Flin Flon, Man., master the art of cultivating it themselves or designate a personal grower. But no grower was allowed to provide pot to more than one patient. This rule was intentionally designed to prevent the creation of California-style "compassion clubs" or backyard patient collectives.
In other words, the law recognized the usefulness of medical marijuana as a natural means of reducing pain and nausea in sufferers of cancer, multiple sclerosis or AIDS -- but if those sufferers were not content to buy from the government, they were denied the most cost-effective method of obtaining it themselves. Compassion clubs offer benefit beyond the mere operation of economies of scale: they allow patients to regulate the content and quality of their own medication, and they naturally evolve other social features, allowing the severely ill to make new friends, share health advice, and comfort one another.
For the rest of this article from Colby Cosh, National Post please go HERE
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