Comox Valley Record, 13 May 2009 - A change in policy at the Department of Veterans Affairs means local disability pensioner Bruce Webb may get the cost of his medical marijuana covered. "This is an amazing thing that I didn't think I would live long enough to see," said Webb, who has severe/chronic neuropathic pain. "After all this time, screaming and singing, it's approved. It's amazing isn't it?"
CN BC: Marijuana Prescriptions Getting Lost in Smoke
Cowichan News Leader, 22 Mar 2008 - Since the current incarnation of Canada's medical marijuana program was established, doctors have been forced by Health Canada to act as sentinels for a product whose complexities, methods of delivery and side effects they have little firsthand information. It's a situation that leaves many physicians hesitant to sign their names to the documents required for patients to access government pot.
Monday Magazine, 27 Feb 2008 - When Victoria's Tim Wilkins realized his Health Canada licence to possess medical cannabis was set to expire last year, he diligently filled out the eight-page renewal form, paid $65 to obtain his physician's signature and submitted the package to Health Canada's Marihuana Medical Access Division in Ottawa on August 22-13 weeks before it was due. "I'd dealt with [MMAD] for a few years, so I knew how long it could take," says Wilkins, who declined to let Monday publish his real last name, fearing the stigma still attached to medical cannabis use. On November 27 Wilkins' new license arrived-five weeks after the promised eight-week processing period had passed-and three days after the old one had already expired.
Monday Magazine, 27 Feb 2008 - Since the current incarnation of Canada's medical marijuana program was established, doctors have been forced by Health Canada to act as sentinel for a product whose complexities, methods of delivery and side effects they have little firsthand information-a situation that leaves many physicians hesitant to sign their names to the documents required for patients to access government pot. "Our number one complaint is that patients can't find a doctor who will endorse their MMAD application," says Eric Nash of Duncan's Island Harvest.
Globe and Mail, 03 Jul 2007 - Registered Users Refuse To Pay For Government-Grown Cannabis They Say Is Low In Quality And Overpriced VICTORIA -- For all Jason Wilcox cares, Health Canada's debt collectors can follow him to the grave.
CN AB: Column: MS Sufferers Are Still Enduring Reefer Madness
Vue Weekly, 28 Jun 2007 - News that medical marijuana user and activist Grant Krieger has been sent to prison on a trafficking charge is no real surprise, but it is profoundly disappointing. Krieger has a marijuana licence for his multiple sclerosis (MS), and in March of this year the judge had ruled his sentence be delayed until details around access to his medicine behind bars was ironed out. But as of last week, Alberta's solicitor has general turned down the judge's earlier request that Krieger have access to marijuana while serving his sentence, even though he has legal permission to use pot as medicine. He'll be in agony without his medicine, and in a wheelchair because of his pain.
NOW Magazine, 14 Jun 2007 - Activists Call on Auditor General to Investigate 1,500 Per Cent Markup on Government Dope The days of health canada marking up medical marijuana to the tune of 1,500 per cent may be nearing an end. Or are they?
CN BC: Court Case Set To Argue Grow-Op As A Civil Right
Oak Bay News, 11 May 2007 - Vancouver Island Compassion Society planning constitutional challenge in defence of pot bust To the prosecution, it's a simple case of production for the purposes of trafficking, involving two local men caught red-handed growing a crop of 900 marijuana plants on an acreage in East Sooke.
Victoria News, 11 May 2007 - To the prosecution, it's a simple case of production for the purposes of trafficking, involving two local men caught red-handed growing a crop of 900 marijuana plants on an acreage in East Sooke. To Vancouver Island Compassion Society founder Philippe Lucas, it's a constitutional challenge of Canada's medical marijuana laws.