Health Canada’s weed is mostly shwag, critics warn
Last week’s police raid on Toronto’s Cannabis As Living Medicine (CALM), eastern Canada’s oldest medical cannabis club, had little in common with a blockbuster movie drug bust. In this surveillance video posted by CALM on YouTube, undercover officers flit past a parked disability scooter before taking one employee to the ground. Patrons inside remain seated as they look on, nonplussed. Now the Queen Street East compassion club’s 2,000-plus members have to go without the 16.5 kilograms of marijuana, 1.9 kilograms of hashish and 200 grams of hash oil that were seized in the bust. But the real story here isn’t the bust—it’s the blame. Critics of the cops say places like CALM need to exist because Health Canada’s federal marijuana program doesn’t know how to properly deal drugs, delivering insufficient quantities of a poor-quality bud.
In Canada, marijuana law and marijuana law enforcement have had a tenuous, at times contradictory relationship. “Various courts have upheld patients’ complaints about the Health Canada program,” the Globe reports, “and other club operators have seen similar charges—namely, possession for the purpose of trafficking—dropped in previous cases.” CALM itself had operated without incident for 14 years before police, apparently “acting on complaints,” shut it down.
“The simple solution to all this is for Health Canada to license large-scale medical cannabis production facilities,” says Ron Marzel, the club’s lawyer. If the feds were to hire local growers, they could widen their grip on production and, technically, remain the country’s sole distributor. It would then be up to state hemployees to assess need and ensure a consistent product.
• “Compassion club” providing medicinal marijuana shut down by police [Globe and Mail]
“The simple solution to all this is for Health Canada to license large-scale medical cannabis production facilities,” says Ron Marzel, the club’s lawyer
This is crazy, it fine right now if the police would just treat this as a non issue.
a simple solution to this problem of low quailty bud is very simple have the grovement go to b.c. where the finest of bud is grown hence a smaller amount could be used with much greater medincial value after all b. c. bud is the best there is in canada ask anyone. herbal therpy mountain growen
While procuring B.C. sources would solve the problem, unless you make this lucrative to medical elites, it will not happen. They are intrinsic to any ‘solution.’
The CMA Unions demand a cut. Might I suggest a 20% tax on bud purchased from B.C?
Gee I almost forgot – the medical community’s ownership of the current CanGrow site.
This project cost millions of tax payer dollars to create a grow up in the bottom of a mine. Yes it’s too bad we were cajoled by the Police Union to grow 1000 feet underground, and yes it increases costs by 1200%; my point is here that although it is a worthless site, the Medical Unions will have to be bought off, before a user friendly system is in place.
Dr. Ken Rodner of the CMA states:
“Patient care is our number one priority as long as we can keep making a profit, oops I mean keep getting 10% annual wage increases.”
As a Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana User who had the misfortune of actually trying the government-grown pot a few years back I can tell you it is awful. It doesn’t even look like pot, it looks like the stuff you sprinkle on the floor to soak up vomit. It did work great for soaking up vomit, incidentally.
Also, this bust was nothing less than an act of terrorism. Real heroes roughing up sick people.
Russell Barth
Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana User
Drug Reform Analyst and Consultant
Educators for Sensible Drug Policy
Wow what a huge waste of tax money,cannabis is just a plant and this plant happens to have a huge range of medicinal benefits when are we going to wake up and see that we are wasting all our tax money on cannabis users. We could be using that money to build schools, fix roads, purify city water, for health care. but no we use it to bust cannabis users, why dont we just take all our money and flush it down the drain oh wait to late we are already doing that.
be smart legalize the safer choice.
i can think of one way the Liberals can regain their majority: LEGALIZE. which major political party is going to be the first to bring it forward for real? or are we going to have to wait another 10 years for an ad-hoc legalization through the courts and miss the opportunity to do it consciously and profitably?
PS rob, keep those puns coming!