See
Party
Representing Quebec Demands Debate On Medical Marijuana
In Canadian Parliament – Major EscalationBLOC WANTS TO LEGALIZE
MARIJUANA FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES
January 30, 1999
From The Canadian Press
By Lia Levesque
MONTREAL (CP) - A Bloc Quebecois motion to legalize marijuana for
medicinal and therapeutic purposes is aimed at making life easier for people like
Jean-Charles Parizeau.
Parizeau has AIDS and uses marijuana to ease the pain on the recommendations of his
doctor.
But that has landed Parizeau in legal trouble and he has been arrested twice for
possession of marijuana plants.
Parizeau said marijuana is important to him because it helps his appetite.
"It gives me the munchies, I get hungry, and I eat," he
said after a news conference with Bloc MP Bernard Bigras and Dr. Rejean Thomas, an AIDS
specialist who is well-known in Quebec.
Bigras has already tabled a motion in the Commons aimed at legalizing marijuana for
medicinal purposes. Debate is supposed to begin on Feb. 19 but a Commons subcommittee will
decide Wednesday if it meets the criteria to go to a vote by MPs.
The motion will have the support of the Bloc and the New Democratic Party, he said. But
Bigras, who repesents Rosemont, said he believes Conservative, Reform and Liberal MPs are
also sympathetic to the cause.
Thomas said inhaling marijuana can relieve nausea and boost the appetite of people who
have AIDS, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis or who are undergoing chemotherapy.
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"More and more, medical authorities are supporting" this approach, Thomas
said.
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"Right now, people are taking marijuana but they know they can be stopped, be
criminalized and they pay a lot for that."
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Canadian Judge:
"There is no evidence marijuana use causes health problems,
and the laws prohibiting the substance cause harm to society."
Parizeau said he was arrested once by the RCMP, who treated him in a
"gentlemanly" fashion.
But he has bad memories of the night he was arrested by Ottawa-Carleton police.
"They came to my house at midnight," he said. ‘"They made me, my
wife and my child put our hands on our heads, just like real criminals.
"I tried telling them I’m handicapped but they just ignored me. They slapped
handcuffs on me and I was tied up against the wall on my knees.
"My son was beside me and was crying and so was my wife."
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Canadian Police
March AIDS Patient, Wife and Child from House With Hands Over Their Heads;
Destroy Medical Marijuana Plants
Copyright: 1999 The Canadian Press (CP)
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