Cannabis Digest Issue 47 - Winter 2016

ISSUE #47

WINTER

Gayle Quin P.15

Ireland P.35

Little Red Hen P.7

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

Cannabis Digest • Winter 2016

ISSUE # 47 WINTER 2015

CREDITS

CONTENTS

Publisher

Ted Smith <hempo101@gmail.com>

Editor-in-Chief

Judith Stamps <editor@hempology.ca>

Graphics Editor

Owen Smith <rainbowensmyth@gmail.com>

Creating a Compassion Club.................P.03

Deb Harper <dietermacpherson@gmail.com>

Editor/Publisher Notes............................P.05

Deborah Diduck <cannabis.digest.advertising@gmail.com>

Are we in a Fairy Tale?.............................P.07

Web Editor

Advertisements

Capital City Clubhouse............................P.09

Contributors Ted Smith Judith Stamps Owen Smith Jamie Shaw Dana Larsen Dean Schwind Russel Barth (Pottawa) Dr. David Allen (USA) Patrick Dewels (Belgium) James Sware

Cover by Sean Newton

For editorial questions, letters, or information on submitting: <editor@hempology.ca>

Canadian Cannabis Heroes....................P.11 Police Raid Preparations.......................P.13 A Plea to the Mexican Government.........P.15 Are the Netherlands Leading?...............P.17 Cannabis in 2016.............................CENTER Santa Cannabis Story..............................P.21 Police Still Raiding Dispensaries...........P.24 Gayle Quin Fights On..............................P.29 Safe Inhalation Sites..............................P.32 Cannabis in Ireland.................................P.35 Crossword / Comics.................................P.37

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The Cannabis Digest will not be held responsible for claims made within the pages of the newspaper, nor those made by advertisers. We do not suggest or condone illegal activities, and urge readers to research their country’s laws, and/ or talk to their doctors, before engaging in any activities that could be deemed as illegal or dangerous to one’s health.

Issue Number 47

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Creating a Compassion Club

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8 challenges to opening a Cannabis dispensary you’re breaking, why you are breaking them, and as much as possible beyond that, how to comply with the rules and regulations that would be required of a similar legal business. This means not only knowing cannabis-related laws, but also federal, provincial, and municipal laws and by-laws around zoning, retail, public spaces, employment practices, food safety, and privacy.

Jamie Shaw (Article previously appeared at Canlio.com) ’ve been asked a few times I to tackle a piece on how to start a medical cannabis dis-

pensary. I finally agreed, then thought about it for a bit, and nope. Not gonna do it. Dispensaries are still illegal (to what level depends on where in North America you are, and possibly on what day of the week it is). This poses enough challenges to any how-to piece, but that’s not why I’m not going to do it. There have been pieces before written on the topic, and some were excellent, but that also isn’t the reason I’m not going to do it.

The reason I am refusing to write a piece I agreed to is simply this: it implies anyone can do it. Dispensaries, their operators, and their clients have been subjected to massive stigma, and the shameless propaganda that fuels it. They have been disrespected, threatened, shunned, and ridiculed, and it is time for this to stop.

I don’t believe writing a howto piece addresses this in any meaningful way, and so, to rectify things, I will instead endeavour to briefly list some of the skills dispensary operators need to have - either individually, or as a team - to successfully open and maintain a medical cannabis dispensary.

Legal Eagle Let’s start with the law. No, you don’t need a law degree.

And yes, you can hire lawyers (which you will have to do anyway, and gets expensive). But why do you need to know the law if you’re just going to break it anyway? Technically, you don’t. However, medical cannabis dispensaries are not about breaking all the rules - they are about breaking unjust laws.

You need to know which laws

It is also going to be important to have a basic understanding of tax law, and bookkeeping and reporting requirements for your particular business model.

Are you registering as a nonprofit? Then you have different requirements than a collective or a corporation. Going the corporate route? Licensed? In-

Many people think this is about marketing, press releases, and how an organization presents itself to the media, but flipping this term leads to a much more accurate sketch of what it entails. Relating to the public is what is required of dispensaries - not just through the abovementioned channels - but through conferences, events, and through maintaining good relationships with your neighbours. Also note that events are not only a place for you to showcase your business, but also to make connections and network. This is what raises a business’s profile more than anything short of a world wide multi-media blitz; those in the know need to know you, and you need to know them.

corporated? These are all things Fitting in with your local that can change what, when, community will require the and how you are required to re- help of your patients. Most of port. them will understand the situation and be very amenable to The Human Resource supporting you in your goals.

Though it is important to reUnderstanding labour law member that just one pissed and employment practices is off neighbour can cause a lot of just one side of Human Re- trouble. sources. When businesses talk about managing their assets, “But relating to the public they often forget that their staff requires a lot more than talkis their greatest asset. Having ing. You have two ears and one knowledgeable staff who are mouth for a reason, and if you motivated and happy goes a forget that, you will end up relong way toward making a dis- peating ad-nauseum what you pensary successful. want to say rather than what you need people to hear.”

But no matter how good you are at hiring and motivating But relating to the public staff, you will still encounter requires a lot more than talkproblems that will require the ing. You have two ears and one skills of an experienced HR mouth for a reason, and if you professional just to avoid all out forget that, you will end up redisaster. Theft of product or cash peating ad-nauseum what you may be annoying, but theft of want to say rather than what contacts or personal records can you need people to hear. How turn ugly. A human rights law you say things can help a bit, suit by a disgruntled employee but you need to know your audican spell doom for an organiza- ence. Some arguments you lose tion, even if it turns out the or- just by having, others you can’t ganization did nothing wrong. win, even when you’re right.

Which brings us to...

Knowing what your allies and Public Relations enemies think is important, but these are groups you aren’t likely

to affect much. It is instead all those in the middle who need to take a side. And if you want them on yours, you need to understand where they are coming from, and to respond in a way they will hear. The concept of ‘framing’ can be vital.

A perfect example of not framing something correctly can be found in Ontario’s recent decision to allow medical patients to use cannabis in public. Framing this decision improperly allowed the media to reframe it as absolute anarchy, with people puffing everywhere. And all those who spoke in support of the idea only succeeded in fuelling the hysteria.

The regulations were not what the media portrayed, but it didn’t matter. It was the right pitch at the wrong speed, and the opposition knocked it out of the park.

While this is called spin, and is usually regarded as a bad thing, it is actually all about conveying your point of view.

However, you need to do so knowing that whatever you say can be used against you by media, can be paraphrased, can be edited and cut, or more likely, they will include the thing you said five times, but will include an off-the-cuff remark made near the end to skew your intended meaning. This is where you hope for truth in reporting, but in the end, these media outlets are just conveying their own point of view, and they have numerous other stories to cover on tight timelines if yours doesn’t fit the agenda somehow..

You need to go go throug hthis this with as many media people as possible, knowing that if you don’t have time to make them understand, or if you are too successfully conveying a point that isn’t congruent with their point of view, it may just get buried.

These, of course, usually end up in pieces that are not very favourable and get picked up by the news wires, or you’re left out of the piece all together, or it airs live and it’s not archived, and the general public doesn’t care anyway, since there’ve been ten more stories in the last five minutes on completely unrelated topics.

When you are successful with a reporter, it still has to get through their editor, where again it can get mangled or massaged according to their own point of view [Editor’s note: sorry Jamie!]. If your message makes it

Cannabis Digest • Winter 2016 through unscathed, congrats!

(It’s not getting picked up by the news service though, and your opposition got coverage on more outlets, but most of the public forgot anyway because ten more completely unrelated items have just been reported).

So maybe you have a reason, a passion, a location, some sort of defence, and the knowledge that no matter what you say or do, some people are not going to understand. What other skills do you need?

Buy me a River Like any charity or business that provides a service or product, that product needs to be obtained. In considering cannabis one must account not only for current market prices, but also for keeping up with the latest strains, growing techniques, research, and an everexpanding derivatives market.

This last sentence contains at least three areas that could take a lifetime each to catch up on.

The needs cannabis can serve in a medical setting alone are extremely wide-ranging. And as new trends in production develop, so what is on offer needs to be expanded. And if you are truly opening a dispensary in a still-illicit market to serve medical patients, you should be extra vigilant in ensuring you are obtaining products that are safe and sourced from ethical producers who are as concerned about your patients as you are.

Warehouse Manager/Security So now you have medicine do you have enough? Of various strains? To address a wideenough array of needs? And you’re keeping it where? Storage and handling procedures and protocols specific to herbal medicine are particular. Both in theory and in practice, you need to be able to track your inventory, account for evaporation loss, and understand exactly where your cannabis is going.

Security procedures also need to be worked out for cash and

staff in terms of regular practice, but also in case of emergencies: earthquakes, fires, floods, robberies, police raids, and - it couldn’t hurt - world war three.

While you hope for none of these things, they will be worse if you aren’t prepared.

cedures to store and handle it.

On to selling it. This can be a tough one for dispensaries. You obviously want to promote the benefits of cannabis in your operation, and you want that operation to be successful. For this you need to temper the understanding that money and Health and Safety medicine make strange bedfellows. While everyone ultimateWhile we’ve touched on some ly profits from service to our of the safety issues involved in society, and while the services the handling and security of and knowledge dispensaries of-

“If you are profiting off of the sale of cannabis as medicine, should you be up-selling it?”

medical cannabis, the safety of staff and patients is also important. From Work-Safe (or your local equivalent) policies, to the above mentioned disasters, keeping your staff and members safe can be a full time job on its own. Health and Safety regulations and emergency-preparedness are only part of the picture. For some dispensaries, the situations and conflicts that can arise from just conducting simple business may require more than good customer service or PR skills - you may need all of the tools of a front-line social worker when dealing with clientele, or those who wish to be.

Interior Designer

This is more important than you might realize. What your storefront looks like can convey much more than any number of words about the environment you’ve created. Renovations need to be planned, designed, and implemented. The space needs to be an accessible, safe, and pleasant environment for both workers and clients. It needs to evoke the feeling and tone you’ve decided on, and it needs to be functional (remember all those security policies and safety procedures?).

Sales

fer are extremely valuable, you don’t want to wind up in a situation where you are encouraging people to use more medicine than they need. This is one of the major issues patients cite with allopathic medicine, while the reduction of pharmaceuticals is one of the most often touted benefits of using cannabis. If you are profiting off of the sale of cannabis as medicine, should you be up-selling it?

This said, you’ve spent time, you’ve spent effort, and you’ve spent money, so you have to make some back. In order to do that, everything required of any other retail business needs to be in place. You need to understand cost projections, price points, and some basic display marketing. You need to have an inventory tracking system, point of sale system, feedback mechanisms, accounting and payroll, and all related administration tasks worked out. But dispensaries are not any other retail business, they deal with patient information, which means all of the requirements of a medical office also need to be in place, including systems to manage and protect confidential information.

Saint

So now your team is ready to So now you have product, open. You will need the patience some way to track it, and pro- of saint. Like the experience of

a saint, your experience will be challenging and amazing. You will constantly be reminded of the good you are doing, and every day you will see the difference you’re helping to facilitate in people’s lives. You will have effectively taken on the role of caregiver to a great many people, some of whom are dealing with great burdens, who require patience, understanding, and compassion.

You will deal with some who feel slighted in some way by interactions, who complain endlessly to you and others. You will deal with a profound ignorance of cannabis and so be painted by the stigma still surrounding it. You will deal with law enforcement who know what you are doing is good, but have a job to do, and you will likewise deal with those who take great joy in enforcing prohibition (even now in these in-between days).

While you will be reminded every day why you do it, every day there will be a new trial, a new tribulation, and some who don’t think you’ve gone far enough, and some who think you’ve gone too far.

You will have days where you question why you do it, days that are too hard, days when you are ready to quit, days when the prohibitionists, the law, and public perception all seem too much…

But in the end, it was another day you saw Joe, who was given three weeks to live four years ago, or another day you saw Jane, whose pain is no longer so crippling that she can’t leave her house - another day you didn’t close your eyes and do nothing about it.

Issue Number 47

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EDITORS NOTE: Our Political Condition

Judith Stamps hese days, Canadian canT nabis activists, patients, and supporters alike, live uneasily. The new majority federal government has stated its intention to legalize cannabis, but it will take some time before this plan is finalized. This time gap leaves us in an inbetween space. Of course, we recognize many kinds of in-between spaces. An engagement, for example, represents the space between an agreement to marry, and a wedding. A period of peace talks and co-operative events will precede the signing of an international treaty. Dinners and meetings precede cooperative engagements at local

political levels. The protocol for those spaces is courtesy and generosity, or at least a good job of faking it. We also acknowledge the space between when a government is elected and when it begins to govern.

This space is called a honeymoon period, equally a period of courtesy, during which voters agree to give the new crew the benefit of the doubt.

But there is no name as yet, for the in-between space I’m talking about. That space features a new government that is about to legalize cannabis, but shares authority with law enforcement officers, some RCMP in particular, who don’t like the plan. In this space, some officers continue to bust medical cannabis dispensaries, and seem to be stepping up their efforts. There can be no mistaking their actions for courtesy. At the same time many new medical dispensaries have opened, and continue to open.

Cannabis fans have heard little thus far, but people are lining up anyway to participate in the new, anticipated industry.

Unhappily, the new govern-

ment does not appear to be in dialogue with the RCMP over this matter. At the same time, it has given no timeline, and no helpful directives to activists either. This gap in communication creates a bizarre public arena; it is anyone’s guess today what rules are enforceable.

In this public arena everyone is left with questions. What is the Trudeau government thinking? How long will the arrests continue? What about the promised attitude change toward people who choose cannabis? Or is there a promised attitude change? Maybe the new laws will reflect the view that prohibition is worse than cannabis, but both are still bad?

That doesn’t sound much like Trudeau’s promise of “sunny ways,” though, does it? These concerns will not go away, and they create unnecessary stress.

In this matter, the government can and should help.

Trudeau should, without delay, publish a timeline for legalization. He should then set some rules for this interim period. At minimum his gov-

ernment needs to provide a temporary life raft for besieged medical dispensaries, and for activists. He needs to make a directive to law enforcement, telling them to make cannabisrelated ‘offenses’ their lowest priority. He needs to tell them as well, to focus only on the question of whether dispensaries are creating any real public disturbance, and not just an annoyance for one high profile cannabis hater like BC’s Pamela McColl.

I have faith in cannabis activists. They are peaceful, patient, and wise. One way or the other they will manage. I don’t know whether to have faith in Trudeau and his team as yet.

Some positive direction from them in this period of confusion would go a long way to inducing us all to take step in their direction.

Editor@Hempology.ca

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Cannabis Digest â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 2016

PUBLISHERS NOTE: Sharks, Snakes and Pot-Bellied Pigs

For those simply wishing to work in the field, it is very important to know what you are getting into before taking a job.

Since many in the industry are breaking the law, it is critical to know whether your employer is prepared to help you in case of an arrest. If the place where you wish to work has suffered a police raid, it is easy to find out how the employees who have been arrested were treated, and Ted Smith you should expect the same. If you are working somewhere that has not been busted, then Beware Sharks, Snakes and you should consider how much Pot-Bellied Pigs support you can expect from the management in the worst case or cannabis enthusiasts the scenario. current era is full of excitement and uncertainty. As Once you are working in the the veil of prohibition is lifted cannabis industry, it will bearound the world, new opportu- come clear that some people nities to work in the industry as conduct their business with very an employee or entrepreneur of- high standards, while others cut fer an exciting future for many. corners for profit, abuse staff, However, with all of this glori- and seek glory. These are probous wealth to be made come a lems that exist everywhere, but few issues, not the least of which it can be very disappointing to is greedy, ruthless people. find out that someone who has fought for our rights has become Of course the world is full of ruthless and self-centered. It is corrupt and self-centered peo- not easy finding employers anyple, but the cannabis culture where that have high standards has prided itself on being dif- for their employees, customers, ferent. Until recently the threat and investors, but ultimately if of arrest has meant that only the you work for a company that brave and idealistic have open- does not strive to be the best ly defied the cannabis laws, as it can be, then it is hard to feel self-centered people rarely put great about yourself and what themselves in harmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s way for you are doing with your life. their ideals. Those that were willing to break the law just for For customers it is much money simply grew cannabis, harder to know how responsible selling it quietly to the highest a cannabis business is without bidder while ignoring activists investigating. But if you spend trying to change the law. a lot of money on herb-related items then it is worth looking Many people in the cannabis into . Your money is your vote, culture hope for unity. Some and by supporting businesses constantly plead for cooperation that treat their employees, the and peace amongst all those in environment and the greater the field. That spirit does not movement with respect, you are exist in any other industry, as helping to build a better future the drive for profit often incites for everyone rather than just for fear, suspicion and competi- those at the top. Purchasing tion among businesses. Indeed, from stores that sponsor local many activists have been drawn events, support political activto the cannabis community be- ism, and empower their staff, is cause until now one could reject the best way the average cannathe corporate world and make a bis lover can contribute to the decent living at the same time. cause.

F

Investors need to be very careful right now. With so much potential revenue in the future cannabis marketplace, it has been easy for a few con artists to take advantage of eager investors who want to earn extraordinary profits before there is too much competition. Too many people are entering into socalled gentlemenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agreements to set up dispensaries or other operations without spelling the details of those arrangements out in writing.

Applying your ethics to your workplace and shopping habits is definitely more expensive,

but for those of us who got into this scene to make the world a better place, personal wealth is not the most important thing in the world. Feeling good about yourself, valuing your contribution to the world, and surrounding yourself with people you can trust are far more important than how much money you have in your bank account. After all, many people are bound to make a lot of money from the legalization of cannabis. So let us do our part to make sure they are the nice ones.

Issue Number 47

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Are we Living a Fairy Tale?

7

Lessons from the Little Red Hen

We remember what happened court cases, to defend our rights when we asked “Who will help and change these unjust laws?” us fight against cannabis prohibition?”

“Not us,” said the unions. “All these new prisons mean jobs, “Not us,” said the unions. jobs, jobs!”

“There’s a lot of jobs for us in arresting and jailing cannabis us“Not us,” said the corporations. ers.”

“We can’t patent cannabis medicines, so we don’t care.”

“Not us,” said the corporations.

“Legal cannabis would hurt our “Not us,” said the politicians.

Dana Larsen investments in pharmaceuticals.” “In fact, we will fight you in court every step of the way!” efore Premiers, liquor “Not us,” said the politicians. unions and corporations “Instead, we’re going to pass So the cannabis community start falling all over each other in an effort to cash in on legal cannabis sales, let’s remember the real reasons we should be ending cannabis prohibition in Canada.

B

Yes, we should be legalizing cannabis in Canada, but not because of the tax revenue it will generate, and not because legalization a better way to keep cannabis from kids, and not even because polls show that most Canadians now support changing the law.

We should be ending cannabis prohibition in Canada because the war on cannabis and cannabis users has always been unjustified, immoral, and harmful to individuals and society.

Let us remember that cannabis prohibition was founded solely on racism and ignorance.

There was never any valid scientific, health or social reason to ban cannabis and punish cannabis users in the first place. As a society, we need to acknowledge stricter laws than ever, because these truths before we can start that gets us more votes!” talking about tax rates and points of sale.

So we did it by ourselves. Canada’s cannabis community opened The first step must be to im- bong shops and seed shops, we mediately end all arrests for pos- created cannabis magazines and session and personal cultivation, websites, we held cannabis rallies nationwide. That must be at the and opened medical dispensaries, top of the agenda for any canna- all in peaceful civil disobedience bis reform in Canada. and defiance of these unfair laws.

These days, Canada’s cannaWhen some of us were raided bis community is feeling like the by police and ended up in front Little Red Hen from the classic of a judge, we asked “Who will fairy tale. help us fund these important

Now that we have mostly beaten the laws in court and on the street, with cannabis gardens and dispensaries spreading into every city and town across the country, we ask “Who will help us sell cannabis and profit from legalization?”

“We will sell it to you for profit!” say the unions. “We know how to sell liquor, and it’s all the same thing, right?”

“We will sell it to you for profit!” say the corporations. “We will sell it to you for $15 a gram, as long as the police shut down all the illegal dispensaries first.”

“We will sell it to you for profit!” say the politicians. “We will keep the taxes high, so we can pay for all the harm that you cannabis users are causing society.”

To which we say “Get lost! We will keep growing it and selling it ourselves. We already have hundreds of dispensaries across the country that are providing great quality cannabis. We already have dozens of court precedents which have forced your police to stop arresting our people. We already have a thriving culture and a vigorous, successful and diversified cannabis industry. We don’t need your help, but thanks anyways.”

The moral of the story? Canada’s cannabis community doesn’t need the liquor unions, or the corporations, or the politicians to take over our industry. We know what we’re doing when it comes to growing, distributing and enjoying cannabis.

raised the funds ourselves. We used the money from our openly illegal bong shops, seed banks and dispensaries to pay lawyers and cover court costs, chipping away at prohibition one case at The groups that have opa time. pressed our culture and fought against legalization should not It was through the courts that be the groups that get to regulate we forced the government to and profit from our sacred plant. first create a medical cannabis program, and every single imJust get rid of your ridiculous provement and expansion of the prohibition laws, stop arresting program has come as a result of and hassling peaceful people for lengthy and expensive court bat- pot, and leave the rest to us. tles funded by grassroots activists.

Cannabis Digest • Winter 2016

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Issue Number 47

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Capit al City Clubhouse Blazing a trail with Ottawa’s new vapor lounge

Russell Barth here are two Ottawa’s reT ally: The federal government Ottawa, that Canadians

from coast to coast complain about when they watch TV or read the news papers; and the city itself.

Having lived in Ottawa since Halloween of 1994, I have almost become accustomed to the cultural retardation that pervades so much of daily life here.

Sure, Ottawa is clean, it looks pretty nice, has a few nice museums, and it has a low crime rate.

Even the “shady” parts of town are still pretty safe for old people and kids to walk around in. But just as Ottawa lacks the dangers and discomforts of a larger city like Montreal or Toronto, it also lacks, in my opinion, any of the cool things that come with living in a city of nearly one million people. Like marijuana vapour lounges, for example. The kinds of places that have been moreor-less accepted in cities like Toronto and Vancouver would be considered outlandish and outrageous to the podunk sensibilities of a city like Ottawa.

Imagine a cross between the movies Pleasantville, The Truman Show, and Groundhog Day, all sitting in a bowl of Fawlty Towers sauce, and you get an idea about what it feels like to be living in Ottawa. To me, it is like the city is trying to stay stuck in the year 1964.

But in late April of 2015, a local man named Wayne Robillard opened a marijuana vapour lounge in an aging building at 29 Montreal Road in the Ottawa neighbourhood of Vanier. For countless years before that, the address had been home to a used clothing store.

with the subject line “Vapour the procedure. Coached several Lounge” and said simply: “I give others over the four-day period it a week.” “That’s generous,” we were there as well. was his reply.

Despite the fact that the poMany could assume that I was lice visited a few times (dragskeptical about the people run- ging one guy out and taking his ning the place, it being Ottawa weed without charging him), the and all. But not so. I didn’t know operation seemed to be going Robillard or the other people in- pretty smoothly for the first few volved, so I had no way of know- weeks. Attendance, however, ing what kind of operation to ex- was quite low, averaging about pect. I figured that I would not 10-15 customers per day for the be frequenting the place often, or first week or so, until the media at all, because I was pretty sure coverage got their numbers up to that I would spend a lot of time 40-60 a day. talking to cops if I did. Crime is low in Ottawa. So low, in fact, Then, on May 15th, Robillard that the police seem to be trying closed the doors temporarily to to find ways to busy themselves deal with a growing list of buildto justify their numbers, their ing and licensing issues. Was powers, their costs, and their be- it a lounge or a retail venue? haviour.

A private club or public space?

But then something totally expected happened: Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson - a ribbon-cutting smile-bot who seems more interested in giving speeches at seniors’ homes and serving up burgers at public functions than he is in actually doing what needs to be done for the city - denounced the lounge. He voiced his opinion in a scrum on April 29th, saying: “I think it’s the last thing this city needs,” and “If someone has a medical license for marijuana, then please go and use that product on your property in your own house, but please don’t bring it in an establishment where other people can be affected by the second-hand smoke.”

When I told my epileptic wife (who is pretty much stuck at home 95% of the time, tethered to her volcano), she cried.

My decision to not bother going to BuzzOn was immediately At first, I was very skeptical. replaced by the decision to go Every attempt to open a compas- there as often as possible, for as sion club in Ottawa had failed - long as possible. for varying reasons - so the idea that Ottawa’s lazy cops, ridicuMy wife and I even volunlous city council, or the Gladys teered there one day, as RobilKravitz-like hand-wringers that lard and his associates all had to make up a big chunk of the city’s be somewhere for a few hours. population would tolerate such Only one patron came in dura gathering place was - to me - ing that three-hour afternoon outlandish. When BuzzOn first stretch, and since it was this made the news in late April, I young man’s first time using a emailed an Ottawa Sun reporter volcano, I coached him through

9

ability access, ventilation, and exterior appearance.

It took until Oct. 15th before Robillard could open the doors to the public again, and attendance has been picking up steadily.

The venue itself is quite nice.

As you enter, you are greeted by a bar/counter where you pay to rent the gear and get the volcano bags and snacks. There are seats for as many as 90 people in total, with a total of seven Volcanos on tables in the rear half of the lounge. A large TV screen and video game console sits in the northwest corner at the back, and a large PA system provides a variety of music.

The newly built bathrooms are accommodating to those with or without wheelchairs, and aside from drinks and snacks being sold at the lounge itself, food from select local vendors can be ordered for delivery to the lounge.

The rules are simple: You have to bring your own cannabis products as none are sold on site, you must be 18 or older, no booze, no mooching, no tobacco, and no selling. Sharing joints and volcano bags is obviously tolerated, as the whole point of the operation is for pot users to socialize somewhere other than their own City Hall seemed determined to homes or in public parks. make BuzzOn “earn it”.

The lounge operates on the Further, the building itself premise that anyone who wants was in need of upgrades, so it to use cannabis there is a liwasn’t like The City “shut Buz- censed user. But since no one zOn down” because it was a pot but a cop is allowed to ask anylounge. They just made Robil- one if they are a licensed user or lard jump through all the hoops not (it is a violation of people’s that any similar business owner privacy rights), Robillard simply would have to jump through. It assumes everyone who comes in would seem, however, that they is a licensed user. He asks only were given none of the leniency for proof of age, and the “18 and extended to other upstart busi- older” rule is a formality, as linesses to get certain things ac- censed pot users come in every complished. age group from toddlers to seniors, and no law says they can“I spoke to many other busi- not enjoy the lounge like adults. ness owners,” said Robillard, “and they had never heard of a Since their re-opening in Ocplace being so closely scruti- tober, attendance has been avernized and repeatedly hassled as aging about 20 a day, but some we were.” days are very slow. What the future holds for BuzzOn, no one Robillard suspects the Mayor knows for sure, but Robillard himself was behind a lot of it, or- and his associates have dug in dering his minions to make life as their heels for a long fight. “We difficult as possible for BuzzOn aren’t going anywhere,” he said. because of how he personally felt about it. I would tend to disThey have placed ads in the agree, based on my assumption Ottawa Sun (the only publicathat Watson was too busy kiss- tion that would welcome their ing the rings of local developers advertising), but word-of-mouth to even bother with some up- seems to be the main way that start pothead venue in the poor- Ottawa residents are finding out est ward in town. But someone about the lounge. at City Hall sure seemed to have their bum in a knot about it, and Personally, I hope BuzzOn BuzzOn was sent inspector after succeeds, because unlike Mayor inspector, and cited with viola- Watson, I think a pot vapour tion after violation in regards to lounge is exactly what this city exits, lighting for exit signs, dis- has needed for a very long time.

Cannabis Digest â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 2016

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

Canadian Cannabis Heroes

11

Dana Larsen publishes Illustrated History of Cannabis in Canada

Judith Stamps

ing from the mid 19th century.

If there is an overall message it is this. Industrial hemp was legal north of the 49th parallel from 1650 to 1938, during World War II, and again from the mid 1990s onward. That gives us about 350 years of legal Canadian hemp. Medical cannabis medicine was legal from 1850 until some point in the 1930s; and became at least

ome authors weave their S chronicles into geometric shapes, presenting history

as a long, upward trudge toward progress, usually via reason, and science; or portraying it as the steady, moral and physical decline of humanity from a nobler past; or showing a never ending round, as Mark Twain liked to say, of ‘one damned thing after another.’ Each shape is based in a grand system of belief. Still other historical accounts offer sustained arguments for particular theories. The best example in cannabis history is Jack Herer’s 1985 publication, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, wherein the author argues that, having seen that hemp would compete too well with their own products, Dupont, along with press baron, William Randolf Hearst, with interests in the lumber business, conspired successfully to have it banned.

Larsen’s history, Cannabis in Canada, is none of the above.

He offers no overarching geometry, and no grand theory of conspiracy. This quality is good. It means that, as histories go, Cannabis in Canada is not ideologically driven.

Rather, it offers a fact filled account of Canada’s relation to industrial hemp dating from the mid 17th century, and to medical cannabis dat-

‘normal.’ And it is prohibition readers to some of the key acthat represents the abnormal. tivists in Canada, and to the legal battles that have brought Cannabis in Canada high- us to the point of ‘almost lelights the international rival- galization’ today. ry, during the mercantile era, for growing or acquiring the In addition to these historibest hemp fibre for rope and cal records, Cannabis in Canasails. It portrays the racist da offers technical information roots of Canada’s recreational on industrial hemp, and on the drug laws, and the absurdly wildly diverse uses to which it opaque process by which, in can be put. It covers cannabis as medicine, offering basics on cannabinoids, on the body’s system of cannabinoid receptors, and on the development of cannabis science. Alongside these, we learn the story of the rise of medical cannabis dispensaries in North America from 1996 inward.

As its title suggests, Cannabis in Canada is illustrated. Each of its 140 pages bears an elaborate drawing, and sometimes a collage of ads, posters, and photos, done by artist, Patrick Dowers, into which the text is set. As such, it follows in the footsteps of 1930s comic artist, Will Eisener, and a long line of authors who now work in the genre for both fiction and non-fiction texts. Dower’s black and white ink drawings and montages are finely detailed, and mildly cartoony, with a primitive edge. They’re busy, imaginative, charming, and just plain fun.

technically legal again 1998, and more functionally so after 2000. That’s over 100 years of legal medical cannabis. Prohibition, by contrast, has been with us for around 70 years. So legal hemp, and legal cannabis medicine are, in fact, Canada’s

1923, cannabis became illegal in Canada. It chronicles the reefer madness era, overseen

by Col. Sharman in Canada, and Harry Anslinger in the US, and the movements, from the 1960s onward, to legalize the plant. Larsen introduces

I have only two quarrels with Cannabis in Canada.

On occasion, Larsen adopts an historical argument that is contentious, but without indicating this fact to the reader.

For example, he describes the British blockade of European trade during the Napoleonic wars, and Napoleon’s response to it, as centred mainly on the international need to obtain hemp fibre. Here Larsen follows the analysis offered earlier by Jack Herer. The stan-

Cannabis Digest • Winter 2016

dard procedure for historians is to describe a set of events, explain how others have interpreted them, and then tell the reader what evidence would suggest that the historian’s new interpretation is superior.

Neither author lists alternative interpretations of these events, or even indicates that there might be some. There were many products on offer during the industrial revolution. It is at least possible that in 1806, cannabis was less central to that war than the Herer/Larsen theory suggests.

I would also like to have seen a more standard, usable approach to the book’s references. Larsen’s reference pages are a series of code numbers, divided into chapters. Directions on the first page instruct the reader to go to the cannabis history website, and enter the desired codes. I tried to get the first reference in Chapter two, labeled “2-1.” It is supposed to tell us about protein levels in cannabis. 2-1, however, leads the reader to a lengthy PDF of a Philippe Lucas article, which one has to download. I did so, but a search using the word ‘protein’ didn’t turn up anything. I wasn’t about to read it all, and readers should not need to traipse through so

much procedure just to find a point. The reference section, Overall I have no doubt that in my view, is not user friend- Cannabis in Canada will earn ly. The standard history text the respect of readers who

dian or BC publisher, but as I never attempted to do the legwork on that project, I am in a weak position to complain.

Still, a more official publication would have garnered some media reviews, and these are helpful. Big Media does not review self-published books. Similarly, I was mildly disappointed to see the ads in this book. Whilst I have no quarrel with ads as such, ads for cannabis products are not yet legal in Canada. So on a practical level, this book would be difficult for Canadian bookstore owners to carry.

Cannabis in Canada is a welldone, interesting read. Some thought needs to be given now to distribution beyond the acreference offers the name of delve into it. As the book’s tivist community. its author, the title of her or editor, I would have liked to his publication, and the page see it brought out by a Cananumber on which the reference can be found. Some of us do like to read the references, and we need that kind of precision to access them. Besides this, the opportunity to glance at the standard reference page allows readers to see immediately what studies the book’s author has been reading. Lists of chapter numbers and code numbers tell us nothing of the sort. It would have been nice, too, to see a page or two of select bibliography.

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

13

Be prepared Are You Ready For A Police Raid?

war on drugs is a failure on a catastrophic level, I also realize it will be best dismantled on drug at a time.

Organizations involved in public cannabis sales needs to have a clear plan for employees to follow in case of a raid. Employees need to know what to do when police enter, how to behave when being searched and questioned, what to expect when spending the night or weekend in jail, who their lawyer is and have a backup plan if the organization collapses.

Ted Smith While it is impossible to foresee every possibility, being prenyone working in the il- pared is the best way to feel legal cannabis industry comfortable at work and ensure needs to be prepared to get ar- if the worst does happen that rested at any moment. A recent rash of police raids on medical cannabis dispensaries across Canada have shown that some organizations are much more prepared than others to deal with the consequences. Since the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club survived 4 police raids in 2002-03, and one on it bakery in 2009 that lead to a huge victory for extracts at the Supreme Court of Canada, I feel like it is important for me to share some of my experiences, insights and concerns.

A

Now I should remind everyone that I am not a lawyer, I just have a lot of experience getting arrested and going to court as a defendant or a witness. A brief history of my fight with the law would take up an entire blog. This is not legal advice as much as common sense.

Rule number one is: If you cannot do the time, do not do the crime. While many of us feel the law is wrong, putting yourself on the front line puts you personally at risk of going to jail, losing assets and/or exposing yourself to friends, family and the government, and also makes you a posterchild for the cause. If you have a embarrassing criminal record, have children or otherwise are not prepared for the kind of public scrutiny that comes with a police raid, then you should likely step back and let someone else take the risk.

One of my other big rules is to break just one law at a time.

Avoiding the sale and possession of other drugs, even if you firmly believe you have every right to use them too, is the best way to ensure that if you get arrested at work you will not face other charges that could harm your credibility.

While I strongly believe the

they are under arrest, then the best thing a senior staff person can do is loudly declare that all of the cannabis in the store belongs to them. This virtually stops the police from prosecuting anyone else unless they have proof that the person they arrested had full knowledge and control of the facility. This was something I did during the second police raid at the VCBC and it totally threw the police off, letting everyone else walk out of the club after a quick search.

Generally one does not want to admit to anything to the police when being arrested or interrogated as they tend to twist anything one says around in court.

“QUOTE NEEDED”

(Nanaimo RCMP block patients access to dispensary)

the damage caused by a police It might seem righteous to raid is kept to a minimum. condemn them for their actions but admitting you are involved Never have all of the organiza- in the distribution of cannabis tion’s cannabis openly available for any reason could make a to police where they can easily conviction stick in front of the find it, including safes. Every wrong judge. If at all possible time our club was raided the be polite to the police, as it is police were not able to find important to convince them large stashes of herb that al- that people in this industry are lowed us to reopen almost im- nice, compassionate, concerned mediately. If it is all hidden citizens and being angry only they they will search until it helps them justify being mean is found, but typically they do to us. not like to get down on their knees and look around or oth- Even though you may think

“QUOTE NEEDED”

(Dispensary Employee Arrest in Nanaimo, BC) erwise look too hard if they they caught you red-handed, have found some already. do not admit to knowing anything about the organization.

If the police enter during op- It actually takes a lot of evierating hours and tell everyone dence for the crown to prove

you have control over a situation, unless you have sold to an undercover police officer or other informant already. Just knowing a lot is not enough to find you guilty and just being in the space does not prove you are in control.

Wear appropriate clothing every day you go to work, for both the public and any potential judge you may end up in front of. They can be very judgemental of the appearance of a defendant. After spending a night in jail one often looks pretty rough. If you are smart enough to have long underwear on, then pull them up to your knees during the search or they will take them away for fear you may hang yourself in the cell.

The cells are very cold, even in the summer, so having a warm shirt is also very important as they only allow you to wear one in the cell.

Having a good relationship with a lawyer before a police raid is wonderful but is not always possible. At the very least, employees in dispensaries need to know the name of one local lawyer along with legend Kirk Tousaw. His very name will strike fear into the hearts of prosecutors across Canada.

However, since Kirk is so very busy he cannot be counted on to help someone in the process of being arrested, especially in the cases of multiple raids, so it is very important to know at least one local lawyer.

Most often the police will make claims that you will be punished quite harshly by the courts and will suggest that it is best to sign a release form rather than spending the night in jail and going before a judge the next day. The release form will have a number of conditions that you have to agree to. I have never signed a form and have spent two nights in jail so I could get in front of a judge. Usually a judge will set conditions that are less severe.

Though spending a night in jail is uncomfortable, getting in front of a judge gives you an opportunity to argue the conditions would be an unreasonable hardship that you should not have to suffer while awaiting trial.

To be honest, I have broken many of the conditions imposed upon me by judges in regards to not selling cannabis to patients because I considered supplying medicine to be more important than my own personal safety. The nights

Cannabis Digest â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 2016

I spent in jail unable to sleep were helped by thinking of people in wheelchairs or dealing other pains that stopped them from being comfortable on any night if they did not have a good supply of the herb. Of course getting caught breaking your conditions can result in harsh punishments but I always found that by being careful I could break court conditions like no contact orders and no consumption of cannabis.

Since there is a chance that employees busted in a raid will be unable to talk with their former employer upon release, it is good to have a person prepared to help communicate between all parties that is not the lawyer. Having a solid dispensary member to act as the main source of information for the group after a raid is an excellent way of coordinating legal and fundraising efforts.

Having someone not involved in the distribution of the herb speak to the media and coordinate the legal fight is the safest way to continue operating after a raid.

If the organization is strong enough to open after a raid, which most functional dispensaries should be prepared for, will mean that there is a means to pay for the lawyers with on-

going sales and other fundraising. Employees charged in police raids at dispensaries should never be forced to pay for their legal costs, even if the store cannot remain open. It is the responsibility of the people in charge of these organizations to ensure the staff have the full support of the group when taking the risk of direct sales to the public.

There are many more things to consider during a police raid but this should help those getting involved in the cannabis trade while it is still technically illegal some things to think about. While the chances of getting arrested in this field are diminishing on a daily basis, until legalization protects people from the law these basic thoughts will help minimize the damage these raids can cause to the individuals and organizations involved.

Issue Number 47

15

www.CannabisDigest.ca

A Plea to Mexico Doctor asks Mexico to Embrace its Endocannabinoid System The external portion of this protein has a specific shape and electrostatic charge that matches the corresponding shapes and charge of the cannabinoid molecules. This matching causes a strong attraction and binding of the Endocannabinoid to the protein receptor.

David B. Allen M.D.

y name is David B. Allen M M.D. I am a board certified cardiothoracic and vascular

surgeon, and have board certification in General Surgery. I am a member of the ICRS International Cannabinoid Research Society, and consider myself a professor and research scientist of the ECS, the Endocannabinoid Signaling System. A copy of my CV with articles and video references can be obtained by email request to cali215doc@ gmail.com.

I have been asked to give a summary of the medical and social effects of cannabis, and the current status of this new science.

The discovery of the Endocannabinoid Signaling System (ECS) is the most significant advancement of medicine, and will save more lives than any other discovery including the discovery and application of sterile surgical technique!

The ECS is a combination of cell membrane receptors that cause physiologic changes when endogenous Endocannabinoids bind to the receptors. What this entails is: your body makes chemicals (endogenous cannabinoids or Endocannabinoids) that bind to specific receptors and regulate metabolism, the immune system, cell division and differentiation.

This is the discovery of a communication system that all cells have, that lets them sense their environment, and manipulate the metabolism to maintain a steady state of life called Homeostasis.

Homeostasis is the ability to adjust metabolism in order for the species to survive hostile environments.

Homeostasis is adaptability! A rule of nature; “If you can’t adapt you die!”

The Cannabinoid receptors, CB-1 and CB-2, are protein chains that pierce the cell membrane 7 times, and have portions of the receptor both inside and outside the cell membrane.

These protein receptors are not visible with conventional microscopy, and this fact delayed knowledge of their existence.

CB-1 receptors control glucose metabolism, and CB-2 receptors control fatty metabolism. There is also some cross control. Glucose metabolism produces a lot of energy quickly, but also produces exhaust in the form of oxygen free radicals. Fatty metabolism produces even more

that can develop into any of the cells of the organism. Their only job is to divide and make more stem cells, or divide into one of the three germ cell layers: Ectoderm outside; Mesoderm, middle layer; and Endoderm, inside cells. When the cells develop into one of the three germ cell layers, they have different metabolic requirements and different susceptibility to the toxicity of oxygen free radicals. By changing what substance to burn the cells can be directed to differentiate into specialized cells, such as brain, muscle, bone, or intestinal cells.)(10)

fact that the brain stem has minimal numbers of CB-1 receptors; depression of the brain stem control of heart rate and respiration is not produced by cannabinoid stimulation. Opiates and barbiturates, by contrast, kill by depressing the brain stem control of these vital functions. This deadly situation is never encountered when using cannabis, and this fact accounts for its unprecedented safety over virtually all substances and medications. The LD-50 or lethal dose for 50% of subjects given any drug or substance, is a standard of safety or danger to the subject. Substances producing death at low concentrations are the most dangerous.

No medication or substance on earth has a lower LD-50 than Cannabis, including table salt and water.

Cannabis use is not associated with any major organ failure or dysfunction, and in fact results in the protection of all organs. Even pulmonary function is not degraded with chronic cannabis use. Donald Tashkin’s study (1) demonstrated a 150cc improvement in forced vital capacity (FVC) of patients who had used cannabis for over 20 years, over non-smokers. Only mild bronchitis is known to be associated with cannabis smokenergy, but does it more slowly, What are the implications of this ing, and that condition reverses and produces oxygen free radi- science on our health? with cessation of smoking. cals at a lower rate. The ability to change what you metabolize Your health is entirely depenWhat are the medicinal and allows you to survive when food dent on the functioning of your therapeutic uses of marijuana and source is scant.

ECS. If you have good health / or medicinal products derived you have a well functioning ECS, from it?

By altering the concentration and if your health is diseased of cannabinoid receptor types you have a diseased ECS. This is In the near future you will be you can change what the cell why cannabis works for so many hard pressed to find any items burns, and change its production diseases. Many diseases we now that do not have cannabis in of exhaust. By changing this rate have names for will be renamed them. The oils can be used for you can change the longevity of when the enzyme defect in the fuel, food, cosmetics, paint and the cell or organism. This, in ef- patients’ ECS is identified. frankly too many items to name. fect, is what Juan Ponce De Leon The fiber will be used in clothing was searching for! The Fountain The process of conception does and building products like hemp of Youth! When you burn the not occur without a functioning concrete, rope, and plastic. (Refcandle slower it lasts longer.

ECS. The ECS is the control erence 2; hemp fiber products.) mechanism for metabolism and The cannabis flower will be used There is good evidence that as such is the: unheated in food as a staple and hibernation may indeed be a reUltimate master control sys- daily nutritional requirement sult of changing the food source tem! Therefore; The ECS is the and properly classified as a Nufrom glucose metabolism to Key to life! traceutical. fatty metabolism during winter Torpor. This change can only How are the effects of marijuana One of the most amazing unoccur by manipulation of the compared with those of other legal known facts about cannabis, hidregulatory mechanism of these and illegal substances? den from the general public, is two metabolic pathways. Downthat if you eat cannabis that is regulation of body temperature, Scientists were not aware of unheated or raw it does not get heart rate and respiratory rate the mechanism of action of as- you high. There is no euphoria. dramatically decreases metabo- pirin for a very long time. It was The reason for this is that the lism, and allows the animal to finally recognized that Aspirin marijuana plant does not prosurvive without eating, drinking, works by inhibiting Fatty acid duce THC! Marijuana produces urinating or defecating for very amide hydrolase or FAAH. This all of the cannabinoids as acid long periods. is the enzyme your body makes forms of the chemicals, which to degrade your Endocannabi- means they have a carbon dioxCells have similar survival is- noids. When this enzyme is in- ide attached to the cannabinoids. sues. The toxic products (oxy- hibited, less Endocannabinoids This is termed the carboxylated gen free radicals) of metabolism are degraded, and levels increase, or acid forms of cannabinoids. can injure DNA, and this is the providing analgesia. Aspirin When you heat cannabis it rereason why eukaryotic cells have works by increasing your own leases a CO2 molecule, and the nuclear membranes to separate Endocannabinoids! cannabinoid becomes decarboxthe DNA from damage caused ylated or neutral. by metabolic byproducts.

The safety in manipulatStem cells are totipotent cells ing the ECS lies largely in the THC (the decarboxylated or

Cannabis Digest • Winter 2016 PH neutral form) binds onto the CB-1 receptors whereas THCA (the un-decarboxylated form) does not bind to receptors. Raw unheated cannabis has un-decarboxylated cannabinoids that do not bind to cannabinoid receptors, and thus do not cause euphoria or the high.

Although cannabis tastes bad if you eat it raw, it has amazing protective effects, and this fact makes cannabis a preventive medical treatment. The fact that cannabis has a very bad flavor will prevent children from eating it, and if they did it would not get them high, or euphoric.

This fact makes raw cannabis safe around children.

Cannabis that is eaten raw and unheated results in a lower incidence of diabetes, and all of the consequences of the disease, diabetes. Long-term cannabis use is associated with 66% less incidence of Diabetes. (3,4) Can you imagine the impact of decreasing the incidence of all complications of diabetes by this amount? There would be 66% less amputations, less blindness, less renal failure, less dialysis, and less diabetic testing equipment. Children would be able to eat cannabis raw and unheated to decrease the symptoms of ADHD. Currently the medical system uses amphetamines to treat ADHD, so the advantage of cannabis therapy is clear.

wounds treated with cannabis oil 2) Beer sales go down! (13) marijuana? that provide occlusive dressings, Please see reference mouthwash for sore throats, vagThe NIH produced a paper inal douche, ointments, creams When the true nature of the entitled: “ Sex Differences in the are all possible. nutraceutical effects of canna- Effects of Marijuana on Simubis are more widely known, most lated Driving Performance. (14) The major issue with cannabis all humans and animals will use This government study shows that has limited its medical use it daily to prevent disease, and that men have 1.1 seconds faster is that the oil is not soluble in consumption of cannabis will reaction time and three times water. This makes cannabis oil increase dramatically. better safe avoidance, and 18% unusable for intravenous injecfewer crashes when they use tions. The US government has a Is marijuana the preamble to cannabis compared to when they patent on making water-soluble the consumption of other addictive were not using it. (Table 2) This compounds of cannabinoids by substances? study shows that in some informing esters that are waterstances drivers are safer on cansoluble. (8,9) The future of emerThis question is based on the nabis than when they are normal! gency medical care is in IV solu- assumption that cannabis has tions of cannabinoid compounds mechanisms of action that are

The full effects of THC that can be delivered in the field similar to other addictive sub- have not been revealed because by the intravenous route or in stances. As such it is not based of the restriction of scientific the operating surgical suite. All on the science of the ECS. study that the prohibition laws cardiac surgeries will use waterhave created. Schedule One soluble cannabinoid compounds What are the success stories classification allows scientifto limit reperfusion injury and and failures at the international ic research only with governstrokes during surgery. level in the regulation of mari- ment approval, and that is rarely juana for medical and / or recre- granted. Foreign investigators

Currently there is a large ational use? have made most of the advances body of evidence to show that in the science of the ECS. There the ECS controls cell differenRegulation is about jail sen- are some studies that show the tiation of stem cells. (10) The tences and fines for growing a best clinical result of treatment implications of this evidence plant that cures everything and of myocardial infarction is with are that one might replace body prevents you from spending your a combination of CB-1 receptor parts and organs through control life savings on pharmaceuticals blockers and CB-2 Stimulators of stem cell differentiation. Im- that don’t work and endanger in combination. This also holds mortality lies in this science! you. true for liver disease to prevent

hepatic fibrosis. This means that Manipulating body metaboThere should be no such thing stimulation of CB-1 receptors lism can develop into prolonging as a garden police! You should only may not work for some dislife, and placing us in suspended not tax medicine or Nutraceuti- ease process. animation or hibernation. Some cals. animals have daily Torpor, and David B. Allen M.D. save energy and prolong their Under what circumstances Cali215doc@gmail.com life by reducing their metabo- should you not allow the use of 510-421-6179 lism and conserving energy every night. Humming birds are an example. There have been reKNOW YOUR ports of short periods of human RIGHTS hibernation with reduced body temperatures and metabolism.

By reduction of metabolic rate, 1. Silence—You can refuse to talk to the police or answer their queswe can extend life. Again, Im- tions. You must give your name, birthdate, and address, or show them mortality lies in this science. your ID. You DO NOT have to say anything else.

Grandma will be able to eat raw cannabis to decrease the size and severity of a stroke by 50%.

(5) Heart attack victims may see even better reduction of myocardial infarction by as much as 66% by use of CBD. (6) Patients with a history of heart attack or stroke will carry CBD capsules Does marijuana use lead to adin their pockets to prevent or diction? lessen the severity of these diseases. Insurance companies will Cannabis use is associated pay for this like they do for ni- with a 9% incidence of depentroglycerine tablets. dent type activity, (11) the exact same as coffee, and far less than

Cannabis is a new class of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs antibiotic. (7) Almost all classes like cocaine and heroin. The defof bacteria are sensitive to can- inition of “dependent activity” is nabinoids, and even MRSA re- ethereal, and can even be applied sistant bacteria are killed by to drinking water and breathing cannabinoids. The germicidal oxygen. mechanism of action of cannabis is different from the mechanism Can you be dependent on a of action of any other antibiotic substance your body needs to such as Penicillin, Sulfa, Tetra- maintain homeostasis? This is a cycline, Cephalosporin, or Qui- flawed thought process without nolones like Cipro, or Levoquin. understanding of the science.

Antibiotics work by inhibiting many of the vital functions of Is there a correlation between bacteria. This work includes in- consumption patterns and the dehibiting DNA synthesis, RNA criminalization of marijuana? synthesis, Protein Synthesis, and Cell Wall Synthesis. The exact Decriminalization causes the mechanism of germicidal action illegal activity that was once of cannabinoids is not known, attractive and appealing to be and may be due to changes in al- ordinary and boring. Rates for tering glucose metabolism. teenage use of cannabis in Amsterdam are well below rates of

The implications of the those in the United States. (12) cannabinoid germicidal effect are tremendous, and can be applied When cannabis is legalized to any situation where bacteria and made available to the public exist. Surgical Drapes impreg- two things happen. nated with cannabinoids, Burn 1) Traffic deaths go down and

2. You can say NO if police ask to search any of your things.

3. You can leave unless you are being arrested or detained 4. You have the right to know why you are being detained, and to speak privately to a lawyer—even if you can’t pay.

5. You can only be strip-searched in private, and only by someone of the same sex.

6. You have the right to know the officers’ badge numbers.

7. You can report an officer who abuses me, swears at me, or violates your rights Example of what to say if you are being detained: “Officer, if I am under arrest or being detained, please tell me so...If I am free to go, please tell me so. If I am not free to go, please tell me why...I wish to exercise all my leagal rights, including my right to silence and my right to speak to a lawyer, before I say anything to you. I do not consent to be searched. I wish to be released without delay...Please do not ask me questions, because I will not willingly talk to you until I speak to a lawyer...Thank you for respecting my rights.” *Every situation is different. Use courtesy, and common sense.

Legal Aid BC: 1-866-577-2525

Check out Pivot Legal Society for more info < www.pivotlegal.org>

Issue Number 47

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Are the Netherlands Still Leading?

17

Explaining the Dutch Medicinal Cannabis Program

Patrick Dewels

T

he Dutch Office of Medicinal Cannabis (DOMC) is an executive governmental body responsible for making medicinal cannabis available to pharmacies.

This cannabis is used for medicinal and scientific purposes.

Through the DOMC, Dutch pharmacies provide their customers, who have a doctorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prescription, with medicinal cannabis (MC). The agency is led by Dr. Van de Velde, medical biologist, and is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Sport.

that offer MC have a specif ic li- and a CBD content of <1%. We cense? recently started a new product called Bedrolite with less than Van de Velde: No, MC is treat- a 0.5% THC and approximateed the same way as drugs that ly 9% CBD. Based on patient fall under the Opium Act. All feedback we refine or we cultipharmacists may have it in vate new varieties of MC. their shop, but they are obliged to keep it in a safe, along with Dewals: The DOMC recomother morphine-like drugs. mends two methods of intake: Every Dutch pharmacy has via a vaporizer and via tea. to serve its clientele with the medications prescribed by their Van de Velde: Right. We recomdoctor even if it is MC. Obvi- mend that patients not smoke ously, MC may only be issued MC because toxic substances if a doctor writes out a pre- are hereby released and inhaled. scription for it. Any doctor can It is better when the patient do that. He must not follow a uses MC via a vaporizer, which specialization or compulsory turns THC-acids into THC

(Dutch Medicinal Cannabis Inflorescence)

Dewals: Doctor Van de Velde how long has the DOMC exist- course. The responsibility lies ed? with the physician to acquire the necessary knowledge about Van de Velde: In 1998, the MC. The DOMC provides former minister decided to set regular workshops, and docup the bureau. But because of tors and pharmacists are welthe regulatory and legislative come to participate. But there work associated with the esab- is no obligation. The doctor lishment of a new government departs from his normal proagency, it took until 2001 be- fessional ethics and asks himfore the office was actually in- self the question whether MC stalled, and only in September might help a patient, as should 2003 came the first MC on the be done for any other drug. Ofmarket. ten MC will not be prescribed as a first option medicine. It is Dewals: What are the different discussed, rather, when people functions of the DOMC? did not have relief from other medications.

Van de Velde: Firstly, we guarantee the quality of the MC. Dewals: What's the prof ile of a For this, we carry out controls medicinal cannabis user? ourselves, but independent research laboratories do them as Van de Velde. They are very well. Secondly, we ensure that diverse. Users are usually bea stock of MC is available. We tween twenty and seventy have instructed a grower who years old; the indication varmust meet certain requirements. ies from neuropathic pain, For example, he must ensure chronic pain, multiple sclerothat he delivers standardized sis and fibromyalgia (connecproducts. This means that it is tive tissue disease). Those are always the same product, with the large groups of MC users. the same levels of active in- However, sometimes it is used gredients, especially THC and with other diseases or sympCBD, that he cultivates and toms as well. The physician is delivers. Finally, we appointed free in writing his prescription. a logistics service provider who Currently, the BMC provides ensures the packaging, and or- five different varieties of MC. ganizes the distribution of the The difference is mainly in the MC. So the DOMC acts only THC and CBD content of the in the control of the product, product. The majority of paand outsources the other tasks. tients use Bedrocan, which has Dewals: Do the pharmacies a THC content of about 20%

at a lower temperature, about two hundred degrees, than when you burn it. In this way he avoids inhalation of harmful toxic substances when MC is smoked. With a vaporizer, the body takes THC in through the lungs, and ensures a quick absorption and working of the MC. When you drink MC in tea, the absorption is done via the gastrointestinal tract and it will happen more slowly. In addition, the tea is heated only to a hundred degrees. So, there is a much smaller conversion to THC and the patient will absorb more THC-acids. The two different methods can therefore lead to different effects.

It takes time and experience to find the right dose of MC. The patient strives for a dose and intake frequency in which he builds a therapeutic THC level in his blood. The user should not interrupt the use of MC but should use it continuously as prescribed by the doctor.

view articles and meta-analyzes. Important criteria are that the scientific test was carried out in an adequate manner, and that a positive therapeutic/clinical effect was shown.

We check regularly whether new scientific research has been published showing that MC can serve with other complaints. When this happens we correct our list of diseases, but it does not often happen.

Dewals: The list is not exhaustive, so there may come new indications?

Van de Velde: Indeed, and I know that patients use MC in indications other than those on our list. A doctor in the Netherlands is free to consider MC in other indications and prescribe it. The trust and communication between patient and physician is paramount here. For some complaints, the therapeutic/scientific effect of MC is not yet fully established.

However, patients sometimes have good results when they use MC, even then a doctor can prescribe MC, for example in Crohnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease, epilepsy, migraine and so on.

Dewals: Are there diseases for which one does not prescribe MC? Van de Velde: We do not recommend prescribing MC in people with psychological problems or a psychiatric illness at the time of their demand. For heart patients and pregnant women, the latter are obviously not sick, we don't recommend it either. But again, a doctor is in principle free to prescribe it. Moreover, there is no defined minimum age for the use of MC. A teenager might get it prescribed, but I have never encountered it.

Dewals: Are there health insurers that repay the prescribed MC? Van de Velde: This varies greatly and is dependent on the health care provider. Some compensate partially, others not at all, and still others compensate it completely. It may also be that the insurer only reimburses MC costs for certain indications or a maximum amount per year, but it is never in the basic package and there are many MC users affected by this.

Dewals: Your brochure lists a whole set of symptoms or diseases for which MC can help; therapy resistant glaucoma, weight loss, phantom limb pain, multiple sclerosis, Gilles De La Tourette's syndrome and others. Is there a Dewals: Please compare MC scientif ic basis for this? when you look at price and quality, with drugs based on THC as Van de Velde: The BMC has Sativex. drawn up this list on the basis Van de Velde: This is a difficult of various scientific articles, re- task. I must start by saying that

Cannabis Digest â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 2016

Sativex is not available and is not reimbursed in the Netherlands. I think its price is more expensive than the MC that we make available in the pharmacies. In terms of quality, I cannot say whether MC or Sativex is better. It is important to know that in MC there are cannabinoids present other than THC, which we know influence each other's therapeutic effect.

Dewals: Can a Dutch pharmacy serve a Belgian patient with a prescription for MC?

works and only in MS patients.

Patrick Dewals is a 44 years old What do you think of her state- Belgian with a bachelor degree in Patrick Dewals ment? mental nursery, a master in po@weedlttbelgium litical sciences and on his way to Van de Velde: We at DOMC becoming a master in political (article previously aphave a lot of contact with pa- philosophy. Along with his studies peared at The International) tients and they often tell us he works as a freelance reporter. that they have been helped well with MC. It is important to know that these people are not looking for an intoxicant but a means to eliminate the symptoms of their illness.

Often people who were not helped with regular drugs find relief with MC. We often get messages at the DOMC from patients thanking us because their life took a very positive turn after the start of MC. That's why we do it, to help the patients. In addition, there is research that shows therapeutic efficacy of THC and CBD, the major components of MC, and this efficacy is seen not only in MS patients. So our experience is different. I would like to refer to www.cannabis-med. org website for this data and the Minister could investigate them.

Van de Velde: Yes, but the problem is that this patient cannot take the MC across the border to Belgium. But if the Belgian authorities would consent to it, there is no problem.

The DOMC exports MC to pharmacies and research centers in several countries such as Belgium, Italy, or Germany. In Germany, for example, no one is authorized to cultivate MC. Thus we export MC to German pharmacies where they divide it. But this is done under the supervision and with the approval of the German The Dutch Off ice of Mediciauthorities that deliver the im- nal Cannabis (DOMC) is an port license. implementing organization from the government and is responDewals: The Belgian Minis- sible for the availability of meter for Health Maggie De Block, dicinal cannabis in pharmacies herself a doctor, states that there is no scientif ic basis for MC. According to her, only Sativex

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

Cannabis

5 Reasons Why Cannabis Should Thrive in Canada In 2016 hile no one can doubt that 2015 W was the best year ever for cannabis in Canada, the next year looks

to be even more promising for those who believe in the herb. Predicting the future is a tricky game, but after working in this industry for over 20 years, I have had plenty of time to consider some of the potential impacts of the fall of prohibition. Here is a short list of some of the biggest and most obvious reasons why 2016 will be an incredible year for cannabis enthusiasts in Canada.

1)

It is time for our federal government to take cannabis out of the criminal code, and stop the police from arresting people for possessing, cultivating, or selling cannabis.

The recently elected Liberal government has no reason to continue the prosecution of peaceful cannabis consumers and their helpers while they are going around talking about how they want to legalize it. If the government wants to earn the respect of those who have risked their lives while using or distributing this plant, this is the first step towards reconciliation.

along with possibly dozens of cannabis ballot initiatives across the country, we will continue to see cannabis prohibition coming to a close around the world. The fact that four states have already made it legal for adults to purchase cannabis has made it clear that cannabis can be easily regulated and taxed with few negative consequences. If cannabis becomes legal in the USA we will see dramatic and massive changes in the cannabis industry, changes that are almost impossible to comprehend for those who have fought prohibition for so long. Since the USA has been a global bully, forcing many countries to follow its drug policies, there is little doubt that the

that first, makes the government reverse its decision to shut down the department dealing with patient gardens, and second, does not go so far as to give the crown any reason to appeal. A simple â&#x20AC;&#x153;noâ&#x20AC;? should not have taken this long. A positive court decision protecting our right to grow would likely be accepted by the current government without appeal, and will set the stage for any legalization scheme the federal government implements.

5)

Cannabis cups and celebrations of all types will explode around the country. Suppressed for decades by insane laws, the cannabis community loves to party and have fun together. Now that prohibition is lifting, the fear of being seen at a cannabis event is lifting every day, which will mean a huge increase in

2) Cannabis

dispensaries are popping up all over the place, and are even starting to get licensed in major cities like Vancouver and Victoria. Since 1996 compassion clubs have been operating in open defiance of the law, often suffering police raids and intense public scrutiny.

However, last year due to mounting pressure from the growing number of storefront operations, municipal governments began directing staff to draft regulations that will control some of the functions of dispensaries, including how close they may be to each other. Once these dispensaries are licensed and working with the city, it will be very hard for the federal and provincial governments to shut them down when a fully legal system is implemented.

the number of people attending 420 celebrations, cannabis strain contests, conventions, and herb-friendly music celebrations. Promoting and networking at public events are very important methods of growing new continued growth of a massive, legal, businesses, and promoters are keen cannabis industry down south will to bring as many sponsors, consumturn our community upside down ers and entrepreneurs together as and back again. possible at these events so everyone can have fun and be successful.

4) A positive decision in the Allard injunction should ensure that 6) personal gardens are a constitutional right, forcing the government, once 7) again, to give patients the means to produce their own medicine. 8) Let the party begin!!

Many expected the decision to have been handed down from the Federal Court of Canada by the end of 3) Legalization has become a 2015. The fact that it has taken so huge issue in the USA, and with a long may indicate that the judge is federal election coming next fall taking his time crafting a decision

Cannabis Digest â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 2016

in 2016

By Ted Smith

5 Reasons Why Cannabis Activists In Canada Will Be Upset In 2016

n the opposing page I high O many developments that I expect will make 2016 the best year

ever for cannabis activism. However, we do not live in a perfect world, and after being called an optimist by the editor, Judith Stamps, I felt it was necessary to expose my darker thoughts about this year. After all, life is about achieving a balance, so let us hope for the best while we prepare for the worst.

1)

Police raids at dispensaries, gardens and cannabis events are likely to continue. While the federal government is preparing to legalize cannabis, possession is still a criminal offence, and many police feel totally justified in spending precious

galization is that with legalization, medical cannabis program can be eliminated entirely. In their opinion, if cannabis is legalized for everyone, then there will be no need for doctors to be involved in any decisions about its use, as it will not be a prescription drug. Indeed there is a great danger that, when the federal government offloads the regulation of cannabis to the provinces, some provinces might not create a medical cannabis program at all. For patients suffering from serious medical problems that can be helped by cannabis, there could be a temporary period where the medical community steps further back from the issue until the smoke clears.

juana for Medical Purposes Program would love nothing more than to have the financially burdensome regulations under which they must work applied to recreational producers. Many former police officers and other non-consumers appear poised to push aside those who have worked for years in the industry, branding them criminals who cannot be trusted to regulate the industry.

4)

Pamela McColl will keep getting more and more attention.

Since there is no one else willing to speak publicly against cannabis, she is a magnet for the media. Having found a way to get attention and solicit donations, she is no doubt gearing up for another big year. Watch for her as she tries to get police to shut down cannabis parties and dispensaries in small towns. Her letter writing and phone calls give police just enough incentive and information to start causing us problems across the country. With no other organization opposing cannabis legalization, expect many prohibitionists to support her with money and attention.

5)

time arresting people for cannabis related activities. Even as some cities move towards licensing dispensaries, we can expect other clubs that do not meet all of the requirements to get shut down by police raids. We can also expect police action to take place at large events like the April 20 farmersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; market held in Vancouver BC every year, in the same way that police tried to shut down a major cannabis event on Canada Day last year. As long as cannabis remains an offence in the Criminal Code many police will feel totally justified in arresting people for working in the field, and it may be quite some time before the federal Liberals have the nerve to do what they promised.

2)

The vast majority of doctors are still very ignorant about the medical benefits of cannabis. One reason so many doctors support le-

3)

Big business is moving into the cannabis scene. Investors are itching to make millions from cannabis and many people, including celebrities like Willie Nelson and Snoop Dog, are looking to get in on the action as soon as possible. There is no question that large corporations will be putting heavy pressure on the government to create tight regulations to control the production and distribution of cannabis, ensuring that small companies will not be able to survive or even enter the market. Many of the Licensed Producers working with Health Canada under the current Mari-

There will not be enough cannabis, and the prices are going to remain high for too long. It will take several years for the prices to come down and it will be very frustrating for consumers. In many places where cannabis has become legal, cannabis was, in the beginning, more expensive to buy from a store than on the black market. Until everyone feels free to grow as much personal cannabis as they need, there will be an imbalance in favor of producers over consumers. While some will feel empowered enough to start growing for themselves despite the slow political changes, the vast majority of people are likely to wait until the laws have completely changed before putting plants in the garden or basement. With more people being interested in trying cannabis, we need to ramp up production in a big way to keep up with the demand. It will be very frustrating to feel so free to use the herb, yet see the prices so high that it feels criminal.

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

Santa Cannabis

21

Magic Meets Medicine and the Miraculous Happens IV Excited the five year old woke before dawn and heard bells outside and a rustle upon the roof of the house, so quiet as a mouse she snuck down to catch Santa in her slippers and blouse.

She saw his round belly and cherry red suit with puffy white trim and shiny black boots and cute little elves dropping gifts from the sleigh and heard the reindeer neigh as they flew away.

Owen Smith (Based on a True Story)

I

I

n northern Alberta, far from the sea lived a man and his wife near Fort McMurray.

He'd been doing quite well off the drill bits he'd sell until 2014 when the oil prices fell.

They had two little kids, a girl only five who was smart and as sweet as she was very kind and a boy in his cradle who no doctor was able to treat, whose condition they said could be fatal.

Cover Image by Sean Newton

and let caregivers do home deliveries too.

When the meeting was over and voting was done Santa Claus headed home as his work had just begun.

While he read every message the children had sent, he found one well-meant letter with purest intent.

His wife was a nurse who prided herself in aiding those ailing from poor mental health, but her wages were slim and their prospects looked grim as medical bills and their mortgage came in. III And Christmas was coming, with ads on TV that tried to work kids up into a frenzy but instead of presents, the young girls letters to Santa just asked for her brother to feel better.

II

The Supreme Court of Judges who dress in red suites with white puffy white trim and shiny black boots ruled it legal that people who have been prescribed can use cannabis applied any way they decide.

Santa was allied, not just with their fashion In the state of Alaska, covered in ice but the compelling, immediate call for where cannabis had just become legalized compassion sits a man on the council of north pole town and the thrill of the sneak who makes jolly sounds happened to peek and whose belly is round. the interest of his rebelious streak.

The man who was well known for smoking a pipe and deciding which children are naughty and nice had contracted cancer but since found an answer in cannabis treats shaped like Rudolph and Prancer.

The town council voted to change their bylaws on advisement from the man that they call Santa Claus to have storefronts and edibles and vapour rooms

While the milk and the cookies were always a treat, Santa enjoyed dropping gifts at kids feet and kneeling beneath their christmas trees that glowed like his home grown durbanburmese.

He left oil for the boy, high in CBD and research on seizures for the parents to read and a card from a doctor who was willing to offer a skype consultation that would not cost a dollar.

She rushed to her mother and father in bed and telling them all that she'd seen, she led them down to the presents to show the evidence that indeed their were gifts that hadn't come from her parents.

After opening the gifts she looked closer at the tree and noticed that it now had no needles, but leaves which the cat started eating, while the parents were reading the research, they put the oil on a shelf for safe-keeping.

V With the Liberals planning to legalize cannabis and the Supreme Court of Canada backing it's uses and research that proved cannabinoids removed excitotoxicity from cells overused.

The Doctor agreed and a license was granted for the family to legally buy their son cannabis but having no credit or money to get it, they tried Santa's oil and would not regret it.

A drop in some coconut oil on a spoon once before bed, in the morn and at noon.

His seizures had gone from a hundred to one: his sister, parents and doctor were stunned.

The girl was so happy she frolicked and squealed and her dad found a job in the cannabis field and through the help of her mother their were soon many others whose lives had been saved like her brothers.

Cannabis Digest â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 2016

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

24

Cannabis Digest • Winter 2016

Police still raiding dispensaries Arrests still happening despite the Liberal pledge to legalize have run headlong into brick walls maintained in the grey area created by the slow enactment of the promised new cannabis policies.

Dean Schwind hange is never easy, C whether on a personal or on a national level. When a country the size of Canada attempts to change a law that has affected, or will effect, so many of its citizens, it is a complicated affair. The current marijuana laws and all that will be touched by the coming revamp of those laws are no different.

While Mr Trudeau has publicly commited to change, it is slow to come. Many Canadians wait desperatly to see the first signs of the freedom that has been promised, but it seems that not all branches of goverment in our country have signed on to the Trudeau vision, and are still making every effort to support the prohibition policy of the recently ousted Conservitives.

In yet another one of the many grey areas that seem to surround this simple plant, prohibitionists that still hold positions of power in municipule goverment or local and national police agencies continue to spend tax dollars and ruin the lives of the people who have taken Mr Trudeau’s pledge to end the prohibition as the new but as yet undefined, law of the land.

There is mass confusion around the coming change in the cannabis laws and what it really means to the average citizen. Many Canadians think that cannabis has already been legalized, or at the very least decriminialized. With medical cannabis readily available, especially to British Columbians who see cannabis dispenasaries being legitimized and recognized by the municipile governments of both the provences largest city and the provincal capital as the real time sings of that promised change.

Outside of British Columbia, acitvists and entrepenures has begun to mimic the activity in Canada’s Colorado by opening dispensaries and other cannabis related business to meet the growing needs of paitents and customers in their local markets.

However, many of these efforts

Some regions in the country were RCMP have contracted policing duties have seen local detatchments acting particurlarily aggressively in support of the crumbling prohibition raiding dispensaries with the same vigor and intensity as ever.

Aug 4 , 2015 Winnipeg dispensary raided by RCMP. “As part of an ongoing investigation into complaints regarding the illegal sale of marijuana at a business in the area.”

legalization they were quick to justfy their actions by pointing out that there was no evidence of cannabis as medicene and that dispensaries were endangering the public because of it. After I reffered the officers to many many scientifc studies from reputable institutions that stated the exact opposite, their argument changed to how Mr Trudeau’s promise to Candians was unworkable within the time frame of his term due to the multipule issues around the actual details of legalization. They pointed out their inablity to detect stoned drivers and argued that any goverment distribution plan would leave a functional black market in place. All care-

focus our efforts on education.

In terms of the legal battle to free the weed we are well on the way to victory. The real battle is with ignorance at this point.

Knowledge of the plant and it’s bennifits needs to be communicated to medical professionals, the general public, and our civic and police officials so that actions based on ignorance and myth dont continue to ruin lives and keep people from their medicene of choice.

The future is already written.

Cannabis will be legal in Canada and that fact will change the face of policing and many other institutions in our counrty. Time is on our side, public opinion is on our side, and now political will is on our side as well. Instant decriminslization and the removal of cannabis from the controlled drugs schedule would be any easy temporary solution and go a long way to eliminating the needless waste of public funds spent arresting people and raiding dispensaries.

Like I said, change is hard, and in this world of endless opportunity is one of the only constant forces in life beside death and taxes. The quicker Canadian authorities accepts the change fully constructed and scripted in the counrties cannabis laws Oct 29, 2015 Saskatchewan arguments to support police the quicker they will see all the Compassion Club raided by budgets and continued prohibi- benifits that legal cannabis can Saskatoon police.”They are tion. bring to our society. marijuana trafficking so they are drug traffickers,” It seems clear to me that as activists we need to begin to December 3, 2015 Farm Assists Cannabis Resource Centre Halifax NS raided by local police. “It was in response to a public complaint that we received, and we had a duty to investigate.”

December 3, 2015 Three Nanaimo BC dispensaries raided

by RCMP. “These raids are part of our on going commitment to public safety in the region” In all four examples police justified their actions by citing that it was their duty, or that they were compelled to act based on citizen complaints. In the case of the December raids, RCMP acted despite the recent Liberal win and promise to bring change. Odd behaviour and wasted tax dollars in the face of overwhelming public support and the newly elected goverments pledges for legalization My own dispensary in Nanaimo, BC was raided in December, locking up sick and elderly members and staff. After processing, my disscussions with the arresting officers were interesting. While acknowledging Mr Trudeaus’ plans for

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

26

Cannabis Digest â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 2016

Updates, Warnings and Suggestions a license, there is a very real chance the city will force the club to close its beloved smoking room. This safe inhalation site deserves to stay, and the city should instead be allowing others to open. They are a benefit to the local economy, and provide a safe place for people to gather and peacefully smoke herb with their friends. There will only be a few opportunities to help us address the council to persuade them to reconsider this position, so if you are inter-

keeping the meetings going ev- not enforcing the law and letery week in my absence. ting us have a good time.

Our annual Halloweed costume contest at the courthouse was a grand success. Thanks so much to our sponsors the Beard Bros, Sacred Herb, Jupiter, BC Smoke Shop and Crop King Seeds for all of the prizes.

However, the biggest thanks goes to the Victoria police officers who were willing to stand guard on the street for us, to protect us from drunks as we

Ted Smith n Jan 31, 2016, the VicO toria Cannabis Buyers Club will be celebrating its

20th anniversary with a potluck party to follow its Annual General Meeting. The organization has come a long way since those days, two decades ago, during which I was supplying cannabis products by delivering to patients from the van in which I was living. This last year in particular was incredible on two counts. Our former head baker, Owen Smith, won his case before the Supreme Court of Canada, changing the laws to allow the use of cannabis extracts; and the city of Victoria announced that since there are now so many dispensaries in town, it is prepared to license them as businesses.

This will only be the third AGM of the VCBC, as it was just a few years ago that I turned it into a non-profit society. Since that time Dieter MacPherson has managed the club as both president of the board and executive director, with a number of others supporting him on the board. With the organization possessing such great potential, it will be exciting to see who is ready, willing and able to help take it to the next level.

ested in helping, stay in touch held the contest and hot-boxed with the club. the courthouse steps. While it is a pain being hassled for tresSeveral guest speakers have passing at the courthouse, it is helped fill my place at the week- always fun for me to convince ly 420 circles that the UVSS the police they are better off Hempology 101 Club hosts in the center of the UVic campus.

With a steady crowd showing up each week, Hempology 101 has remained the largest student club at the University of Victoria for almost a full decade, and will likely hold that position for While it is a great achieve- quite some time. It has been ment for dispensaries to get wonderful to get so much help

A small but dedicated troupe struck out days before Christmas to cannabis carol around downtown Victoria. Unfortunately circumstances did not allow me to attend, as singing songs about cannabis and singing very loud about it on the streets tickles my fancy. Since it is winter, there are no other big events to look forward to until the big day on April 20.

Of course the big news lately has been the election of the new Liberal Government and their vague plans to legalize cannabis. Now that they have named former Toronto police chief Bill Blair as the person responsible for outlining the plans, there will be a lot of lobby efforts made by Licensed Producers for them to fully control the supply of legal herb. This plan threatens the livelihood of the growers who have supported clubs like the VCBC for years, and is not in the best interest of consumers, police or producers. The best plan would allow easy entry into the marketplace for growers wanting to sell their wares but with a history of supporting big business that might not be what the Liberals will do..

Whatever the future holds you can be sure the Cannabis Digest will be there to report it.

Smoke â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;em if you got â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;em.

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

The Seeds of Freedom

27

Interview with the Mighty Mat Beren, House of The Great Gardener Mat launched a constitutional court battle that would last 6 years. He was represented by Kirk Tousaw, an expert in constitutional law. Tousaw was also my counsel.

Owen Smith When I was arrested and charged in 2009 for “trafficking THC” by making cannabis products for the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club (V-CBC), I had a choice.

I could choose either the short road, and strike some kind of plea bargain with the crown prosecution to have my charges reduced, or I could take the long road of a constitutional challenge to the medical cannabis regulations. At the time, I was well aware of the travails of previous constitutional challengers who had safely found some light at the end of their long winding roads. The most recent example was the trial of R. v.

Beren and Swallow.

Mat was given an absolute discharge (guilty but no criminal record). This precedent gave me some confidence when choosing to launch my own challenge in 2009. Health Canada was given a year to change the Medical Marihuana Access Regulations to allow for more than three licensed growers to share a facility, and for a licensed grower to provide for more than one patient. Health Canada responded in the most minimal way possible, allowing for four growers instead of three

rich cannabis. They make CBD Caramels that have received positive feedback from dispensary members for their non-psychoactive medicinal effects.

Mat has been collecting trophies from cannabis competitions across Canada and around the world. His “full melt dry sift” became world renown after winning 2nd place at the Amsterdam High Times cup. In collaboration with Bubbleman, he has since mastered more “dry sift” purification techniques.

Mat’s story serves as an example of how larger-scale facilities can provide the quality of cannabis and, through patient feedback, improve the plant for everybody.

Let’s hope Licensed Producers are taking notes. Mat believes that apart from being licensed by Health Canada and having much larger facilities (that would presumably reduce the price), LPs don’t have an advantage over home growers. Large scale facilities have to maintain an equal, if not greater level of scrutiny, at their grow sites to avoid the many difficulties that can occur when growing quality medicinal cannabis.

Mat is an advocate of Rosin, which he makes using water hash in Tea Bags under the pressure and heat of a T-shirt press. He notes it can Mat has continued to blaze a trail be made well enough with a digi- many years after his road of trials came to an end. Check out House of the Great Gardener online, and Listen to my interview with Mat Beren at Time4Hemp.

Mat Beren attended a portion of my trial in 2012, offering re-as(Kirk Tousaw, Me and Mat Beren) suring words with his relaxed and friendly attitude. I recently got to interview Mat on my bi-weekly in the same space, and for each tal hair straightener at 180F. He grower to provide for two instead praises its smooth smoke, solvent talk radio slot at Time4Hemp. of only one patient. free purity and short processing time, but acknowledges that the The motto of Mat’s Ontario As Mat was already growing for process loses terpenes. Because it hometown is “High, Healthy and 400 patients at the VICS, this did avoids the use of “highly flammaHappy.” In the Nineties, durnot strike him as an adequate reble solvents,” Rosin is one of the ing his Shamanic drum work, he sponse.

In some ways R v Beren methods of concentration that began to ponder deeply how he could help to make Cannabis a could be seen as foundational to is permitted to those protected better plant. Mat became aware the formation of the MMPR, under the Allard Injunction in that cannabis was being grown which was introduced four years Health Canada’s recent Section largely for the purpose of mak- later, and has more thoroughly 56 exemptions. ing money. His intention to help addressed the need for large propeople led him to focus his at- duction facilities and co-opera- Mat sees the Section 56 exemption as an inadequate response tention on improving the effects tion among growers. to the Supreme Court of Canada that cannabis has within our bodAfter the trial Mat formed House ruling in my case earlier this year. ies. In 2002 Mat travelled west in of the Great Gardener to provide As in 2009, when Health Canasearch of a place to grow cannabis seeds to club members who may da side-stepped the court’s order in order to make people feel betwant to grow their own.

Offering from his trial, H.C. has re-introter. varieties that had been routinely duced arbitrary restrictions, such After growing his first crop, Mat tried and tested by club mem- as a low-dose limit, that will inwent in search of a compassion bers, he has continued to culti- evitably lead to further litigation club, and was directed to the Van- vate strains that target particular in the courts. couver Island Compassion Soci- needs based on feedback from the ety (VICS). He had eight strains, VICS. Mat now has an arsenal Mat laments that Licensed Proeach labeled with a general profile of cannabis genetics spanning the ducers are bound by Health Canof its medicinal effects. The next Sativa to Indica scale, and plung- ada’s over-restrictive regulations.

He applauds LPs for engaging day, he began working for the ing deeply into CBD territory. in the move forward, and thinks VICS, and has been with them Mat believes that prohibition that apart from prohibiting paever since. caused growers to breed CBD out tients from growing their own, In 2004, Mat collaborated with of their cultivars in an attempt to the MMPR has been a move in the VICS to help start the Van- maximize profitability. As dis- the right direction. Mat is curcouver Island Cannabis Thera- pensaries emerged, focusing on rently protected by the Allard peutic Research Institute (VIC- feedback from medicinal users, court injunction, and is keenly TRI). Mat can still remember CBD began to make its come- waiting with thousands of others all the red laser scopes dotting its back. House of the Great Gar- to hear a decision from the judge hallway later that year, when the dener has recently released CBD on whether patients can retain police raided the club. In a re- René, the latest in a project geared their legal right to grow cannabis. sponse similar to mine in 2009, toward creating flavourful, CBD

(Article previously appeared at LiftCannabis.ca)

Cannabis Digest â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 2016

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

29

Gayle Quin Fights On Using Cannabis, Magnetic Energy and Love to Combat Cancer and Despair Then two years ago another lump of cancer was removed, and she learned that the cancer had spread to her bones. Her health went downhill as each month went by. During this time she tried all sorts of natural medicines to fight the cancer, including cannabis pills made with hash. Every day she ate dozens of capsules of cannabis and other medicines.

other than cannabis oils, as they were the only ones that were definitely helping a little with pain, eating, sleeping and relaxing her muscles. Her fear of consuming cannabis oils made with solvents disappeared, as death seemed close, and relief was more important than anything at that point.

Many, many people began contributing cannabis and cannabis oils in an attempt to ease her suffering. She started eating massive

Ted Smith

ver one year ago, it seemed O cancer was taking the life away from one of the country’s

most dedicated activists, my love Gayle Quin. While she has not recovered to her former self, there is still a faint hope that between cannabis and other medicines we can bring her back to the dance floor again. No matter how much longer she lives, Gayle Quin will always be remembered as a pioneer in the medical cannabis fields, and her legacy will grow far beyond even her wildest dreams.

For many, Gayle Quin has become an inspiration. Her life story is full of struggle and perseverance. With front page stories featuring her in Skunk Magazine, Monday Magazine and of course, the Cannabis Digest, her professional accomplishments are only overshadowed by her majestic personality.

Then one year ago it seemed all was lost. Two of her vertebrae collapsed to about ⅔ their normal size. The drugs they gave her to kill the pain made her nauseated, and after the fourth day of not eating there seemed little to hope for.

doses of cannabis oils every day.

cer, all of her medical professional care givers felt her time had come, and the best we could do was try to kill the pain as much as possible. She was taking a steroid, tummy medicine, and fentanyl (an opiate painkiller), but with a long history of liver problems she was certain they were killing her as much as helping.

Aside from eating massive doses of cannabis oil, Gayle also did a few other things to help fight the cancer. Very soon after getting home she started using a small device that emits magnetic energy. The brand name is Sota. I began turning it on and placing it near her broken back, and in less than a week there were noticeable improvements. As her food intake increased she began to eat a few more medicines, like chaga mushrooms ground up into capsules.

In March 2015, I went to Ottawa to witness Kirk Tousaw defend Owen Smith before the Supreme Court of Canada. Gayle’s health had been improving so much that when I returned we began lowering her dose of the narcotic. Her pain levels did not seem to increase much, and the steady donations of cannabis meant that she had plenty of painkillers around for when she needed them. By the end of June she was off all of the prescription drugs.

When she was brought home from a hospital stay last November, the nurses were so sure she was going to die soon that they were reluctant to leave more than a few days worth of diapers-- sorry, briefs.

Since she was taking nothing In the meantime her mobility was It was at this point that we started from the doctor to fight the can- improving. By the New Year she giving her cannabis suppositories, something that was fairly new to almost everyone at the time.

The cannabis suppositories made a big difference, calming down her stomach enough so she could start eating a grape at a time, and some cannabis pills, too. They also clearly helped her relax more, helping her sleep despite being in much pain.

Cancer is such a scary disease that it is easy to give up hope against it.

When Gayle first lost a breast and part of her armpit 4 ½ years ago, we made sure that every second of our lives together was filled with love, laughter and hard work. We went to Jamaica, toured across the country, published my textbook, organized the Owen Smith trial, and turned the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club into a non-profit society. We tried to fill every mo- Since she could barely eat, there ment possible with meaningful was no use trying to eat any pills activities.

Cannabis Digest • Winter 2016 was able to get out of bed and into a wheelchair. Very soon after she was having a shower whilst sitting on a stool. By the summer she was spending 6 to 8 hours a day in the wheelchair. We started to put cushions in a wheelbarrow so I could take her around the yard, bringing her to the garden to watch me work, the tipi to cook a veggie dog, and even taking her downtown Cobble Hill to a drive-through where we got hot chocolate to drink in the park.

able to draw a paycheck for over a year and would never have been able to support my love without the support of others.

It has been an incredible year to withdraw from a lot of my work. While I have been saving my lover’s life with cannabis resins, we have helped make those very medicines legal for the first time in modern Canadian history through a unanimous decision by the highest court in the land.

Gayle was one of the four women that testified in that case, though she had barely recovered from her first surgery, and we were very scared she would never get to see the final outcome.

Then in early August the pain in her back reappeared, putting her back in bed. About a month later her right leg started to become very painful. As the weeks went by the pain got worse. In a desperate attempt to know what Now a federal government has was happening, we sent her to the been elected after promising to hospital for xrays. legalize cannabis. While there are a multitude of issue to work When the doctor told us that her out, it is a huge improvement leg was bending and breaking it over the draconian Harper mob seemed all hope was lost. Then that seemed entrenched. Cannaa surgeon stepped up and said he bis might not be for sale in stores could fix the problem. The next yet, but it is amazing to feel this day he put a stainless steel rod bitter uncivil drug war against the down her right femur, from her herb ending internationally, with hip to her knee. That was on Oct Canada in the lead.

16.

There is no doubt that memories About one month later her leg and of Gayle Quin will remain etched hip were feeling better, though she into the souls of many individuals still could not sit up on the side for a long time. Her passion for of the bed. While she has sat up healing others with natural medion the side of the bed once since cines is infectious. Her talent for the operation, for good reasons developing formulas of herbal we have been very cautious with medicines has helped many live her frail body. We were surprised longer or recover from surgery, to learn that there were 2 broken and she may have helped them vertebrae in her back according to avoid surgery entirely in the first the new X ray, one that broke last place. Constantly trying to share year and a new one. The X rays her knowledge and learn more, also show the cancer progressing Gayle has shown others throughin her hip bones. out her life how to live life to the fullest by giving to others in need.

Despite everything she has gone through, Gayle still displays an Indeed, one of our favourite unbelievable will to live. She things to do when we ran the is constantly making new craft Victoria Cannabis Buyer’s Club items, and trying new things to was to invent new edible and help her health turn around. She topical products. We had a few is still eating volumes of cannabis basic products when Gayle joined oil, though donations have slowed in 2003, like Ryanol caps, Budda down over time. We are so eter- balls, salve, massage oil and, of nally grateful for all of the dona- course, cookies. Over time Gayle tions of money, cannabis, food, helped us add a number of topical and cannabis oils that have sus- products including cannapatches, tained us during these dark days. massage oils with St John’s Wort, My work with the Cannabis Di- arnica, comfrey, camphor, mint, gest and Hempology 101 has and salves including one with aloe been fulfilling, but I was not been in a mixture of essential oils that

we call Green Lion Salve. She helped us expand our edible line, putting products cooked with bud on the menu, and a few other food items we have experimented with.

This is a legacy that few will ever be able to achieve. Changing federal laws, developing innovative cannabis products, saving lives and touching hearts, Gayle Quin To honor the work Gayle Quin has been an incredible beacon of has done for the VCBC, the board of directors has decided to light, love and laughter. Every name the club’s product line after day that we get to share of her life her. It is humbling to know that is a blessing to those able to be patients could be using products near her. named after her for a very, very long time. Hopefully the VCBC will be able to help supply many more other dispensaries soon, selling Gayle Quin Medicine Woman products from coast to coast one day.

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

Cannabis Digest • Winter 2016

Victoria Dispensary Rules Create Problems Safe Inhalation Spaces Facing Shutdown From Regulations

Ted Smith hile there are many reaW sons to celebrate medical cannabis dispensaries getting

licenses in Vancouver and Victoria, the new bylaws could be forcing the closure one of the most important components of a true compassion club. Without a safe place to consume their medicine, many patients would be forced to smoke outdoors or in other uncomfortable situations. For others, smoking rooms like the one at the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, give members a public place to enjoy the company of other patients, giving them a chance to help each other with everything from housing issues to sharing important information about how to properly consume cannabis or new products.

For many members of the VCBC, the closing of the smoking room would be a serious, dramatic and an upsetting step backwards. Many great friendships have developed over the years in the room affectionately known as `The Box` after the original closet that members used in order to smoke. Since the smoking room at the club has existed for years with little effect on the neighbourhood, the city council should consider all available avenues to keep it open, or find an even better place to use as a safe inhalation site.

Whether it is to escape the weather, meet old friends or to learn more about the social services available in town, having a room for patients to medicate has always been a very important part of the club. This room has allowed staff to teach new members old smoking techniques and display new techniques to old smokers. There is so much to learn about cannabis and so many developments occurring legally, politically and with new products, that the city should be looking a lot closer at the value of these rooms before banning them outright.

Ignoring the fact that the VCBC has safely operated a safe inhalation room since 1996, the city is simply citing reasons given in Vancouver for shutting down all such rooms there. With the majority of apartment buildings banning smoking of any kind, and some shelters like the Salvation Army kicking people out for even being in possession of cannabis, this is a serious concern for the poorest patients using this medicine. The following quotes are from the city staff report the City of Victoria received a few weeks ago, which seems to care little about the

that other establishments that sell alcohol do allow consumers to drink booze on site. They are called bars and restaurants.

Though I do not drink, I seem to recall that some establishments are allowed sale of small amounts of liquor to take home, too. The city staff recognize that at establishments where liquor is consumed staff are trained to monitor consumption by patrons, and there is every reason to believe the same could be applied to the consumption of cannabis in a lounge.

of some type from the regulations, the smoking room is likely going to be shut down next year.

Members of the VCBC need to stand up and fight for this service now, or one of the most important parts of the club could disappear forever.

For some the loss of the smoking room would be a huge blow to their social life. For my love, Gayle Quin, the room, “Played an integral role in keeping my sanity and coping with being homeless mainly because it allowed me to chat with other The city staff report goes on people in similar situations and it allowed me to relax so I could think without worry about getting caught while smoking.”

This space can be especially important on holidays like Christmas when many have no blood family to spend time with, and going to the club is extremely important.

needs of patients, with the full to say, `Smoking marijuana at report linked this blog on our a business is of particular conwebsite. cern. Current CRD prohibitions against smoking in or near `Marijuana can impair concen- a building apply only to tobacco. tration, coordination, and judg- Smoke from any source is harmment. Consumption of mari- ful to lung health and secondjuana at a business can impair hand marijuana smoke will be an individual’s ability to safely an irritant to some customers. drive or otherwise travel from Marijuana smoke can also exacthe business. Liquor consump- erbate odour concerns.” tion poses similar concerns and a similar prohibition against Likewise applying other rules to consumption on the premises cannabis that were created for is in place for BC liquor retail tobacco is not the best policy eistores. Consumption of liquor ther, as there is no evidence to is only allowed at licensed es- suggest that second-hand cantablishments where staff are nabis smoke has any negative trained and available to monitor effects in the first place. Rooms consumption and any resulting can be built with ventilation impairment.` systems built so that customers not in the smoke room would be Comparing cannabis to alcohol free from any potential concerns in many ways might seem like a of inhaling secondhand smoke. useful means of creating laws to The smoking room that has excontrol the use and sale of the isted at the VCBC is a perfect herb, but in this instance it is example of how easy it is to concounter-productive and leads to trol these problems to allow pafalse conclusions. Cannabis does tients to medicate with little to not affect patients the same way no effect on neighbours, staff or alcohol affects the people who other members. drink. For many patients that arrive at the club in pain due to It is the hope of many patients a lack of medicine, having a toke that the city of Victoria will rebefore leaving helps improve consider prohibiting the concoordination and concentration, sumption of cannabis at dispencontrolling muscle spasms while saries, especially when we have improving mobility. Giving the had one at the VCBC for years patients a room to sit and re- with so few problems. However, lax for a minute allows them to despite listening to patients and wait until they feel comfortable their advocates about other poenough to travel again. tential problems with the regulations, there appears to be little Saying that since liquor stores do chance the city will budge on not allow consumption, there- this issue. WIthout city counfore dispensaries should not al- cilors taking unusual steps to low smoking, ignores the fact grant the VCBC an exemption

Indeed, the VCBC would be little more than a pot store without the safe inhalation room. It has been in this small room that many people from all walks of life have felt free to relax and chat about life. This sanctuary is where the VCBC membership feel they have a community, where they are safe and feel accepted, making it a true compassion club for the sick and vulnerable.

Gayle goes on to say, “The safe inhalation room also provided a space of quiet refuge when I needed to just sit and think. One of the more surprising aspects of the room over time was watching friendships form and even romances leading to marriage and children. But the amount of stress reduced by having a safe space to consume my medicine did not just make it more enjoyable, it gave the medicine a chance to work properly because of the reduced stress.”

Others feel the same. According to William Boyd Ralph, “This space gives me a place free from worry about getting in fights or robbed for my medicine. It is a space to have meaningful conversations I would normally not have the time for and meet people who share an interest in other things.” Many members have similar thoughts and feelings.

Other cities like Vancouver, Toronto and even Ottawa have vapor lounges that allow customers to consume their herb in a public location. There is another article in this newspaper explaining how the safe inhalation site in Ottawa was able to manage through several hurdles

Issue Number 47 to pass all of the bylaws and regulations the city could throw at it. These facilities should be embraced by the city of Victoria as both a necessary part of any attempt to license dispensaries and a potential source of taxes, as many vapor lounges would quickly open if given the green light, employing many people while increasing the tax base.

If the VCBC does lose its smoking room, there will be a lot of pressure and incentive for the International Hempology 101 Society to open a facility in Victoria where members from all clubs can come medicate without affecting staff or patients that want to stay far away from any second-hand smoke. There is no way cannabis activists can stand aside if patients are allowed to purchase cannabis but are forced to the streets to use it.

www.CannabisDigest.ca Clubs like the VCBC are like a refugee center for victims of the drug war, and there is no way we can allow the city to take this step backwards at a time when we should be moving forward with reasonable regulations that do not risk the health of the patients that are the most vulnerable.

Another dear member, Carol Francey has this to add. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Like a town square we discussed health, recovery, families, spiritual questions, cannabis politics, local social support systems. and events within the cannabis club locally and on line. .I love having a base to meet with others, to lift my spirits and share the burdens of illnesses. Please keep the lounge as a refuge and community resource for our unique community. â&#x20AC;&#x153;

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35

Cannabis in Ireland History and Laws of Hemp on the Emerald Isle

Owen Smith

While exploring an antique shop in the southern town of Kinsale, my partner Coco and I found a section of a 17th century book of law that referred to the trading of Hemp. The dusty old book showed the appropriate customs fees that were to be assessed for each “HogsHead” of Hemp that was exported. Fees were due unless an “Oath be made before the Commissioner that it is of the Growth of Ireland.”

After establishing dominance he future of Cannabis seems over Ireland in the 17th Centubright in North America. ry, Queen Elizabeth I sought to U.S States are legalizing one-by- encourage Irish farmers to grow one, while the entire country of Canada has its own legalization plan pending. While this plan is in contravention of out-dated UN treaties, Canada stands ready to lead a rebellion against the global drug war. Elsewhere in the world, countries are watching with envy and curiosity. One country that has a long history of its own rebellious action, but a lesser known history with cannabis, is Ireland.

T

I recently took a the week and a half tour around Ireland, which offered a few opportunities to expand my knowledge of cnáib (the gaelic word for cannabis). hemp to supply English factories. England removed customs The Laws Back Then taxes on hemp imports from Ireland, but the Irish were already Ireland is covered in ancient sites using hemp fibre alongside wool that date human activity there to develop their own textiles inback to as early as 4000 BC. It dustry. Britain soon began conis also historically a land of inva- fiscating Irish wool products, sion and displaced communities. thereby forcing farmers to rely Ruins of castles, forts, and aban- on hemp production that would doned towns are scattered across be shipped to English factories the verdant patchwork of hills to produce sails for ships. Hemp rolling into the distance. Wave was also used as rope to hang after wave of powerful foreign Irish rebels. armies raided Ireland’s coastlines, eventually creating Dublin A plan was hatched to drain to take advantage of its location Ireland’s great peat bogs to acfor trade. quire over a million acres of land to grow hemp for the British

navy. The plan was abandoned as the imminent threat of Napoleon’s Armies receded and the cost of bog development grew.

Many locals had been worried that their primary source for fuel, which came from burning chunks of peat, would be put in jeopardy by these plans.

use of medicinal cannabis, and is credited with the introduction of Cannabis Indica to western medicine.

O’Shaughnessy’s many lectures and publications spread knowledge of medicinal cannabis throughout Canada and the US. Thanks to his careful documentation, local doctors and chemists were able produce their own potent tinctures. After his death the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Science published the following as part of his eulogy.

While the Irish were being forced to grow hemp for the British Military, some saw the plant as an opportunity for Irish sovereignty. In 1866, Irish scholar and prominent figure of the Gaelic Literary Revival, George Sigerson released a 32 page pam- “If the history of the Materia Medica were to be divided into Epochs, each determined by the discovery of some remedy of transcendent power, the period of the introduction of Indian hemp into medicine would be entitled to the distinction of a new era… The [Irish] public and the profession owe a deep debt of gratitude to Professor O’Shaughnessy.”

phlet entitled Cannabiculture in Ireland; its profit and possibility, calling for the mass production of hemp in Ireland to help the struggling economy.

O’Shaughnessy At this time, Irish born William O’Shaughnessy had begun to explore the therapeutic benefits and potentials of “Indian hemp” or cannabis at medical college in Calcutta. O’ Shaughnessy established his reputation by successfully relieving the pain of rheumatism and stilling the convulsions of an infant with cannabis. He popularized the

These contributions to western medicine laid the framework for modern research into cannabis’ medicinal uses. Unfortunately, the shadow of cannabis prohibition fell as heavily on Ireland as anywhere, and further contributions by the emerald isle to cannabiculture have slowed to a halt. Despite claiming independence from British rule in the 20th century, the Republic of Ireland’s approach to cannabis prohibition has remained in step with the Empire.

The Law Today The Misuse of Drugs Act was created in the 1970s, and has seen recent amendments including the Psychoactive Substances Act of 2010. In a similar style to that of the United States, Ireland categorizes illegal drugs

Cannabis Digest • Winter 2016 into Schedules, and has placed cannabis in Schedule 1 alongside “substances considered by the state to have no medicinal or scientific value with consideration given regarding their likelihood of being abused.” Ireland’s national police force, the Garda Síochána or “Gardai,” are seen regularly in the news media talking up their latest cannabis bust.

I had a chance to speak with employees of the Dublin Hemp Company about how accessible cannabis is to the Irish public.

There is no program established for legal access to cannabis for medicinal use. If you are lucky enough to find a grower with high quality cannabis, expect to pay up to €20/$30 a gram. I was reassured that at least in Dublin, Gardai are more likely to confiscate or destroy your cannabis than arrest and charge you.

While TetraHydrocannabinol (THC) is a tightly restricted and highly valued compound, Cannabidiol (CBD) derived from hemp is legal and relatively cheap. The Dublin Hemp Company sell CBD products derived from hemp grown in Ireland including a topical balm, an edible paste, and a CBD vaporizer. I tried their frozen fresh hemp juice cubes. One employee related to me a story of a mother’s

joy in finding that these CBD In 1997, while beginning his caproducts were helping to treat reer as an independent politician, her child’s seizures.

Luke struggled for attention and was arrested for cannabis posThere is hope that the drug laws session. Rather than pay a fine, will soon change in Ireland. The Luke chose to face the jail term country’s drugs minister has in order to raise awareness about recently announced a move to- the cannabis laws. Although wards decriminalising substanc- his father stepped in and paid es including heroin, cocaine, and the fine, he was later jailed for cannabis as part of a “radical cul- ‘littering’ after putting up camtural shift” in how they regard paign posters. substance use and “misuse.” They will also introduce safe injection He struggled successfully to sites. “Research has shown that raise funds to run in subsequent the use of supervised injecting elections, but suffered a series centres is associated with self- of defeats. Undeterred, he was reported reductions in injection- eventually elected as the repassociated risk behaviours.” resentative for Roscommon– South. In 2014 he was elected Perhaps Ireland is ready to join as an Irish representative at the the global shift in drug policy European Parliament. that Canada now finds itself embracing. Many individuals Canadian politicians have spoand groups have contributed to ken about legalization as a conchanging the minds and hearts cept, but have yet to get down of the Canadian public and its to the nitty gritty of how it will political representatives. work. Luke Flanagan TD introduced a motion in the Irish parLuke “Ming the Merciless” liament to Legalize and ReguFlanagan late cannabis. Shortly afterward, he created the Cannabis RegulaIn Ireland, one man stands out tion Bill that would create a legal as a seminal figure and catalyst framework for both recreational in Ireland’s change of heart: and medicinal use. His personal Luke “Ming the Merciless” Fla- conviction and eloquence when nagan. I highly recommend speaking about cannabis are all watching the entertaining Life the more pleasing to listen to in and Crimes of Citizen Ming on the cadence of his Irish accent.

Youtube.

Flanagan’s Bill would create an

authority to regulate cultivation, sale, labeling, advertising and marketing of cannabis; it would allow home growing, commercial cultivation, and the creation of cannabis social clubs; it would mandate a research institute to educate the public; it would permit possession of a maximum of 6 cannabis plants and 1 oz of cannabis flowers. He also suggested not for profit cannabis social clubs that would allow established growers to provide for up to 50 people.

The Cannabis Regulation Bill was not passed, perhaps due to Luke’s independent party status, which makes it difficult for him to obtain the required amount of votes on any issue. But he isn’t giving up. He has helped to launch NORML Ireland, which now has 2 practicing doctors with years of experience in addiction treatment.

Ireland is now the largest net exporter of pharmaceuticals in the EU, accounting for over 50% of all exports from the country. As there is a monumental resurgence of interest in medicinal cannabis research and the endocannabinoid signalling system, perhaps Ireland will soon have the likes of another O’Shaugnessy to offer the world.

Issue Number 47

www.CannabisDigest.ca

37

HEMPOLOGY 101 CROSSWORD MARIJUANA MUSICIANS

By JAMES SWARE

Check out Georgiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website to see some of her other comics, read her blog, and help her spread the good word by picking up a copy of her book of the Happy Hippie comics.

17)MickJagger,18)Rihanna,19)Sting

Crossword Answers

9)CarlosSantana,10)DavidBowie,11)MileyCyrus,12)WizKhalifa,13)WillieNelson,14)JustinTimberlake,15)JackBlack,16)Madonna, 1)SnoopDogg,2)AlanisMorrisette,3)BobMarley,4)PaulMcCartney,5)LouieArmstrong,6)PeterTosh,7)MelissaEtheridge,8)BBKing,

Cannabis Digest • Winter 2016

CANNABIS CLUBS ACROSS CANADA

Cannabis dispensaries in Canada, due to a lack of regulation, all operate under unique and individual mandates. As such, the membership requirements of each dispensary differ. We recommend travelling with a copy of your original proof of condition (doctor’s note) which the VCBC staff will be happy to provide to its’ members. It is also recommended to research the dispensaries in the region you will be visiting and try to establish contact, if possible, before your visit. Please be discreet and polite when contacting another dispensary—you are representing the VCBC too!

Keep in mind: Some dispensaries have problems with supply and accessibility. The VCBC cannot guarantee that another dispensary will have supply or accept your card as proof of condition. Please help grow this network and support your local clubs by encouraging quality gardeners to direct their product to local dispensaries, or by growing yourself.

British Columbia VICTORIA CANNABIS BUYERS’ CLUB (VCBC) 826 Johnson St., Victoria Tel: 250-381-4220 Email: hempo101@gmail.com www.v-cbc.ca OCEAN GROWN MEDICINAL SOCIETY 1725 Cook St Unit 1, Victoria Tel: 778-265-1009 VANCOUVER ISLAND COMPASSION SOCIETY 853 Cormorant St., Victoria Tel:250-381-8427 Fax: 250-381-8423 NANAIMO MEDICAL CARE CLUB 14 Lois Lane, Nanaimo Tel: (778) 441-0141 nanaimomedicalcareclub.com PHOENIX PAIN MANAGEMENT SOCIETY 321 Wallace St, Nanaimo 778-441-2661 NORTH ISLAND COMPASSION CLUB Tel:250-871-5207 BC COMPASSION CLUB SOCIETY 2995 Commercial Drive, Vancouver Tel:604-875-0448 Fax: 604-875-6083 website: www.thecompassionclub.org GREEN CROSS SOCIETY OF B.C. 2127 Kingsway, Vancouver Tel: 778-785-0370 Fax:778-785-0477 www.greencrossofbc.org VANCOUVER MEDICINAL CANNABIS DISPENSARY 880 East Hastings St. Tel: 604-255-1844 Fax: 604-255-1845 West End location: 1182 Thurlow St. www.cannabisdispensary.ca YALETOWN MEDICAL DISPENSARY 1281 Howe St., Vancouver TEL: (604) 566-9051 FAX: (604) 558-2879 www.yaletownmedicaldispensary.com VAN CITY MEDICINAL SOCIETY 1299 Kingsway, Vancouver Tel: (604) 875-0002 Email: vcmsofficial@gmail.com BUDDHA BARN 2179 West 4th Avenue Vancouver, 604-739-9456, buddhabarn.ca

MED POT NOW SOCIETY 1316 Kingsway , Vancouver Tel: 1-(855)-333-3420 www.medpotnow.com THE HEALING TREE 529 East Hastings St., Vancouver Tel: 604-569-1091 www.hdcvan.ca REDMED 231 Abbott St., Vancouver Tel: 604-559-9444 CANNA CLINIC 758 East Broadway, Vancouver Tel: 604-558-2454 PACIFIC CANNAMED SOCIETY 1259 Kingsway, Vancouver Tel: 604-558-3225 8546 Granville St., Tel: 604-563-3250 SUNRISE MEDICAL FOUNDATION 258 W Broadway 604-877-0211 www.mysunrise.ca THE GREEN RHINO 2570 Granville 1-888-661-5557 www.thegreenrhino.ca WESTCOAST MEDICANN 2931 Cambie St., Vancouver, BC. Tel: 604-558-2266 www.westcoastmedicann.com PAIN MANAGEMENT SOCIETY 2137 Commercial Drive. Vancouver Tel: 604-215-4551 Fax: 1-888-684-6906 www.painmanagementsociety.org EDEN MEDICINAL SOCIETY 161 E. PENDER, Vancouver Tel: 604-568-9337 637 E. HASTINGS, Vancouver Tel: 604-568-9337 www.myeden.ca NELSON COMPASSION CLUB #203-602 Josephine St. Nelsom, BC Tel: 250-354-4206 Email: nelsoncompassion@yahoo.ca T.A.G.G.S 11696 - 224th St., Maple Ridge, BC Tel: 604-477-0557 Fax: 604-477-0575 Email: taggs420@live.com

BE KIND OKANAGAN GROWERS AND COMPASSION CLUB. 288 Hwy. #33 West Rutland, BC (Kelowna) Tel: 778-753-5959 Fax: 778-753-5755 Vernon Location: www.okanagancompassionclub.com GRASSROOTS BOTANICALS WELLNESS COOPERATIVE 4730 Willingdon ave, Powell River Tel: 604-485-6636 Fax: 604-485-2458 www.grassrootscannabisdispensary.com KOOTENAYS MEDICINE TREE #4 1948 68 Avenue, Grand Forks 250-442-8248 www.kootenaysmedicinetree.ca

Alberta M.A.C.R.O.S. 4121-118 Avenue NW, Edmonton, Alberta Tel: 780-457-6824 Website: www.macros.ca

Ontario CANNDO Phone: 416-901-7095 Fax; 416-901-7018 Email: Info@CannDo.ca C.A.L.M. Toronto, Ontario Tel: 416-367-3459 Fax: 416-367-4679 Website: www.cannabisclub.ca TORONTO COMPASSION CENTRE Tel: 416-668-6337 Fax: 416-461-7116 www.torontocompassioncentre.org RAINBOW MEDICAL CANNABIS CANADA Toronto, Ontario Tel: 416-927-8639 www.rainbowmedicinalcannabis.ca MEDICAL COMPASSION CLINIC 125 Church St. Toronto Ontario M5C 1S1 Tel: 647-291-0420 www.medicalcompassionclinic.com

Maritimes THCC—FARM ASSISTS Tel: (902) 495-0420 http://thccsociety.wix.com/home

*To add your club to this list, please contact: editor@cannabisdigest.ca

Issue Number 47

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