According to CBC News, “Medical marijuana users across Canada can be forgiven for being confused right now.” Well that’s putting it mildly. Just as I finally sorted out the procedure by which, as a supposedly HIV positive person, I can legally access marijuana in its various forms the Conservative Government decides to change the rules.
One major change was to deny currently licensed pot growers the right to grow their own supply and compelling them to destroy whatever plants they have; henceforth those of us wishing to use marijuana for medical reasons would have to buy from grower/suppliers licensed by the Federal Government. There are precious few of those, a fact which raises many questions particularly as to whether sufficient supplies will actually be available and how that may adversely increase the price of medical marijuana.
Needless to say the Conservative Government stated all manner of reasons for their new rules, mostly highly dubious in my opinion and frankly more to do with 1) profit for the Government and 2) trying to maintain its absurd anti-drug doctrine as more and more countries and states finally come to their senses and recognize what am utter failure and shambles the whole ‘war on drugs’, not least beneficial marijuana, has proven to be.
Thankfully a Federal Court ruling in BC on March 21 successfully challenged the new rules, specifically relating to those persons currently having a licence to grow their own medicinal pot. Hopefully the ultimate outcome will be to the advantage of the rest of us who wish to do the same. Meanwhile I have set in motion my application and await my next doctor’s appointment in order to complete the final process. It took a lot of Googling given BC seems to have several options re: clubs, dispensaries etc., with various products on offer and differing requirements as to how much personal information they require. I for one always prefer offering as little of the latter as possible and get irritated (one might almost say paranoid) when any organisation seems to be demanding too much.
It will be interesting to see in the coming months how things will change on the pot front. There is movement afoot in BC for example for a referendum to get marijuana legalised and our neighbours to the south just across the border have already taken significant action. Times they are a changing, at least in relation to marijuana and from my perspective and that of many others this has to be a good thing.
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Reblogged this on oogenhand.