Canadian MS Patient
Harichy:
"We Don’t Want To Be Criminals But There Is A Necessity For It."
Canadian PressMarch 31, 1998
STIRRING THE POT WITH NEW MARIJUANA CLUB
TORONTO (CP) She knows firsthand the devastating effects of
having her home raided by police searching for pot.
See London
Ontario Woman With MS Plans to Open Buyers Club In Defiance of Prohibitionist Mayor
That’s why Lynn Harichy is willing to risk going through it again. She’s
started a medical marijuana club that begins distributing pot today, providing a service
she hopes will stop anyone enduring what she did.
"We don’t want to be criminals but there is a necessity for it,"
Harichy, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and smokes pot to ease her symptoms ,
said in a telephone interview from her home in London, Ont.
Harichy is scheduled to appear in court later this month on a pot possession charge but
lawyers were headed to court today to postpone the appearance until the fall.
Harichy, 37, is well aware she’s breaking the law again by distributing weed to
members of her club but she says it’s a price she’s willing to pay. Helping people reduce their pain is her reward.
"It’s nice to see people not have to suffer so much," she said.
"We’re not making any money off it ... this is just for compassion reasons.
"You have to be sympathetic to these people that are suffering. It’s not
right to have people suffer especially if there’s something out there that can help
them."
There are about 70 members of the London club. All clients must submit letters from
their doctors stating their medical condition and marijuana is provided for them by the
club. The drug is considered effective in alleviating symptoms of multiple sclerosis,
epilepsy, cancer and AIDS.
Members are given a quarter ounce of organically grown marijuana a week or one ounce a
month, said Harichy.
She says she’s met both Health Minister Allan Rock and
Prime Minister Jean Chretien and she believes medical marijuana will soon be available.
Derek Kent, a spokesman for Rock, declined comment on Harichy’s club.
But he noted that Rock has already said the government is
"examining the issue of using marijuana for medicinal purposes."
Buyers’ clubs are already up and running in Toronto and Vancouver. In
California and Arizona, state laws have been reformed to allow marijuana’s medical
usage. More Ontario clubs are in the works.
"Nobody’s had any problems to the best of my knowledge," said Alan
Young, the lawyer who sought government authorization for the Ontario clubs.
"Police are very noncommittal on the issue," he said.
"They’ll probably wait until there are complaints or the buyers’ clubs
become a nuisance in the community."
Harichy and other club owners are committing acts of "civil
disobedience""to push the government into making reforms, Young said.
"We can’t wait. There’s too many people who are suffering now. We have
to go ahead with it," said Harichy.
But Terry Parker, an epileptic who supports medicinal marijuana, says buyers’
clubs aren’t the solution.
"These people would be much better off if they got more
public support for legalization," he said.
Parker uses pot "it’s the best drug in the
world" to control his seizures. In December, cultivation and possession
charges against him were stayed by an Ontario court. The ruling is being appealed by the
federal government.
See The Lancet reports on the
Terry Parker case."Canadian Judge Allows Marijuana as Therapy"
"It’s not a great idea to (open the centres) and get busted. I’ve been
through this rigmarole and it’s a pain in the ass," he said. "I’m not
trying to deter these people. Their heart’s in the right place but their brain’s
not."
Parker is critical of the federal government’s decision to legalize hemp
production while it continues to oppose medical marijuana use.
"I find it kind of off the wall that we put material
purposes over the sanctity of human life," he said. "If you want to grow it for
greed that’s OK but if you want to grow it for need ... you’re going to
jail."
Lynn Harichy can usually be found in the MAP CHAT room Saturday and Sunday evenings at http://www.mapinc.org/chat/
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