4 Cannabis Health

Editorial...............................................................6

Letters .................................................................6

Off the Wire ........................................................................................................8

Libby Davies MP Interview ................................................................................9

Dutch Contracted Grower sues Government ................................................12

Cannasat, Canada’s Newest Cannabis Company........................................13

An Even Brighter Future - Toronto Hemp Company...................................17

Patients Out of Time .......................................................................................18

Cannabis for the Management of Pain .........................................................21

Cancer Cure Cover Up ....................................................................................23

Human Hemp Health.......................................................................................25

Marijuana Policy Project..................................................................................28

Cannabis and Biochemical Balance..............................................................31

Puff Mama, Cooking with Cannabis ..............................................................34

InsideCannabis Health

Cannabis Health is published six times a year. Allcontents copyright 2005 by Cannabis Health. CannabisHealth assumes no responsibility for any claims orrepresentations contained in this magazine or in anysubmission or advertisement, nor do they encouragethe illegal use of any of the products advertised within.No portion of this magazine may be reproduced with-out the written consent of the publisher.

StaffSENIOR EDITOR, BARB ST. JEAN

editor@cannabishealth.com

EDITOR/ACCOUNTING BARB CORNELIUS

PRODUCTION BRIAN McANDREWproduction@ cannabishealth.com

ADVERTISING MANAGER ANDRE BORAK, DTCMsales@cannabishealth.com

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER LORRAINE LANGISdistribution@cannabishealth.com

STORE AND SHIPPING MANAGER GORDON TAYLORstore@cannabishealth.com

WEBMASTER webmaster@cannabishealth.com

GENERAL INQUIRIES info@cannabishealth.com

Vo l u m e 3 I s s u e 3 , M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 0 5

Cannabis HealthCannabis Health Magazine is the voice and the new

image of the responsible cannabis user. The publicationtreats cannabis as one plant and offers balanced coverage ofcannabis hemp and cannabis marijuana. Special attention isgiven to the therapeutic health benefits of this plant mademedicine. Regular contributors offer the latest on the evolv-ing Canadian cannabis laws, politics, and regulations. Wealso offer professional advice on cannabis cooking, growingat home, human interest stories and scientific articles fromcountries throughout the world, keeping our readers intouch and informed. Cannabis Health is integrated with ourresource website, offering complete downloadable PDFversions of all archived editions. www.cannabishealth.com

Subscribe TodayMasterCard / Visa Accepted

Call: 1 866 808 5566

Downtown Location7457 3rd St., Grand Forks, BC Canada

Mailing Address: Box 1481Grand Forks BC Canada V0H 1H0

Phone: 250 442 5166Fax: 250 442 5167

Toll Free: 1 866 808 5566Email: info@cannabishealth.com

Ontario Hemp Alliance CORRECTIONIn our last issue the article on the Ontario Hemp Alliance

contained an error. In the paragraph: High yield – 15,000 lbs peracre – large seeds for dehulling – low THC profile – high essentialfatty acid profile – seed heads at a height easy for harvesting of thegrain – adequate straw yield for fibre – weed resistance – goodcolour and taste.

15,000 lbs per acre should have read 1,500 lbs per acre. We wishseed heads could grow that big - we apologize for any confusion thismay have caused. For more information please contact: www.ontar-iohempalliance.org

CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT Congratulations to our most recent winners!!Suetaz, Aylmer, ON – winner of the Wong Bong pipe and a oneyear subscription

A.G, Campbellford, ON – winner of a one year subscription

C.S., Nanaimo, BC – winner of the Pine Needle Basket byMétis artist, Danny Apukoses.

Thank you to all who submitted and subscribed. We appreciateall of you and wish we could publish all we receive.

Cover photo courtesy of Houseof Commons Photographer

Cannabis Health 5

6 Cannabis Health

Advocacy or Activism – What are wefighting?

Activism is defined as the theory,doctrine, or practice of assertive, often organ-ized, action, such as mass demonstrations orstrikes, used as a means of opposing orsupporting a controversial issue, entity, orperson. Advocacy, on the other hand, is theprocess of committing continuous proactivesupport to an idea, person or cause to bringabout sustainable, long-term change.

The cannabis community is made up ofmany activist and advocates. This editionincludes only a few of the many organiza-tions and individuals who continue to chal-lenge the injustices forced upon citizens bythe irrational “war on drugs”. This battle hasgone on for decades; many people have beencriminalized, marginalized and persecutedfor their commitment to fight for a dignifiedexistence for all. The best minds haveconcluded change must happen and we mustcontinue the fight until it does. But who arewe fighting? Is it public perception, legisla-tion or corruption?

Many believe public perception is toblame. The general public, according to theopinion polls, is very supportive of themedical use of cannabis, but many are alsounaware of most of the real problems. Theyhear and read only what’s been made avail-able through the mainstream sources andwhen the majority of information availableslants towards propaganda it’s no wonder the“Reefer Madness” stigmatization is still soprevalent. Is the public at fault? I don’t thinkso, however the lack of accurate informationwould explain why cannabis reform is beingdebated on a misguided morals platform, asopposed to an accurate intellectual one.

The Canadian Charter of Rights andFreedoms guarantees all Canadians freedomof thought, belief, opinion, and expression,including freedom of the press and othercommunication media. We all have the rightto a voice. The questions we must askourselves are; why has there been such adistortion of fact, who is supplying it and forwhat purpose?

Corruption is defined as: the act of chang-ing, or of being changed, for the worse;departure from what is pure, simple, orcorrect. According to this Webster’s defini-tion corruption could be to blame and weknow corruption is a by-product of prohibi-tion. Our laws should reflect our society’sneed for a corruption free environment, yetthe opposite seems to be taking place when itcomes to the legislation governingcannabis. Canada’s marijuana lawswere declared unconstitutional bythe Ontario Court of Appeal inJuly 2000, yet marijuana is stillillegal and the police have againbeen given an enormous budget toenforce these unjust laws.

Police agencies in Canada aremandated: To enforce laws,prevent crime, and maintain peace,order and security. Their MissionStatement claims that they upholdthe principles of the CanadianCharter of Rights and Freedoms.The police are paid to enforce thelaw. They should not be paid to dothings like; unauthorized productanalysis on illegally confiscatedmedical cannabis sent through themail from a legal designatedgrower to a legal patient. Nor

should they be involved in the political druglaw debate or in the supply of biased informa-tion to the masses or our children. Conflictof interest would be in question if they were– wouldn’t it?

Laws are after all a piece of enacted legis-lation and the only people who can changelegislation are our elected politicians. Whoelects our politicians? The general public.What or who are we fighting?

Barb St.Jean

Our lives begin to end the day we become silentabout things that matter.Martin Luther King, JR

E d i t o r i a l

Learning the hard wayThe first time I ingested cannabis, I

learned the hard way how many cookies wastoo many to eat. I used a milk chocolate chipcookie recipe and used the powder I had beencollecting from my grinder to makecannabutter. I ate two cookies when the firstbatch came out of the oven, then I ate twowhen they were done and then later I justhad to have another and then another. As Iwas eating that last cookie, I realized I washaving a hard time swallowing it because mythroat was swelling up. I started making thecookies around 5pm and by 10pm, I was toostoned to function, so I went to bed.

I woke up at 4am with a sore, swollenthroat and the worst hangover I’ve ever had.

I couldn’t believe how awful I felt. I was aNews Admin at Marijuana.com at the timeand I was supposed to have 4 articlesprogrammed to the front page for 4:20am. Icouldn’t get my eyes to focus, so I didn’t getthe news posted. Thankfully, potheads areunderstanding about first time eating adven-tures. I took some Advil, drank some fluidsand went back to bed. When I awoke again, Ifelt just fine, but the last thing I wanted wasanother cookie.

Before I got too stoned, the high I experi-enced was absolutely incredible. Eating weedis like getting stoned backwards. Smoking itproduces an almost instant high that stays fora while, then gradually wears off. Eating ittakes time to digest, so it sneaks up on you and

the high continues to build for much longerthan smoking it even lasts. I felt that the highI experienced was completely different fromsmoking it. Smoking it, to me, is like gettingstoned from the outside in, but it never quitereaches the core. Eating it, the high starts atthe core and you get stoned from the inside outfor a total and complete body buzz.

As for the taste, the weed flavor was like aghost. The milk chocolate cleansed my palateand erased the weed taste so fast, that I wasn’tsure I had tasted it. Before long, I wasn’t sureof much of anything.

So what did I learn? I learned that thepowder from my grinder has a wicked poten-cy. I learned that I have no willpower against

L e t t e r s

Cannabis Health 7

May 5, 2005 is the day a movement willbegin to unite our resources and peacefullybut relentlessly press Congress to look atthe truth about cannabis and then endcannabis prohibition for adults.

On Thursday, May 5, 2005, everyperson in America who understands thatcannabis prohibition does more harm thangood can go to his/her local congressionaldistrict office to peacefully demonstrateoutside the building. We show up and

speak up (Letters and calls) every day untilour demand is met: Repeal cannabis prohi-bition for adults. It doesn’t matter if you’venever used marijuana; all you need is theknowledge that these laws are wrong andharmful.

It’s as simple as that, but don’t underes-timate our numbers AND the power of anorganized, determined group! “United WeStand, DIVIDED WE FALL” (BenFranklin).

We’ll show America and the world that“pot-smokers” are EVERYDAY PEOPLEand that we WON’T tolerate being treatedlike second-class citizens anymore! We willpeacefully stand our ground until the lawsare stricken from the books!! It wouldn’tbe the first time...study our history. Please.

For more information visit:http://www.makepotlegal555.org/ orcontact: Melanie M. Marshall atmmelz5@yahoo.com

May 5, 2005: UNITE FOR FREEDOM!! REPEAL CANNABIS PROHIBITION!!

L e t t e r s c o n t i n u e d

chocolate chip cookies. I learned that there issuch a thing as a weed hangover. I learnedthat cannabis goodies should be tested forpotency first and to have some patience wait-ing for the high to come. I learned that I cantrust Marijuana to teach me how much is toomuch, but not to harm me in any way. Ilearned to have even more respect forMarijuana and what she is capable of andlearned to love her even more. I learned thatthere really is something better that smokingweed; eating it! Suetaz

Simple math tells youAccording to some old facts I have read

from a tobacco manufacture; in Canada in1996, alcohol claimed around 1,900 deaths,car accidents were involved in 2,900 relateddeaths and tobacco was involved in over45,000. Simple math tells me since this time,over 16,000 people have died due to alcohol,over 24,000 have been killed because of carsand over 350,000 from tobacco. That comesto 400,000 people which seems low to mewho died from these three causes. I’m

unsure what the real number is but it’s toohigh. The government has made marijuanaillegal because it is apparently harmful to us.Worldwide no one has ever had the cause ofdeath, on a death certificate, be from marijua-na - in the over 6,000 years marijuana hasbeen known to man. Where is the harm thatthey are protecting us from? Since no one hasdied from it, who is the government reallyprotecting, us or the organized crime elementwho benefit from prohibition?Al Graham, Ontario

O f f t h e W i r e

8 Cannabis Health

Canadian AIDS Society gets fundingfor a project on cannabis as therapy

The Canadian AIDS Society has receivedfunding for a “Cannabis as Therapy: Accessand Regulation Issues for People Living withHIV/AIDS” project from the Public HealthAgency of Canada, through the Legal,Ethical and Human Rights Fund of theCanadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS. The proj-ect will examine and document the accessand regulation issues that people living withHIV/AIDS face when they choose to usecannabis as part of their therapy, from alegal, ethical and human rights perspective.For as many as one in three or four peopleliving with HIV/AIDS, cannabis helps themwith appetite so that they can maintain theirweight. It also helps with nausea and vomit-ing, a result of both the disease and themedication; pain, stress and mood.

A National Steering Committee, whichbrings together all of the key stakeholders,has been created to direct the project andprovide input and recommendations. A legalconsultant has also been hired. The ProjectConsultant, Lynne Belle-Isle, will beconducting focus groups in Vancouver,Victoria, Toronto and Montreal to speakwith people living with HIV/AIDS and

document their stories and realities withusing cannabis as therapy to alleviate theirsymptoms. She will also be interviewing keyinformants such as lawyers, physicians,pharmacists, compassion clubs, growers,regulators, and law enforcers, to get theirperspectives. A document will be producedwith these findings.

A key outcome of the project will be todevelop materials to provide information toorganizations and to people living withHIV/AIDS on how to access the currentmedical marijuana program, how to speak toa physician about medical marijuana, lawenforcement and legal considerations,cannabis as therapy for people living withHIV/AIDS, how to access cannabis, andmore. So as not to be a document collectingdust on a shelf, another key outcome will bethe development of an action plan to addressthe issues identified. The action plan willkeep the momentum going to improve thesituation for all Canadians who wish toinclude cannabis as part of their therapy toalleviate their symptoms.

For more information about theCanadian AIDS Society’s project oncannabis as therapy, please contact Lynne

Belle-Isle at 613-230-3580 ext. 126 orlynneb@cdnaids.ca

GW receives Qualifying Notice forapproval in Canada for Sativex® Excerpt from Press Release 21/12/2004 -http://www.gwpharm.com/

GW Pharmaceuticals announces thatHealth Canada, the Canadian regulatoryauthority, has issued a Qualifying Notice forthe approval of Sativex®, a cannabis-basedmedicinal extract product. Sativex will initial-ly be indicated in Canada for the relief ofneuropathic pain in Multiple Sclerosis(“MS”).

GW filed its Sativex application withHealth Canada under the Notice ofCompliance with conditions (NOC/c) policy.The Qualifying Notice confirms that Sativexqualifies to be considered for approval andsets out the conditions and post-approvalundertakings upon which the marketingauthorization for Sativex can be granted. Theconditions for Sativex’s approval are in accor-dance with standard guidance provided bythe regulator for NOC/c approvals andinclude a commitment to ongoing clinicalresearch. For more information see:www.gwpharm.com

Cannabis Health 9

L i b b y D a v i e s I n t e r v i e w

Libby Davies, MP, Vancouver East andPierre Claude Nolin, Senator, De Salaberry,Quebec, demand an Auditor General’s investi-gation into Health Canada’s medical marijua-na access program.

Libby Davies has been an outspoken advo-cate for drug policy reform. In issue 2-3,March/April, 2004 of the Cannabis HealthMagazine we interviewed Libby Davies aboutthe criminalization of drug users and the harmcaused by Canada’s prohibitionist policies.

Here we are one year later and what’shappening? The planned consultation withstakeholders did not alleviate the medicalcannabis access problems, patients are stillcriminalized and forced to the unsafe blackmarket for medicine and the proposedchanges to the MMAR are unworkable. LibbyDavies has stepped up to the plate one moretime and is now demanding something bedone about this injustice.

On December 2, 2004, Libby Davies andPierre Claude Nolin sent a letter to SheilaFraser, Auditor General of Canada, with a ccto Hon. Ujjal Dosanjh, Minister of Health,requesting an investigation into HealthCanada’s medical marijuana program. Theirletter states that from all appearances theOffice of Cannabis Medical Access (OMCA)has failed to meet their own mandate on anumber of fronts. Excerpts from the letter areas follows:

“Health Canada, through the OMCA, hasbeen unable to provide adequate access formedical marijuana users. The department’sown research suggests that there are over290,000 medical marijuana users in BC alonebut the OCMA has only registered 753exemptees for the whole country in nearly 5years of operation. In addition, the OntarioCourt of appeal in the November 2003 Hitzigcase found some parts of the program uncon-stitutional because of a lack of access forthose in need.

Many other serious questions have beenasked about the Medical MarihuanaResearch Plan. Very few research projectshave been approved and those that have arenot adequately moving forward or have beencancelled despite a $7.5 million, 5-year clini-cal research grant.

Health Canada’s foray into the productionof medical marijuana has also been a widelypublicized disaster. In December of 2000Health Canada announced that it was issuinga 5-year, $5.7 million dollar contract for theproduction of a domestic supply of research-grade cannabis to Prairie Plant Systems(PPS), which proposed to grow the materialin a mineshaft in Flin Flon Manitoba.

There are currently under 83 exempteespurchasing cannabis from PPS. This equates

to a cost of around $65,000 per exempteereceiving cannabis from this Health Canadafacility. Tests done by organizations likeCanadians for Safe Access have found thatthe cannabis grown in Flin Flon containsdangerously high levels of both lead andarsenic. Many exemptees have actuallyreturned their supply as the product isdeemed unusable.

There are many inadequacies with HealthCanada’s medical marijuana program and aninvestigation by your office would go a longway in helping those in need of medical mari-juana by forcing the department to fix exist-ing problems.”

We recently spoke with Libby forupdate on her current initiatives.

Cannabis Health: Have you received aresponse to your Dec. 2, 2004 request foran investigation into Canada’s marijuanamedical access program?

Libby Davies: We have received aresponse from the Auditor General’s officesaying they will review our request for aninvestigation. I’m hoping that because therehas been a lot of concern about the medicalmarijuana program that the Auditor Generalwill pick this up from her perspective of wiseuse of taxpayer dollars, to examine whetheror not this program is functioning properly.We will also be doing a freedom of informa-tion request to try to get some more informa-tion about what’s been going on in theprogram, in terms of how many applicationshave been approved, how many turned down,what their risk management criteria are, etc.

CH: Why do you feel so strongly aboutthis?

LD: I know people may find this hard tobelieve, but I’m actually very anti-drugspersonally. I don’t use drugs, but I think thatprohibition equals chaos. Prohibition equalsno control. Prohibition equals criminalizingyoung people. Prohibition equals criminaliz-ing responsible adult users of marijuana whoaren’t doing anybody, not even themselves,any harm. I see the impact and I believe itshould be a matter of personal choice.

CH: The recent decriminalizationdebate exposed a disturbingly low levelof knowledge in the House of Commonsabout the medical use of marijuana.Despite ample scientific evidence to thecontrary, some of our MP’s made state-ments indicating a belief that marijuanause leads to cancer, lung disease addic-tion and psychosis. Why, in your opin-ion, is the level of education among ourfederal politicians on the medical use ofmarijuana so inadequate?

LD: Well, we all have different areas ofexpertise. Having said that, I do feel that the

debate around marijuana and drugs generallyis very much a political debate. There is thiswhole mythology, this whole morality; somuch of our society is based on the criminal-ization and the prohibition of drugs. This is ahuge infrastructure that we’re dealing with.You take on drug prohibition policy and youtake on the whole of society in terms of whatit stands for. Some of our elected people fullyunderstand the scientific evidence, and yetthey continue to pedal the anti-drug, anti-decriminalization line. They have so boughtinto the ideology of prohibition that theycan’t face the reality that it isn’t working.Their election platform plays on people’sfears about crime and the illegal drug trade,but won’t talk about how that’s driven byprohibition. I think it was Gore Vidal whowrote, “If prohibition of drugs weren’tinvented as a form of social control, they’dhave to invent something else.”

CH: Support for the creation of amore accessible medical access programcomes from many levels of our society,from the courts, the Senate, the privatesector, as well as the public. Yet witheach revision to the Marihuana MedicalAccess Regulations, the programbecomes more restrictive and unwork-able. What might account for the federalgovernment’s failure to recognize chang-ing public attitudes on this issue?

LD: The Federal Government neverwanted to do this, but were forced, by courtdecisions, to set up this program. Themedical marijuana program has never had areal champion within the government. That’sproblem number one. The more you studythe bill, the more you can see that it’s actual-ly misnamed, and we could end up with awider net of enforcement than we have now.

Libby Davies, MP, Vancouver EastPhoto by Joshua Berson

10 Cannabis Health

CH: Yes, that’s how it seems to us. Wecall it the “Recriminalization Bill”. Itgives the RCMP an increasingly biggermandate.

LD: To me the issue of substance use isprimarily a health issue, whether it’s alcohol,tobacco, marijuana or other drugs. It’s aboutrealistic education and getting people tounderstand what they do to their bodies.Why do we have the police as a primarysource of education? Whenever there is adebate around marijuana or drugs generally,who are the first ones up there calling pressconferences and spouting their opinions?The RCMP. That’s all, again, being driven byprohibition. It should be up to the public andthe legislators to debate this issue, not thepolice.

CH: How do they have that power?LD: Our society has allowed the drug

debate to be driven primarily by a law andorder enforcement regime. The enforcementagencies - the CCRA, the RCMP and interna-tional intelligence - have a huge vested inter-est in keeping these drugs illegal. They gainenormous power as a result of prohibition.To me, it’s a public policy issue; it’s a publichealth issue that we should be debating. Themore we can move it into that arena, themore we can have an intelligent debate that’sbased on science and reasonable objectives.

CH: The most recent amendment tothe MMAR includes the long-term phas-ing out of personal and designatedproduction licenses. Why does the feder-al government continue to monopolizethe production of medical gradecannabis?

LD: It is this whole fear that they have tostop the floodgates from opening. It’s got tobe controlled. It’s got to be secretive and it’sgot to be very difficult to access, so theydecided to go with this sole source monopolysupply situation. They’ve wanted to keep alid on this but actually what they’ve done iscreate way more problems than if they hadbeen open and actually sought out knowl-edgeable people and good advice. They justdon’t have the expertise and I can’t, for thelife of me, understand why Health Canadawouldn’t work legitimately with the medicalmarijuana community or compassion clubs.This is what has lead to us calling for theAuditor General to look at the situation, athow the taxpayers’ money is being spent.

CH: Despite a $7.5 million researchallocation by Health Canada, few proj-ects have been approved, and of those,many have had their funding frozen.Recently announced is the “Cannabis forthe Management of Pain: Assessment ofSafety Study” (COMPASS) funded by

Health Canada in partnership withCanadian Institutes of Health Research.What do you think of the concernexpressed by Canadians for Safe Accessabout the quality, heavy metal contentand biological contamination levels ofthe Prairie Plant Systems cannabis to beused in this study?

LD: I’m not a scientist, but I think it’svery difficult to conduct a scientific studybased on a single source about which somany serious concerns have been expressed.I think the government should be allowingmuch better disclosure of what’s going on atthis PPS growing facility in Flin Flon. Theyshould be allowing other points of produc-tion and access. Because of the lack of infor-mation available, the medical marijuanacommunity is so suspicious of the productavailable through the government’s monop-oly that they prefer to rely on their ownsources despite the fact that they are illegal.

CH: And strains of their choice,which is not something that HealthCanada has even recognized.

LD: I have been reading the material sentto me by Canadians for Safe Access with infor-mation about different strains and levels ofTHC and their efficacy in relieving differentconditions. There are people in the medicalmarijuana movement with a tremendous bodyof knowledge, and I respect that, and I justwish Health Canada would work with you.

CH: Yes, it is a big problem. It’s hardto get them to take us seriously. We werepart of the Stakeholders’ AdvisoryCommittee through the CanadianCannabis Coalition, and the impressionthat most of us got was that they were

L i bby Dav i e s I n te r v i ew

Prohibition equalschaos. Prohibitionequals no control.Prohibition equals crimi-nalizing young people.Prohibition equals crimi-nalizing responsibleadult users of marijuanawho aren’t doinganybody, not even them-selves, any harm. I seethe impact and I believe itshould be a matter ofpersonal choice.

Cannabis Health 11

tolerating us, but they really didn’t planon listening to us without some precon-ceived notion that we were just“potheads”.

LD: But you know what, I do feel that thecommunity has growing credibility and theycan’t dismiss you. I think the fact that we’vecome so far and that this is a real debatethat’s taking place shows this. The reality isthat the government is really under pressureto confront their own inconsistencies in theirarguments around marijuana. That’s becauseof the pressure that’s come from the marijua-na community, so people should never feelthat they’re completely marginalized and thatthey don’t have any power. I think where weare now in Canada is a testament to howpeople have worked so hard and pushed sohard to create this debate and to push backagainst this status quo. We’re at a very criti-cal point.

CH: How far away do you think weare from legalization?

LD: I don’t know, but I believe the debateis beginning to change and the criticism ofthe bill is an indication. Yes, we still have aprohibitionist regime primarily, but I thinkthere’s a lot more debate. I think there are a

lot of people in the media, even within themainstream sort of corporate media, who aresympathetic to legalization, who realize whatthis is all about, and I think, in some ways,will help with the debate.

CH: We’ve been pushing the magazineinto the mainstream and doing studies ondemographics over the last six to eightmonths. We’re finding that because it’sstill an illegal substance, many corporatebusinesses refuse to get involved in thedebate. They sympathize, they believe inlegalization but they won’t put theirnames forward in fear of the stigma. Howcan we change that? The business lobby ishuge. If we had their support, surelythings would just have to fall into place.

LD: There are business interests thatpromote legalization because they actually seeit as an entrepreneurial enterprise. FraserInstitute is very pro-legalization. They see it asan economic issue, and of course, it is. TheEconomist, a fairly conservative mainstreammagazine in the US, is doing a big article thatchallenges prohibition. But I don’t know thatthey’re going to lead the way on it. I think thatpublic opinion is generally what is going tochange, so I would put more of my energy intoworking with community organizations or

local elected representatives who are close towhat is going on. Primarily, we have to focuson getting people to understand the harmsthat take place as a result of prohibition.

CH: Do you have any recommendationto the medical cannabis community?What could we collectively do to helpalleviate our dysfunctional system?

LD: The information that is produced bythe community challenging what’s takingplace is extremely important. If we can getthe Auditor General to investigate, thatwould be a very significant thing, and will inlarge part be because of the questions raisedby the community. I do encourage people tocontinue on with the emails and the letters,not just to me please, but to your local MP.We have to provide real education to moreelected representatives, and Bill C-17 is agood opportunity for that. It is beforeParliament and is being sent off to the JusticeCommittee for presumably more public hear-ings. I’ve spoken to lots of MPs privately andI think they know that the current system’sstatus quo is ridiculous. But they need tohear from their constituents. At the end ofthe day, we all want to be re-elected.

L i bby Dav i e s I n te r v i ew

12 Cannabis Health

This week, the Stichting Institute ofMedical Marijuana(SIMM), has filed alawsuit against the Bureau voor MedicinaleCannabis of the Ministerie vanVolksgezondheid. SIMM was the first legalprovider of medical cannabis for the BMC.Beginning in 2001, SIMM was given anopiumverlof for production of researchcannabis. SIMM’s contract with the BMCwas abruptly ended after statements we madeto the media concerning problems with themedical cannabis program.

SIMM believes the BMC has acted unfair-ly in terminating this contract. The BMC hasa monopoly on medical cannabis distribution

in the Netherlands, and as such, has an obli-gation to manage the program in a fairmanner.

SIMM made a very large financial invest-ment in its business, in order to comply withgovernment standards of producing thecannabis according to “pharmaceuticalrequirements”. With the ending of thecontract by the BMC, SIMM has suffered atremendous financial loss. SIMM expectedthe BMC contract to be in effect for at least 5years; to make a large financial investmentfor less than that period would have beenunreasonable. info@medicalmarijuana.org /www.medicalmarijuana.org

STICHTING INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

PRESS RELEASE

FEBRUARY 3 2005

James Burton,voortzitter and spokesmanStitchting Institute of MedicalMarijuana,Rotterdam Nederland Below: James Burton and his crop growing at SIMMS, the Dutch contracted grower.

Cannabis Health 13

By Paul Henderson & Cannabis Health editors,B.C., B. S. J. & Paul Henderson. Paul is a free-lance journalist currently living in Toronto. Hehas worked as a newspaper reporter in GrandForks, B.C., a treeplanter for nine seasons inB.C., Alberta, and Ontario, and he currentlycontributes to various publications acrossCanada while working as assistant editor ofVitality Magazine.

Canada’s newest therapeutic cannabiscompany – Cannasat Pharmaceuticals Inc. –has barely bloomed into existence, and is elic-iting much curiosity. What do we knowabout it so far?

Cannasat, a Toronto-based company, isthe is the co-creation of Toronto’s City-TVfounder Moses Znaimer; former head ofretail chain Club Monaco, Joseph Mimran;and Hill & Gertner Capital Corporation.Officially incorporated in January 2004, itsreal birth was many months before that.Financial backing comes from Hill &Gertner, and David Hill of Hill & Gertner hasactually moved over to Cannasat as thecompany’s full-time CEO.

Andrew Williams is Cannasat’s VicePresident of Operations. Andrew has anMBA from the Richard Ivey School ofBusiness (UWO), a BAH from Queen’sUniversity and has a background as aStrategy Consultant in Canada and theUnited States.

In addition to these co-founders, marijua-na activist lawyer Alan Young was in fromday one, and is thought to be one of the driv-ing forces behind Cannasat’s creation. Youngis widely reputed as Canada’s foremostcannabis lawyer. He is best known for hisinvolvement, directly or indirectly, in most ofCanada’s landmark marijuana cases. He isone of those rare lawyers who concernshimself more with morality than cashreward. “Anyone who knows me, knowsthat all you have to do is cry to get free legalwork.” Young has said. He is also an earlyfilm-school enthusiast, outstanding civilrights lawyer, professor of law at OsgoodeHall, Co-Director of the Innocence Project,and an author of full-length works for thetheatre. His first published short storyappeared in the Christmas 1999 issue of liter-

ary magazine, Taddle Creek. If you wouldlike to read more about Alan Young,Cannabis Health interviewed him inCANADA’S CANNABIS LAWYERS, Issue 3Mar/Apr 2003.

Dr. Lester Grinspoon MD, has also comeon board as a scientific advisor for Cannasat.He is an emeritus professor of psychiatry atHarvard Medical School and has been study-ing cannabis since 1967. He has publishedtwo books on the subject. “MarihuanaReconsidered” was published by HarvardUniversity Press in 1971. “Marihuana, theForbidden Medicine”, co-authored withJames B. Bakalar, was published in 1993 byYale University Press. The revised andexpanded edition appeared in 1997 and isnow translated into 10 languages. (MedicalUses rxmarijuana.com Uses of Marijuana -marijuana-uses.com)

Grinspoon also wrote a piece entitled “ACannabis Odyssey” September 15, 2003 forthe Harvard Crimson Online and republishedin Cannabis Health, THE CANA / DUTCHMODEL, Issue 7 Nov/Dec 2003, in which heexplains how his cannabis enlightenment

Cannasa t , Canada ’s Newes t Cannab i s Company

14 Cannabis Health

Cannasa t , Canada ’s Newes t Cannab i s Company

began back in 1967. Lester writes; “I wasconcerned that so many young people wereusing the terribly dangerous drug, marijuana,so I decided to review the medical and scien-tific literature on the substance and write areasonably objective and scientifically soundpaper on its dangers. Young people wereignoring the warnings of the government, butperhaps some would seriously consider awell-documented review of the availabledata. As I began to explore the literature, Idiscovered, to my astonishment, that I had toseriously question my own understanding.What I thought I knew was based largely onmyths, old and new. I realized how little mytraining in science and medicine had protect-ed me against this misinformation. I hadbecome not just a victim of a disinformationcampaign, but because I am a physician, oneof its agents as well.” The full story can befound at: http://www.cannabishealth.com/issue_07/#production

Also involved is Hilary Black, founderand past figurehead of the largest compassionclub in Canada, the BC Compassion ClubSociety. The Society is a provincially regis-tered non-profit organization which has beendistributing medicinal cannabis to those inneed since May of 1997. Hilary wrote an arti-cle for Cannabis Health in COMPASSIONUNDER ATTACK, Issue 2 Jan/Feb 2003, inwhich she states, “One of the fundamentalprincipals that the BCCCS will always hold asa priority in this battle is the right to access,grow, and use whole-plant cannabis. Ascorporate interests take notice of the progresswe as a community are making, they will findways to use the legal room we have created toreap their profits; such is the nature of thiscapitalist society. It is our shared responsibili-ty to ensure the rights of those in need arenever compromised in order for the profiteersto profit, or in order for the government tomaintain the status quo.”

When we asked Hilary how she felt aboutthe Cannasat team she said; “I am inspired bythe integrity, motivation and dedication ofthese folks. The politics surrounding thisplant have dramatically inhibited the abilityof researchers to create a body of clinical dataon the therapeutic application of medicinalcannabis. Although we are working in anextremely political arena, we are determinedto focus the safety and efficacy of this plantand it’s unique chemical compounds. A reli-able body of clinical data will be a significantcontribution to ensuring patients’ rights toaccess medicinal cannabis and cannabis-based medicines.”

Young, Grinspoon and Black are well-known champions of the medical marijuanamovement, but the experience ofCannasat’s personnel is patient-based as

well. Hilary shared with us the story ofSara Lee Irwin, a Cannasat employee whoholds a license from Health Canada topossess marijuana for medical purposes.As one of the first employees of the compa-ny, Sara has been given the unique opportu-nity to educate the uninformed, debunkmany of the myths surrounding the medicalusefulness of the cannabis plant, and to tellthe moving and hopeful story of howcannabis has improved her life.

Nearly 16 years ago, at the age of 32, Sarawas diagnosed with cancer in her pelvis andhip, resulting in the removal of her left hipand the left half of her pelvis. She says“Although I was fortunate to receive a trans-plant and an artificial hip, ever since thisordeal I have walked with a cane and experi-enced pain that has been constant, some-times debilitating.”

Sara has chosen to use cannabis as herprimary source of medicine. “Before I hadheard of the concept of medical marijuana, Iused medications such as Tylenol 3 andPercodans. These medicines were legal andprescribed by my doctor, but for me, they areharsh with many negative side effects and donot work as well as cannabis. Cannabis hasallowed me to function as a mother, anemployee and most importantly, to come outfrom under the fog of heavy pain killers andenjoy my life.”

According to Young the company isrecruiting figureheads and supporters of themedical marijuana movement, not merely togain credibility, but rather because theybelieve they share the same end goals.“Cannasat, by recruiting these people, makesa commitment to the movement, and that’spart of the point,” he said. “So we stay on theright path, because it is all about money even-tually, and money can distort things. We’veput together a team that will have a lot ofintegrity and we will remain true to our orig-inal commitments.”

Cannasat plans to conduct clinical trialson the potential medical uses for extracts fromthe plant, but – and this is of crucial signifi-cance – they are also committed to workingwith whole, herbal marijuana. “What makesus unique, I think, is that we are interested inworking with the whole plant,” Williams toldCannabis Health. “But for people who don’tlike to smoke, or use a vaporizer, or havedifferent conditions that don’t necessarilyrequire rapid onset, there will be a whole lineof products developed.” It is here thatCannasat hopes to cash in on an almost brandnew market with billion dollar potential.

“There are over 20 drugs derived fromthe opium poppy,” Williams said. “Todaythere are really only two drugs on the marketthat are derived from cannabis even though

cannabis is more versatile in that it has impli-cations for pain, inflammation, appetite, andspasticity…our longer term view is that therewill be a whole new class of drugs derivedfrom the plant. If you have something thatrequires rapid onset like nausea, you’d haveto find something that mimics smoking orsome inhalation route based on the time thatit takes to get into your blood stream. But ifyou have something chronic in nature, likechronic pain, you probably want slow releaseand that is where patches are very good.”

With a five to seven year head start onCannasat, GW Pharmaceuticals fromEngland will probably soon get theircannabis-based drug to market in Canada.The drug is a sub-lingual spray called Sativex.But many in the Cannasat camp – and else-where – are critical of GW for their political-ly correct stance and what is being called“smokeaphobia” and “euphoriaphobia.”Specifically, according to GW executivechairman Geoffrey Guy, Sativex has beendesigned to work at levels that will not causethe side effects of euphoria familiar to mari-juana smokers.

There have been criticisms of the so-called pharmaceuticalization of marijuanabecause of these attitudes and statements inthe UK. But according to those involved,Cannasat will take a different approach.“We are not going to be a GW that is veryanti-smoking and euphoriaphobic,” Williamssaid. “I think they’ve done it that way forpolitical reasons, but the Canadian landscapeis different than the UK was five years ago.”

Some fear that if Health Canada approvesdrugs X, Y, and Z, from Cannasat, GW, andothers, they could then say, “Cannabis hasbeen pharmaceuticalized. We don’t needsmoked herbal marijuana or compassionclubs any more. Time to crack down.”

This is precisely a concern of RielleCapler of the B.C. Compassion Club Society.“The fact that the pharmaceutical industryhas taken a serious interest in cannabismeans that they acknowledge that manypeople are finding it effective for relieving arange of symptoms,” Capler said, adding,“The record shows that some of these compa-nies are not necessarily ethical, and thatsome of their products are ineffective andeven potentially dangerous. A situationwhere the whole plant remains illegal, whilethe pharmaceutical can be legally producedand sold, enhances their ability to make aprofit.”

Dr. Lester Grinspoon has said that “thecommercial success of any psychoactivecannabinoid product will depend on howvigorously the prohibition against marijuanais enforced.” Given this fear, why would apot activist legend such as Dr. Lester

16 Cannabis Health

Grinspoon be on board with a company thatplans to make pharmaceuticals out ofcannabis, if he truly supports marijuanalegalization?

When Grinspoon sat down with theCannasat folks he had three priorities: first-ly, develop a good, reliable, herbal marijua-na product that can be ready for medicaluse; secondly, look at isolated cannabinoidsand develop analogs that people mightprefer from a medical and economic pointof view; and thirdly, look at differentsystems of administering cannabis andcannabis products.

“In my clinical experience the gold stan-dard of medicinal use of cannabis for mostpeople is whole, smoked marijuana,”Grinspoon told Cannabis Health. “But Ibelieve that herbal marijuana is not the onlything we can get out of cannabis. We hope tomake use of the receptor sites and the neuro-transmitters, and so forth, discovering allsorts of things, where we might manipulatepart of that system in a way, conceivably, thatwhole cannabis cannot.”

Alan Young confirms the Cannasatcommitment to research and to herbal mari-juana. “The reason Hilary and I are on boardis that we are committed to working with theherbal product and to developing extractsfrom it,” he said. But does this address thefear that if Cannasat creates good qualityproducts derived from marijuana, the govern-ment and police might feel justified in crack-ing down on smokers?

Young says that the reason he gotinvolved and has put his credibility on theline for Cannasat is because he thinks theopposite will happen. “This is the only way I

see out of the MMAR (Marihuana MedicalAccess Regulations),” he said. “If there areapproved cannabis products, then you havenormalized the product and it will becomeavailable in the ordinary course by prescrip-tion. And then the MMAR will be obsolete.”

But if marijuana becomes a prescribeddrug – like any other drug – wouldn’t thathinder, or at least not help, universal accessthat many seek?

“The only solution is legalization,” Youngsaid. “Ultimately that has to be the goal.Cannasat is just working on the medical side.We are not a political lobby group. However,I and many others will continue to worktoward the overall goal.” Young is nowengaged in meeting with Health Canada,seeking approval for clinical trials.

Given the massive amounts of moneyinvolved, the company will certainly have tocome up with one or more proprietary prod-ucts to recoup the investments. With an eyeto long term clinical studies on the medicalbenefits of marijuana, Cannasat has boughta non-controlling minority interest inPrairie Plant Systems (PPS) – the govern-ment’s only provider of marijuana underthe MMAR. Vice President, AndrewWilliams told Cannabis Health, “At present,Cannasat owns less than 25% of PPS on afully diluted basis. We expect our invest-ment in PPS to be a good one for a numberof reasons. While it is true that PPS is theonly Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)compliant and biosecure cannabis produc-tion facility in Canada, the strength andtrack record of PPS’ management team andboard of directors is really the key to thisinvestment. It is strategically important

because PPS is an innovative biotechnologycompany that we believe can help us accel-erate our research and development activi-ties and goals.”

Cannasat’s plans include running clinicaltrials to determine the effects of differentstrains of marijuana on a variety of physicalconditions, but PPS grows just one strain atthis time. Clinical trials are many years off sothe issue of different strains might be easilyresolved in time. But different strains aside,the quality of the marijuana currently beingproduced in the mine shaft in Manitoba is ofconcern to some.

Concern about the quality and safety ofthe Prairie Plant Systems marijuana has beenvehemently expressed by the Canadians forSafe Access in their open letter, posted ontheir website, www.safeaccess.ca.

Rielle Capler of the BC Compassion ClubSociety also expressed reservations. “Thequality and safety of that product has beencalled into question by researchers andpatients, and these concerns need to beadequately addressed.

Cannasat states on their website: “Weunderstand and acknowledge that there havebeen some concerns raised about the qualityof PPS product. We have been assured by PPSmanagement and by Health Canada of thequality of the product and that they willcontinue to make improvements and addressall valid concerns.”

Hilary Black comments, “Cannasatsupports PPS’ efforts to continue to workwith both Health Canada and patients todevelop and upgrade their product. I amconvinced that to best serve Canadianpatients, we all need to co-operate with eachother to take full advantage of the uniqueopportunity we have in Canada to advancethis issue and to meet pressing patientsneeds.”

Cannabis Health looks forward to watch-ing this picture develop. Cannasat’s princi-pals, its supporters and its critics all share thesame hope – that Cannasat will earn therespect and trust of the medical marijuanacommunity by doing useful research intocannabinoids, developing useful therapeu-tics, and providing a good quality herbalproduct.

Dr. Lester Grinspoon looks at Cannasatwith a hopeful enthusiasm. “I see these guysas seeing much more of the whole picture,”Grinspoon said. “I’m with them. I think theirhearts are in the right place.”

Photo courtesy of Prairie Plant Systems Inc., Canada’s contracted grower

Cannasa t , Canada ’s Newes t Cannab i s Company

A n E v e n B r i g h t e r F u t u r e

Dominic Cramer founded Toronto HempCompany (THC) in 1994. Since then he’s beenan integral part of many organizations, events,and advances within the Canadian cannabiscommunity, including the Toronto CompassionCentre, Sacred Seed exotic seed and houseplantshop, The Herb Collective garden supply shop,Green Truth drug policy conferences,Dominizer herbal vaporization technology, theCanadian Cannabis Coalition, Canadians forSafe Access, NORML Canada, the CanadianCannabis Society, various press conferences andtelevision productions, and Fill The Hill.Details: www.torontohemp.com.

he past couple of years havebrought phenomenal advance-ment in the acceptance andunderstanding of cannabis in

Canada and beyond. Calls for an end to ouroutrageous prohibition are not coming fromjust a handful of radicals or visionaries.People from all backgrounds, beliefs andwalks of life are finally speaking out toencourage drug policy modification basedupon logic and compassion.

Unfortunately, we still face enormousuncertainty and resistance to positive change.There seems to be no end in sight to the igno-rance and propaganda, or to deceptive poli-cies full of counter-productive half-measures.Our courts and leaders continue to repeated-ly let us down, and many steps forward seemto inevitably cause a backlash of fear, lies andback-stepping. Progress has been a very slowand difficult exercise in patience, persistenceand, far too often, futility.

As the ‘cannabis community’ has grownin size and diversity, our unavoidable andoften underappreciated differences have givenus great strength, but have also increasinglythreatened to detrimentally divide us or

damage our credibility. Competingcommercial interests and egos, minorpersonal disputes blown out of proportion,lapses in judgment and tact, built-up frus-trations and stress, and unexplainablenegativity cannot be permitted to confuseor muffle our message.

It is time, more than ever before, for usto embrace our differences. That support-ers of cannabis compassion are so diverseis a clear indicator of the importance andenormity of our efforts. We must all, indi-vidually and collectively, strengthen andsharpen our efforts with a major focus onunity, co-operation and mutual respect.

Many among us wisely feel thatcannabis prohibition has been, from thestart, a massive and counter-productiveblunder and that we must do whatever ittakes to demand full legalization-eradica-tion of this injustice once and for all.

Others among us are, perhaps equally wisely,more accepting of (or unconcerned about)the greater inadequacies and inconsistenciesin our established traditions, protocols andindustries; and are quicker to allow compro-mise and accept step-by-step measures in thenegotiation and carrying-out of drug-peacetreaties.

Some faithfullybelieve that prohibi-tion of nature’screations is obvi-ously contrary toGod’s will, whileothers analyticallydetest the damagedone by drug prohi-bition and thehypocrisy of asystem that createsand magnifies thevery ills it ispurportedly protect-ing us from.

Some feel thatcannabis is such animportant plantthat it should not beused for financialgain, while othersfeel that it’s hightime for legitimatebusiness people andour tax revenue toprofit from thisplant instead ofonly ‘criminals’having that ability.

Some argue thatmarihuana is animportant source ofchemicals to be used

in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals;others refuse to disrespect the plant or ‘playgod’ by using anything except the highest-grade sun-nurtured and organically grownunadulterated flowers.

Some fight for the rights of even theirchildren to benefit from the medicinal effec-tiveness of cannabis products, while othersfight for an end to prohibition so that we canrealistically protect our children from anunregulated black market.

While many of these opinions seemincompatible, it must be recognized that wecannot and have not made much realprogress without the support of a wide cross-section of our general population. However,we must also be vigilant and cautious ofefforts (including those unintended) whoseeffect might be to cause conflict and distractfrom or diminish our progress.

While our Controlled Drugs andSubstances Act remains ridiculous, and ourgovernment’s Marihuana Medical AccessRegulations remain inaccessible - a hugelydisappointing boondoggle with most medici-nal users left out in the cold and most doctorsleft scared, unwilling and cautioned not tocooperate - both mainstream medicine and

Cannabis Health 17

Dominic Cramer

T

the herbal ‘underground’ are still somehowmaking amazing progress. And while thiseffort has stretched on for decades, time is ofthe essence; millions of people, many of ourloved ones, are suffering and even dyingunnecessarily and prematurely.

With recent drug and research approvals,Prairie Plant Systems and GW products aregaining pharmaceutical acceptance in Canada.At the same time, Compassion Centres andsimilar organizations have been established inmore and more cities and small towns acrossthe nation to meet the immediate medicalnecessities of our population. The scope ofservices offered, the range of people assisted,and the level of support and collaboration aregrowing at an almost incredible rate. Also,some kind of ‘decriminalization’ for personalrecreational/medicinal/spiritual use and culti-vation is definitely looming on the politicalhorizon, and many challenges to the constitu-tionality of prohibition continue in our courtsand the courts of public opinion. As produc-tive and momentous as the past few years havebeen, the next few likely hold even greaterpotential for positive change.

It is clear that a major diversification is

occurring. As capitalism and our health-careestablishment finally run with the main-stream marketing of cannabis-based prescrip-tion medicine, cannabis is also gaining someof the respect it deserves as a medicinal herb,a ‘natural health product’ and as an optionfor use and experimentation for whateverpurpose by any adult Canadian who sochooses. As the diversity of cannabissupporters brings us strength, so too does thediversity of uses, products, revenues, andmarkets for cannabis.

While it has become ever more apparentthat the fears and threats of the administra-tion of the United States have held us back,those same States and organizations withinthem have made remarkable moves forwardwith medicinal and more general decriminal-ization. Many States, notwithstandingcontradictory federal policy and action, arefar more advanced in this regard than weCanadians even believe ourselves to be. Thisis a sad situation, considering the opportuni-ty Canada has had to help lead the way onthis issue, the chance to further and tostrengthen our international reputation as ahuman-rights and peace-keeping superpowerand forward-thinking sovereign nation.

With so many frontiers for us to work on,and so special a long-standing tradition ofharmony and cooperation within our ranks,the future couldn’t be much brighter forunifying organizations such as the CanadianCannabis Coalition, NORML Canada,Educators for Sensible Drug Policy, LawEnforcement Against Prohibition, and theCanadian Cannabis Society. Groups likethese are allowing alliances of CompassionCentres, Cannabis-related businesses andorganizations, medical and civil liberty asso-ciations, and all sorts of Canadians with aninterest in this issue to connect, communi-cate, and support each other. Our message isbeing presented with ever more volume andclarity, and is reaching audiences and strataof society that were previously mostly out ofour reach.

We must ensure that this momentumcontinues – keep educating ourselves andthose around us, joining and supportingunifying organizations, participating inevents and campaigns, contacting our leadersand media, and encouraging positivity, cohe-siveness and collaboration.

A n E v e n B r i g h t e r F u t u r e

By Al ByrneAl Byrne is co-founder and Secretary-Treasurerof Patients Out of Time, a national non-profitdevoted to educating health care professionalsand the general public about the therapeuticuses of marijuana. www.medicalcannabis.com

The first five patients in the US whoreceived their cannabis medicine from thefederal government were featured speakers atthe National Organization for the Reform ofMarijuana Laws’ (NORML) annual confer-ence held in Washington, DC in 1990. Theprime movers of that conference were twomembers of its Board of Directors, Al Byrneand Mary Lynn Mathre, RN. A fellowmember of the Board made a call to a friendat C-Span, the local civic orientated TV chan-nel that is broadcast nationwide, suggestingthis conference was worthy of its attention.They agreed and broadcast the entire confer-ence live and repeated the entire program onseveral occasions.

Forty thousand phone calls poured intothe NORML offices that month. The patientshad put a new face on marijuana. These werenot the stoner hippies so often portrayed inthe press, but men and women with grayhair, soft words and serious illnesses. Theywere everybody’s dad, grandmother or sonand the US government provided them withtheir medicine. The callers were from all overthe country, supportive, and wanted to knowmore about “medical marijuana.”

After working together informally for afew years, the five federal patients and healthcare professionals with expertise in clinicalcannabis applications, formalized their workby incorporating as Patients Out of Time, co-founded by Mathre and Byrne, in the springof 1995. The organization’s mission was andis to educate health care professionals andthe public about therapeutic cannabis.

To execute the mission the organizationdecided to approach national professional

organizations that were health care focusedor had national significance in related fields.Individual MD’s, RN’s and other profession-als we had all dealt with over the years werealmost universally supportive of medicalcannabis but only in private. To overcomethe obvious intimidation that had infiltratedmedical conversation of individuals publicly,we concluded that a professional organiza-tion, taking a supportive stand, would offerpersonal protection to each member andgrant the issue the prestige of the organiza-tion.

Mary Lynn Mathre, “ML”, had made thefirst such presentation to the Virginia NursesAssociation in 1994 and they passed aResolution in support of medical cannabis,the first nursing organization to do so. Overthe years the list of support groups has grownto dozens. It includes the oldest and largesthealth care organization in the US, TheAmerican Public Health Association; the

18 Cannabis Health

Cannabis Health 19

Pat i en t s ou t o f t ime

American Nurses Association; thirteen statenursing associations; and the Institute ofMedicine.

To maximize our educational effort wecreated tools for other patient advocates toutilize. Our first project was to produce,“Marijuana as Medicine”, an eighteen-minute award winning video (US andCanada) that has been viewed thousands oftimes in over 20 countries. This video againreinforced the true image of the patients aseveryday folks who were ill and usedcannabis successfully as medicine. In theirown words they told their stories of sickness,prescription drugs, operations, depression,oncoming blindness, and then the reversal ofall those negatives when they started on aprotocol of therapeutic cannabis.

The second tool was Cannabis in MedicalPractice: A Legal, Historical andPharmacological Overview of the TherapeuticUse of Marijuana, edited by Mathre andcontributed to by seventeen experts fromBrazil, The Netherlands, Jamaica and theUnited States. This book was created toanswer the questions that were being askedby hundreds of patients, to assist their care-givers in understanding the full spectrum oftherapeutic cannabis use and to providehundreds of references should the readerwish to learn more. It has become a classic inits field and continues to be referenced.

By the end of the nineties the awakeningprovided by C-Span had blossomed into afull-scale awareness that the US governmentpolicy on medical cannabis was at best,misguided. To us it seemed just plain mean,based on a relentless propaganda machinethat just lied about the issue. The publicseemed to agree. Over the decade polls aboutmedical cannabis efficacy and medical neces-sity climbed from the low 40’s to the mid70’s, even into the 80 percentile in somestates.

In order for research to be considered ofmerit it must be replicated and peerreviewed. The results must be made public,scrutinized, and validated. To overcome anyfederal government dialog that indicatedthat such research did not exist we started a

series of clinical cannabis conferencesbeginning in 2000.

The first such meeting was sponsored bythe College of Nursing and the College ofMedicine of the University of Iowa. Thissponsorship was critical to our work. Itenabled the agenda to be accredited forprofessional education for MD’s, RN’s, SW’s,JD’s and other professionals. To be sohonored the faculty and the presentationshad to meet the highest of academic stan-dards. All conferences inthe series have receivedthis accredited status. Theentire conference wasbroadcast live to variouslocations including McGillUniversity in Canada andto the health educationnetwork of the State ofOregon. The faculty wasof the highest quality; thepress response supportiveand the studies werepresented under thetheme of Science BasedClinical Applications –this formed a benchmarkof knowledge from whichthere has been no retreat.

Our second confer-ence was sponsored by theHealth Department of theState of Oregon, theOregon Nurses Association and othergroups. The faculty included a number ofspeakers from European countries and weinvolved the hemp community in theproceedings by discussing the positive impacton health that cannabis used as food, hemp,proffered for sick and well alike. The mainfocus of this forum was to discuss pain of alltypes, since over 70% of the Oregon patientsreported pain relief as their primary purposefor the use of cannabis.

The Third National Clinical Conferenceon Cannabis Therapeutics was held in Mayof 2004 in Charlottesville, VA. It was co-sponsored by the Virginia NursesAssociation, the Pain Management Center

and the Medical, Law and Nursing Schools ofthe University of Virginia, known in the USfor its conservative ways. The faculty includ-ed the world’s finest cannabis researchers,clinicians, patients and caregivers from theUS, England, Israel, and Canada. At thisvenue cannabis use as medicine ranged fromthe therapeutic use by infants and children touse with Hospice patients.

Our Board of Directors includes four ofthe seven US federal cannabis patients left

alive, Irv Rosenfeld, George McMahon,Corrine Millet and Barbara Douglass and afifth patient, Elvy Musikka, is our nationalspokesperson (the other two patients wish toremain anonymous). In the spring of 2001 inMissoula, MT, four of the patients under-went an extensive three-day examination ofevery system in their body to determine thelong term effects of cannabis. Known widelyas The Missoula Chronic Use Study, theinvestigators concluded that after usingcannabis therapeutically for a range of 11 to27 years, with a dose of nine cured ouncesper month for Barbara and others, and elevencured ounces every 26 days for Irv, they wereall in fine condition exempting their originalillness and the wear and tear of age. We

Al Byrne at the 3rd National Clinical Conference on CannabisTherapeutics. Photo courtesy of www.Medicalcannabis.com

assume that the federal government neverbothered to conduct such long-term studiesbecause it did not want to scientifically vali-date the efficacy of cannabis. A thoroughreview of the study, Chronic Cannabis Use inthe Compassionate Investigational New DrugProgram: An Examination of Benefits andAdverse Effects of Legal Clinical Cannabiswas published in the Journal of CannabisTherapeutics and is available for reviewonline at www.medicalcannabis.com.

An ongoing action of which we play apart is the Petition to Reschedule Cannabisthat has been submitted to and forwarded bythe US Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA) to the US Department of Health andHuman Services (HHS). The petition,presented as required by government regula-tions, requests a complete review of all exist-ing literature and research by HHSconcerning medical cannabis with thepurpose of having cannabis rescheduled to aminimum of schedule three (“off label”prescription level) or less. The completedocument is available atwww.drugscience.org. The review must becompleted no later than the summer of 2007by HHS rules. Under US law a finding byHHS that cannabis has medical use wouldrequire the DEA to reschedule cannabis. Thewar on cannabis in the US for medical usewould be over. Advocates for medicalcannabis in the US are being asked to requesttheir elected representatives to press for anexpedited review.

Patients Out of Time is not a membershiporganization. We are a volunteer cabal ofpatients, clinicians and scientists who workin the cannabis arena. We depend upon dona-

tions from individuals and grants fromcompanies and foundations for our financing.These have included GW Pharmaceuticals ofthe UK, Advanced Nutrients of Canada, andthe Marijuana Policy Project and SolvayPharmaceuticals of the US. One hundredpercent of the donations are expensed foreducation. No one takes a wage and no speak-er has ever asked for an honorarium. Westrive to present ourselves as pure to the issue.

We think that purity is very importantand it is highly recommended that ourCanadian cohorts give that look somethought. Our official policy statement isclear: “Patients Out of Time has no otherinterest, nor does the organization have anyopinion, stated or unstated, about any issueother than therapeutic cannabis.” No one isconfused about whom we represent or whatwe want and the federal government hasfound that disarming. No member of thefederal government has ever risen to our callto debate us. The reason is obvious. They cancall us no name except “patient advocates”and we would win.

We also believe that the manner ofpublicly presenting the therapeutic cannabisargument in the US is now counterproduc-tive. Since the beginning of the 1960’s whencannabis had escaped from the jazz world inthe US south and major cities; migrated fromthe dens of the beatniks in Harvard Square;and began its journey through the highschools and colleges of the US, the press, thegovernment, even sometimes by the advo-cates themselves, users of marijuana havebeen presented as young, rebellious, dumband of little value.

A parallel line to this canned image of amarijuana user is the representation of thesepatients by the legal community. The talkshows, political wisdom programs, even“specials” dealing with medical cannabisfeature a lawyer or a lobbyist discussingmedical use. This is not only an ineffectivevisual message, it is the wrong silent messageas well. Our organization believes that theprimary representative who should “face thecamera” in discussions concerning medicalcannabis is a health care professional. This isour basic criteria and we would like you toconsider adopting it in Canada. This is ahealth issue not a legal issue. A health issueshould be discussed and defended by a persontrained in that area of expertise, who has thepractical experience and command of thestate of the art science to do the argumentjustice. Lawyers and lobbyists are not accept-able under that standard. Health care profes-sionals are available and should be utilized bythe funding and lobbying efforts in bothcountries. Medical professionals such as Drs.Ethan Russo, Denis Petro, Mark Ware andJuan Sanchez-Ramos, Registered Nursessuch as Dr. Dreher and M.L. Mathre andspecialists like Michael Aldrich, PhD are allpart of our group and available for the asking.There are others besides Dr. Ware who are inCanada and would present the patients’ caseequally well. If you have the opportunity inthe future to arrange any press event formedical cannabis please consider this advice.

Our next major project is The FourthNational Clinical Conference on CannabisTherapeutics to be held in Santa Barbara,California in a little over a year, hosted byCity College of that location and accreditedby California health organizations. The datesare April 5-8, 2006. The theme of the confer-ence is: The Body-Mind Connection. Whilevarious aspects of clinical use will be covered,the core of the forum will involve both phys-ical cannabis treatment and the use ofcannabis for PTSD, ADD, depression andother emotional or psychological problems.

We would welcome a Canadian counter-part to our educational mission but until thattime we are providing a venue for cannabisscience through our clinical conference series.We have changed the media face of a cannabispatient in the US forever by presenting adignified, composed and articulate cast ofpatients. We have elevated the level ofdiscourse about therapeutic cannabis throughthe education of health care professionals andtheir organizations and associations. We willnot give up or grow weary of making thera-peutic cannabis available for all patients. Wecan’t, we are Patients Out of Time.

20 Cannabis Health

Pat i en t s ou t o f t ime

...that the US governmentpolicy on medical cannabiswas at best, misguided. To usit seemed just plain mean,based on a relentless propa-ganda machine that just liedabout the issue.

Cannabis Health 21

Cannabis for the Management ofPain: Assessment of Safety Study(COMPASS)Funding Agency: CanadianInstitutes of Health Research

Canadian studies have shown that 10-15% of chronic pain sufferers currently usecannabis to treat their pain. The Canadiangovernment has implemented the MarihuanaMedical Access Regulations to allow patientswith severe pain and other symptoms accessto cannabis for medical purposes. Research-grade cannabis is currently cultivated undercontract to Health Canada, and a quality-controlled product has been available formedical and research purposes since early2003. There is considerable pressure forphysicians to manage the distribution of thismaterial to patients who possess the legalright to use it, but physicians and their organ-izations have pointed out the lack of informa-

tion on risks and side-effects associated withmedical use.

The distribution of herbal cannabis topatients under the new regulations hasgenerated concern among provincial medicallicensing authorities, physician advocacygroups and medico-legal advisory groups.Cannabis is an unregulated product, and toolittle is known about the safety and efficacyof cannabis use for physicians and theirinsurers to take responsibility for the supplyof cannabis to patients.

The risks of cannabis use among healthypopulations have been widely studied, butthere is virtually no information on risksassociated with medical use. Concerns aboutrisk of addiction, cognitive impairment,respiratory and cardiovascular damage andendocrine disturbances have been presentedin the research. Chronic pain patients oftentake other medications including pain reliev-ers and antidepressants. Long-term cannabisuse may change the effectiveness of thesedrugs. The potential for long-term effects ofcannabis use on immune function, renal andliver function and interactions with conven-tional medicines are a concern for medicalRob Appleton

22 Cannabis Health

users and their physicians, and need to beaddressed in clinical studies.

A first-of-its-kind study of safety issuessurrounding the medical use of cannabis hasjust been launched. Known as the COMPASSstudy (Cannabis for the Management of Pain;Assessment of Safety Study), the researchinitiative will follow 1400 chronic painpatients, 350 of whom use cannabis as part oftheir pain management strategy, for a one-year period. Seven participating pain clinicsacross Canada are now enrolling patients forthis study. The study is funded by a $1.8million grant from Health Canada throughthe Marijuana Open Label Safety Initiative, agrant partnership program with CanadianInstitutes of Health Research.

The primary objective of this study is tocollect standardized safety data on the use ofcannabis when used in the treatment ofchronic pain. The secondary objectives are todescribe dosage patterns for the various paindisorders, collect data on satisfaction withthe Health Canada cannabis product, explorepredisposing factors for adverse events andexamine the feasibility of web-based adverseevent reporting.

“Patients in COMPASS will typicallyhave pain resulting from spinal cord injuries,multiple sclerosis, arthritis or other kinds ofhard-to-treat neuropathic or muscle pain,”explains Dr. Mark Ware, principal investiga-tor and pain physician at the McGillUniversity Health Centre Pain Centre. “Weare not recruiting cancer patients for thisstudy.”

Patients who are 18 years old or above,with chronic non-cancer pain for 6 monthsor longer, and a diagnosis of moderate-to-severe pain, in whom conventional treat-ments have been considered medicallyinappropriate or inadequate will be eligible.Patients who are pregnant or breast-feeding,

or who have a history of psychosis, or withsignificant and unstable ischemic heartdisease or arthymia, or with significant andunstable bronchopulmonary disease will notbe eligible for enrolment. Recruitment ofparticipants is not dependent on previouscannabis use status, however a history ofdrug dependency or discordance betweenself-reported drug use and urine drug screen-ing would be disqualifying factors.

Only cannabis grown under contract toHealth Canada, by Prairie Plant Systems Inc.

will be used in this study. The cannabis isstandardized to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabi-nol (THC) content (14 +-1%) andcannabidiol (CBD) content (0.4%).Cannabis will be distributed and dispensedby on-site pharmacies in foil packets, eachcontaining 30 grams of dried herbal materi-al. Participants must not use any othersource of cannabis during the study.

Dosage will be established at onset bystudy physicians and will be titrated gradual-ly over a one month period to the desired drugeffect or until intolerable side effects develop.The average daily dosage of cannabis in thisstudy will not exceed 3g per day.

Most current medicinal cannabis usersemploy smoking as the primary deliverysystem, however participants in this studymay use other modes as well, includingvaporization and ingestion in prepared food.Subjects who currently use cannabis willcontinue to use it in the manner to whichthey are accustomed.

All participants will undergo a baselinehealth, medical and quality of life assess-ment. Regular visits with their investigatorwill allow for adjustment of dosage, wherenecessary, and collection of data pertainingto the effects of treatment. Subjects will usetheir usual medication and any changes indosage will be recorded. They will undergoblood and urine tests, heart tests (ECG),chest X-rays and lung function tests at specif-ic intervals during the study, as well as testsof memory and concentration.

All adverse effects will be recorded foreach participant over a one-year follow-up.

The study will provide 350 patient-yearsof safety data on medical cannabis use, witha large control group for comparison. Theinformation gathered will assist in policydecisions and inform discussions of cannabisuse between patients and physicians. Thedata will complement other studies underthis initiative.

The study results will be written upfollowing completion of data collection andanalysis. The total duration of the study,from funding to publication of results, isexpected to be three years.

Patients wishing to participate in theCOMPASS study should call 1-866-302-4636(toll-free) and leave their names and tele-phone numbers. A study coordinator willcontact prospective patients to assesswhether they meet study requirements. Allpatient information will be held in strictconfidence. Further information is availablefrom www.gereq.net/compass.

C o m p a s s

Afirst-of - i ts -kindstudy of safetyissues surroundingthe medical use ofcannabis has justbeen launched.

By, Paul Armentano, senior policy analyst forNORML and the NORML Foundation inWashington, DC. NORML is a nonprofit,public-interest lobby that for more than 30years has provided a voice for those citizenswho oppose marijuana prohibition. NORML,along with its sister organization, theNORML Foundation, seeks through publiceducation, lobbying and public advocacy toassist legislators sympathetic to marijuanalaw reform at the local, state and federal level;educate the public and the media aboutalternatives to criminal prohibition; transforminaccurate and discriminatory stereotypesregarding marijuana users; and sway publicand political opin-ion sufficiently sothat the medicinaland responsible useof cannabis byadults is no longersubject to penalty.To learn more aboutNORML and theNORMLFoundation, pleasevisit:www.norml.org orcall toll free: 1-888-67-NORML.

Pot May Cure CancerBut Not If USPoliticians Have Their WayClinical research published recently in thejournals Cancer Research and BMCMedicine touting the ability of cannabis tostave the spread of certain cancers is thelatest in a three-decade long line of studiesdemonstrating pot’s potential as ananticancer agent.

Not familiar with this research? You’renot alone.

For more than 30 years, politicians andbureaucrats, primarily in the United States,have turned a blind eye to any and all scienceindicating that marijuana may play a role incancer prevention, a finding that was firstdocumented as early as 1974. That year, aresearch team at the Medical College ofVirginia (acting at the behest of the federalgovernment, which must pre-approve all USresearch on marijuana) discovered thatcannabis inhibited malignant tumor cellgrowth in culture and in mice. According tothe study’s results, reported nationally in anAugust 18, 1974, Washington Post newspa-per feature, marijuana’s psychoactive compo-nent THC, “slowed the growth of lungcancers, breast cancers and a virus-inducedleukemia in laboratory mice, and prolongedtheir lives by as much as 36 percent.”

Despite these favorable preliminary find-ings, US government officials dismissed thestudy (which was eventually published in theJournal of the National Cancer Institute in1975), and refused to fund any follow-upresearch until conducting a similar — thoughsecret — clinical trial in the mid-1990s. Thatstudy, conducted by the US NationalToxicology Program to the tune of twomillion dollars, concluded that mice and ratsadministered high doses of THC over long

Cannabis Health 23

C a n c e r C u r e C o v e r U p

24 Cannabis Health

periods had greater protection against malig-nant tumors than untreated controls.

Rather than publicize their findings,government researchers once again shelvedthe results, which only came to light after adraft copy of the findings were leaked in1997 to a medical journal which in turnforwarded the story to the national media.

Nevertheless, in the eight years since thecompletion of the National Toxicology trial,the US government has yet to encourage orfund additional follow-up studies examiningthe drug’s potential to protect against thespread of cancerous tumors.

Fortunately, scientists outside of NorthAmerica have generously picked up whereUS researchers so abruptly left off. In 1998, aresearch team at Madrid’s ComplutenseUniversity discovered that THC can selec-tively induce programmed cell death in braintumor cells without negatively impactingsurrounding healthy cells. Then in 2000,they reported in the journal Nature Medicinethat injections of synthetic THC eradicatedmalignant gliomas (brain tumors) in one-third of treated rats, and prolonged life inanother third by six weeks.

In 2003, researchers at the University ofMilan in Naples, Italy, reported in theJournal of Pharmacology and ExperimentalTherapeutics that non-psychoactivecompounds in marijuana inhibited thegrowth of glioma cells in a dose-dependent

manner, and selectively targeted and killedmalignant cells through a process known asapoptosis.

More recently, researchers reported inthe August 15, 2004 issue of CancerResearch, the journal of the AmericanAssociation for Cancer Research, that mari-juana’s constituents inhibited the spread ofbrain cancer in human tumor biopsies. In arelated development, a research team fromthe University of South Florida further notedthat THC can also selectively inhibit the acti-vation and replication of gamma herpesviruses. The viruses, which can lie dormantfor years within white blood cells beforebecoming active and spreading to other cells,are thought to increase one’s chances ofdeveloping cancers such as Kaposi’s Sarcoma,Burkitt’s lymphoma and Hodgkin’s disease.

Regrettably, politicians in North Americahave been little swayed by these results, andremain steadfastly opposed to the notion ofsponsoring — or even acknowledging — thisgrowing body of clinical research. Their stub-born refusal to do so is a disservice not onlyto the scientific process, but also to the healthof the seriously ill.

Nonetheless, it appears that their silencewill be unable to put this genie back in thebottle, as overseas research continues tomove forward at a staggering pace. Writinglast fall in the journal of the AmericanSociety of Hematology, researchers at SaintBartholomew’s Hospital in London reported

that THC induces cell death (apoptosis) inthree leukemic cell lines. Authors furthernoted that the cannabinoid appears to func-tion in manner different than standardchemotherapeutic agents such as cisplatin,and begins taking effect within mere hoursafter administration.

Swiss researchers are also weighing in onthe use of cannabinoids’ anticancer proper-ties, reporting in a recent study published inthe Journal of Neuropathology andExperimental Neurology that endogenouscannabinoids (naturally occurringcompounds in the body that bind to the samereceptors as the cannabinoids in marijuana)induced apoptosis in long-term and recentlyestablished glioma cell lines. Even morenotably, a review article published inSeptember in the journalNeuropharmacology concluded that cannabi-noids’ ability to selectively target and killmalignant cells set the basis for their poten-tial use in the management of various typesof cancers.

Unfortunately, as long as NorthAmerican politicians continue putting potpolitics before patients’ lives, it appears thatany potential breakthroughs regarding thepotentially curative powers of cannabis willonly emerge in a land far, far away — wellbeyond the reach of close-mindedWashington and Canadian bureaucrats.

Cannabis Health 25

C a n c e r C u r e C o v e r U p

Human Hemp Hea l t h

Hemp Users Medical AccessNetwork – HUMAN

Author: Blaine Dowdle,Founder/Operator

Human beings and cannabis haveenjoyed a symbiotic relationship stretchingback to the dawn of civilization. It has arecorded history of being used as a foodsource, medicine and raw material for manyindustries for at least the past 8000 years.However, during the past hundred years ofthe “modern” era blind forces have driven usinto a disconnected relationship with natureand the ability of the earth to sustain ourmaterial needs. Prohibition against cannabiswas one of the main instruments deceptivelyconceived in order to break down society’sagricultural and natural foundation and toprotect the interests and resource monopoliesof major petrochemical companies. Many

cannabis-based industries were preventedfrom developing and the single most balancedfood source for humanity, the cannabis seed,was removed from our food supply. In addi-tion, the pharmaceutical industry refused toutilize the traditional therapeutic propertiesof cannabis. As a result, millions of peoplewith common and chronic conditions wereprevented from gaining access to the safeeffective relief cannabis could have provided.As time progressed, the ills and toxicity ofexclusively using petrochemicals and phar-maceuticals became more apparent and noalternative was widely recognized ordiscussed. What’s more, the nutritional defi-ciencies of the processed diet were beingrecognized as having detrimental individualand societal health effects with no curativedietary alternative available. Rightfully thissituation was not unchallenged and, thanksto the dedicated work of thousands of indi-

viduals, the hidden truth about cannabis andits unique ability to ease the harms in each ofthese situations was not forgotten.

In the bustling metropolis of the GreaterToronto Area lives a large contingent of ther-apeutic cannabis users who have found thebenefits of cannabis outweigh the propagan-da, hassle and fear of obtaining it. Whetherthey had difficulty finding access to cannabisseed or oil, or locating safe effective medicalgrade cannabis, many had to expose them-selves to the dangerous nature of the blackmarket just to access nutritional or medicaltreatment. This eased somewhat in the late1990’s with the resurrection of the commer-cial cultivation of cannabis for food andtextiles on Canadian farms, and the monu-mental Parker decision requiring a constitu-tional medical exemption. The continuedprohibition on cannabis handcuffed thefledgling food and textile industries in red

26 Cannabis Health

Human Hemp Hea l t h

tape and delayed the effective implementa-tion of the Parker decision with confusion. Asbefore, it was the role of the individuals whohad benefited first hand from the nutritiveand medical benefits of cannabis to enlightenthe populace. Unfortunately the FederalGovernment’s reluctance to forge aheadboldly with this situation has left therapeuticusers of cannabis with many gaps in theirability to utilize and access cannabis healthproducts. Through hard work and determina-tion many organizations across the countryhave strived to fill specific needs within thecurrent framework for cannabis access.

The reintegration of cannabis intopeople’s daily lifestyles could be the singlemost important step in moving towards ahealthier society. In 2003, during the periodof court ordered licensing of compassionclubs by the Hitzig decision, the Hemp UsersMedical Access Network (HUMAN) wasformed. HUMAN is a new style ofCompassion Club, one dedicated to integrat-ing and emphasizing the whole plantapproach to cannabis health. It incorporatesthe incredible nutritional benefits of the seedwith the medicinal properties of the flowers.With this fusion a better realization of thefull health potential of cannabis can beemphasized and our members can utilize it towork towards optimal health.

Many people familiar with the medicaluse of cannabis have never been exposed tothe nutritional benefitsof the same plant and areamazed at the differencethat it can make in theiroverall health. The activeingredients when ingest-ed are vital for a strongimmune system, healthyskin, mental stability andgeneral good health.Many members atHUMAN have hadsuccess in reducingdepression and incidenceof illness. The essentialfatty acids (Omega 3, 6,9) found in the seed arethe foundation elementsto the normal develop-ment and functioning ofcells throughout thebody. We cannot produceEFA’s internally and theyare hard to find in theNorth American diet.Shelled cannabis seedsalso have a good balanceof protein, good fat andcarbohydrates that makethem a well-roundeddietary package.

Hemp seed has a high content of theenzyme lipase, which is used for removingplaque buildup from arteries and cellmembranes. EFA’s and especially GLA, havebeen found beneficial in treating variouscancers, and studies have shown that phytos-terols may offer protection against colon,breast and prostate cancers. Loss of EFA’s hasbeen found in neurodegenerative disorderslike Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases,and it has been suggested that a diet with aproper balance of EFA’s may help delay orreduce the effects of these diseases. AlsoGLA has been found effective for treatingrheumatoid arthritis. The GLA and vitaminD content of hemp seed may make thembeneficial in preventing and treating osteo-porosis. EFAs have been found capable ofreversing scaly skin disorder, inflammation,excessive epidermal water loss, itch, and poorwound healing caused by EFA deficiency,and GLA has been shown to be beneficial foratopic eczema and psoriasis. Hemp seed alsocontains the direct metabolites of linoleic andalpha-linolenic acid which are gammalinolenic acid (GLA) and steariodonic acid(SDA), respectively. Because of this, it cancompliment an impaired EFA metabolismwhich may result from genetic factors, theintake of other fats, aging and lifestylepatterns.

Hemp seed oil has a sunflower, walnutflavor and may be used straight (1-2 table-spoons per day) or in place of all other

vegetable oils; salad dressings, sauces, andlow temperature cooking. Hemp seeds andtheir oil are recognized by the World HealthOrganization as a natural anti-oxidant, as theonly balanced source of Essential Fatty Acids(EFA’s) with a perfect 3:1 ratio of Omega 6 to3. As well as possessing the complete spec-trum of all the essential Amino Acids. Interms of its nutrient content, shelled hempseed is 34.6% protein, 46.5% fat, and 11.6%carbohydrates. (See Chart Below)

Blaine is the author of this great article, amedical cannabis user and one of the originalfounding members of HUMAN. In gradefour he began to experience intense stressrelated migraine headaches. Tests wereordered, but the doctors gave him no explana-tion or treatment. Stress reduction was theonly way to prevent the debilitatingmigraines. At age 14 he developed a non-interest in eating and a slight shake in hishands that the doctors diagnosed as essentialtremors. Blaine’s condition persisted foryears, making it difficult for him to take onextra projects or challenging work, as theadditional stress would bring on anotherpainful episode. It wasn’t until after gradua-tion that he tried cannabis for the first time.He found it alleviated the stress and anxietyhe generally felt and it allowed him theopportunity to clearly focus and complete a

Chart Courtesy of Hemphasis

Cannabis Health 27

Human Hemp Hea l t h

task without the onset of debilitating pain.About five years ago, Blaine started usingcannabis seed oil as a dietary supplement andhe quickly realized the amazing benefits tohis mood and energy levels. Like manyothers, Blaine had to educate not onlyhimself, but his friends and family on thetherapeutic properties of cannabis. It tookeight years to gain the support of his family,and during the whole process he has not had

one recurrent migraine. Blaine’s story is atrue testament to the efficacy of cannabis.We asked Blaine why he decided to become acannabis activist and this is what he said:

“I am so indebted to the healing proper-ties of cannabis for allowing me to live anormal healthy life that I jumped at theopportunity to help bring the healing knowl-edge of the cannabis plant to others. Theexperiences at HUMAN have all beenrewarding. Following along with people’sups and downs and sharing in the joys ofdiscovering new ideas and solutions tohealth challenges are all part of this greatwork. It has allowed me to witness first-hand

the miraculous posi-tive effects cannabiscan have in the lives ofordinary Canadianssuffering from a widevariety of conditions.For me there has beenno greater joy thanfinding a productiveway to help alleviatethe harms associatedwith continuedcannabis prohibition,which is the one of thelargest threats tohuman health.”

Hemp UsersMedical AccessNetwork (HUMAN)extends its services topeople with Cancer,AIDS/HIV, MultipleSclerosis, SeizureDisorder, Glaucoma,Muscular Dystrophy,Hepatitis, Spinal CordInjury, Arthritis,Intractable Pain, PMS,Fibromyalgia orMigraine with a state-ment of diagnosis froma physician. Manyother conditions applywith Doctors recom-

mendation. HUMAN offers a selection ofaffordable fresh high quality food productsfrom Manitoba Harvest and Hempola alongwith access to high quality medical cannabis.From humble beginnings of being a deliveryservice to a few original members,HUMAN’s office now services the westernGreater Toronto Area’s need for support,information and access to affordable, safeand clean therapeutic cannabis products.More information about HUMAN can befound at: www.humanhemphealth.ca

Blaine Dowdle one of the original founding members of HUMAN

Bruce Mirken, a longtime health journalistwhose work has appeared in Men’s Health,AIDS Treatment News and the San FranciscoChronicle, now serves as director of communica-tions for the Marijuana Policy Project,www.mpp.org.

MEDICAL MARIJUANAIN THE US

Overwhelming Support,Steady Progress, FierceResistance By Bruce Mirken,

2004 was a year ofsignificant progress towardlegal access to medical mari-juana for all U.S. patientswho need it. It was a yearin which it became increas-ingly clear that the battlewould ultimately be won,with strong support emerg-ing in some of the mostconservative corners of thecountry. Unfortunately, itbecame equally clear thatwe still face fierce resist-ance, a sort of politicaltrench warfare against welldug-in, wealthy, powerfulopponents.

The good news is that itis now plain that thoseopponents are true dead-enders, no different thanthat handful of Japanesesoldiers holed up on aPacific island in 1947, stillfighting World War II longafter the battle was lost.They cannot win, even asthey cling to discreditedarguments and obviouslyphony “facts.”

These dead-enders —mostly in the Bush administration, the feder-al Department of Justice, some other lawenforcement agencies and a few private thinktanks that do their bidding — are still fight-ing, in the U.S. Congress, state legislatures,and most recently in the U.S. Supreme Court.There the Bush administration is seeking theright to arrest patients even when their activ-ities are legal under state law, and even whenthe patient’s doctor determines that medicalmarijuana is essential to their very survival.But in the long run they won’t prevail.

Why am I so certain of this? For onething, public opinion is overwhelminglyagainst them. Measures to permit medical useof marijuana continued an unbrokenwinning streak at the polls during 2004, mostprominently with a decisive November winin the state of Montana. George W. Bushcarried this highly Republican, conservativestate with 59 percent of the vote, but theMarijuana Policy Project’s medical marijuanainitiative got 62 percent, outpolling the presi-dent by three points. A bit of number-crunch-ing shows that even a lot of Montanans whovoted to ban same-sex marriage also voted to

legalize medical marijuana. Clearly, even“family values” voters don’t see anything pro-family in locking up sick people for using anherb their doctor has recommended.

2004 also saw a string of local victories.In August, voters in the city of Detroit passeda local medical marijuana law by 59 percentto 41 percent, despite the opposition of themayor and the city’s two daily newspapers.In November, similar measures passed in thecities of Columbia, Missouri and Ann Arbor,Michigan, with 69 percent and 74 percent ofthe vote, respectively.

That’s no surprise. National and statepolls on medical marijuana consistentlyshow overwhelming margins in favor —including 75 percent support in independent,statewide polls in Alabama and Texasconducted during 2004. These are among thereddest of the conservative-dominated “redstates” that U.S. pundits speak of so often,the very heart of Pres. Bush’s political base.What is striking in these polls is how supportfor medical marijuana cuts across every agegroup, race, ideology or political affiliation.Sixty-seven percent of Texas Republicans,not a bunch of latte-sipping liberals, supportlegal access to medical marijuana for the seri-ously ill. There is simply no constituency inthe U.S. for arresting and jailing seriously illpatients for using medical marijuana, andsooner or later America’s spineless politi-cians will be dragged kicking and screamingtoward a policy based on science, compassionand common sense.

Also in 2004, Vermont became thesecond state to pass a medical marijuana lawthrough its state legislature. The Bush WhiteHouse weighed in against the bill, andRepublican Governor James Douglas opposedit, but he allowed it to become law becausethe public support was so overwhelming.

This tide of public support brought out ahint of desperation in the White House offi-cials and other drug war bureaucrats who bynow constitute the only viable opposition tomedical marijuana. In the past they havebuilt their case on distortions, exaggerations,and taking small snippets of data that seem tosupport their case out of context, whilesimply ignoring the mass of information thatcontradicts them. But in 2004 they increas-ingly resorted to blatant, bald-faced lies.

For example, as the Illinois state legislaturebegan considering a medical marijuana bill(which eventually was stalled and will beconsidered this year), the Chicago Tribunepublished a column by Dr. Andrea Barthwell,then deputy director of the White House Officeof National Drug Control Policy. Barthwell’spiece included this amazing paragraph:

“There is a variety of existing, scientifi-cally proven options available to patients in

Mar i j uana Po l i c y P ro jec t

28 Cannabis Health

June 6, 2002 — MPP’s Bruce Mirken is arrested as he takes partin a national day of protest against the DEA. Photo/Credit: MPP

need of pain relief. Among these is the FDA-approved medicine Marinol. But smokedmarijuana advocates refuse to acknowledgeMarinol as a viable option. Interestinglyenough, the only property that Marinol lacksis the capacity to create a ‘high.’”

This preposterous claim is directly refut-ed by Marinol’s Food and DrugAdministration-approved package insert,reproduced in full in the Physician’s DeskReference, a standard reference book seen invirtually every physician’s office. Barthwellsurely knows this, she is many things, butstupid is not one of them, yet she told theTribune’s 700,000 readers a shameless lie.The zealots making drug policy in the Bushadministration, having run out of even faint-ly legitimate arguments and desperate toportray medical marijuana patients as abunch of stoners simply looking for anexcuse to get high, have abandoned even theflimsiest veneer of truth.

These guys are running scared, and theyshould be. The array of prominent individu-als and organizations publicly supportinglegal access to medical marijuana continuesto grow. Recent additions include televisiontalk show host Montel Williams (who usesmedical marijuana to control the symptomsof multiple sclerosis), the American NursesAssociation, the American Academy of HIVMedicine, the Rhode Island Medical Society,and the Medical Society of the State of NewYork, among others. Still, if recent historytells us anything, it’s that progress will notcome easily. During 2005, the battle willcontinue on several fronts:THE COURTS

On Nov. 29, the U.S. Supreme Courtheard arguments in Raich v. Ashcroft, animportant case whose implications weresometimes misunderstood by the newsmedia. The case began when two Californiapatients, protected under state law, sued the

federal government in an attempt to gainprotection from arrest by federal law enforce-ment agencies. After a federal appeals courtfound in their favor, the U.S. JusticeDepartment appealed to the Supreme Court.

Contrary to some media accounts, thiscase cannot overturn the medical marijuanalaws now in force in ten states. The federalgovernment has never challenged the right ofstates to pass such laws, and their validity isnot at issue now. The only question beforethe court is whether these laws also givepatients protection from enforcement offederal marijuana laws, or whether the feder-al government has the constitutional author-ity to arrest patients despite those laws.

This may sound like a narrow, technicaldistinction, but the federal governmentmakes only one percent of all U.S. marijuanaarrests. Ninety-nine percent are made bystate and local police acting under state law.While ninety-nine percent protection fromarrest isn’t perfect, it is substantial — andnot in danger. Even if the federal governmentprevails, there is no danger of state medicalmarijuana laws being overturned. A decisionis expected this spring.

One disturbing note in the Nov. 29 hear-ing was Justice Breyer’s suggestion that thepatients should “go to the FDA” to get mari-juana approved as a medicine. That, he said,

was “the obvious way to get what theywant.” Alas, the door to FDA approval ofmarijuana has been effectively closed by thefederal bureaucracy, and just two weeks afterthe Supreme Court hearing, the DrugEnforcement Administration put a doublepadlock on that door.RESEARCH AND REGULATION

That door-slamming came in the form ofa letter from the DEA to University ofMassachusetts Amherst Professor LyleCraker, who had applied for approval toestablish a facility that would produce mari-juana for U.S. Food and DrugAdministration-approved research.Currently, all marijuana for research in theU.S. must come from a National Institute on

Mar i j uana Po l i c y P ro jec t

Cannabis Health 29

Drug Abuse-contracted farm in Mississippi.NIDA’s marijuana has been only inconsis-tently available to researchers and cannot beused for prescription sale.

The DEA letter — a minor masterpieceof distortion and plain falsity — told Crakerthat the project “would not be consistentwith the public interest,” and refused hisrequest. This means that the federal govern-ment retains its monopoly on marijuana forresearch. It also makes FDA approval ofmarijuana effectively impossible, since test-ing aimed at such approval would need to bedone on the same product that would be soldto patients — something that is not possiblewith NIDA’s Mississippi-grown supply.

Craker and his collaborators at theMultidisciplinary Association forPsychedelic studies plan to appeal, but theprocess could take years and conceivablydecades. Separately, the DEA is sitting on apetition to reschedule marijuana under feder-al law so that prescriptions would be legallypermissible. Unfortunately, the DEA’s disin-terest in science leaves little reason to expectfavorable action anytime soon.

And that leaves patients and their advo-cates with only one real option for expandingpatient protection anytime soon: changingstate and federal laws.CONGRESS AND STATELEGISLATURES

The Marijuana Policy Project plans anaggressive lobbying effort during 2005. Ourpast efforts have taught us that politiciansremain skittish about the issue, and it cantake several years to get a medical marijuanabill through all the legislative hurdles. Still,our success in Vermont last year proved itcan be done. We made major strides in anumber of states last year, and plan to buildon that momentum this year.

At the top of the list is New York, whereour efforts got a big boost from personallobbying by Montel Williams and a massivepile of endorsements, including the statemedical society, the New York StateAssociation of County Health Officials, thecity councils of three cities, including NewYork City, and even Manhattan’s districtattorney. Similarly strong coalitions alsoexist in Rhode Island and Connecticut.Efforts in other states aren’t as far along, buteven in these there are signs of hope: InIllinois, for example, as soon as MPP’smedical marijuana bill was introduced, it wasendorsed by the state’s two largest newspa-pers, the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times.It’s never safe to make predictions, but we arecautiously optimistic about making realprogress.

In the U.S. Congress, things will not beeasy, but here too there are opportunities forprogress. In the House of Representatives wenow have a solid core of over 150 members

who have voted to end federal attacks onpatients. And late in 2004 the first-ever pro-medical marijuana Senate bill was intro-duced, and it will be reintroduced in the newCongress convening this year. Progress in thestates will continue to build pressure forCongress to adopt national policies based onscience and common sense instead of mythand fear.

The key to making all of this happen isgrassroots support. Vermont has a medicalmarijuana law today because last yearVermonters deluged their state capitol withletters, calls, faxes and emails demandingthat it be passed. With that kind of pressure,we can make progress nationwide in 2005.And that is where Cannabis Health readerscome in.

To receive free email alerts about pendinglegislation and other important news, logonto www.mpp.org, then click on the linkthat says “Subscribe to MPP alerts.” U.S. resi-dents can enter their state and have alertscustomized for their location, but you cansign up no matter where you live.

We are moving forward steadily, and eachvictory brings us a step closer to the daywhen laws that criminalize the sick for usingmedical marijuana will seem as bizarre andincomprehensible as the burning of witches.With your help, we will win. Please join us.

30 Cannabis Health

E-mail: jconroy@johnconroy.comWebsite: www.johnconroy.com

CONROY & COMPANYBarristers and Solicitors

JOHN W.CONROY, Q.C.Barrister and Solicitor2459 Pauline StreetAbbotsford, B.C.Canada V2S 3S1 Ph: 604-852-5110

Toll Free:1-877-852-5110Fax: 604-859-3361

Mar i j uana Po l i c y P ro jec t

Robert is an Associate Professor and theChairman of the Biology Department at theUniversity of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Heis the father of two girls (ages 35 and 25) andtwo boys ages (20 months and three weeks).He’s also a registered medical marijuana userand has consumed cannabis for 41 years.http://www.uccs.edu/~rmelamed/

Medical Marijuana: Can helpbiochemical balance / nature’s solu-tion for inflammatory painIntroduction

Modern biology provides new avenuesfor rational drug design. This approach,made possible with modern tools such ashigh through-put screening and our rapidlydeveloping biochemical knowledge, allowsdrug companies to develop new products forvery specific pharmacological targets. Thispaper briefly introduces a systems perspec-tive of health and disease in order to demon-strate the dangers that arise whentherapeutic targets are not viewed from amore holistic perspective. The biochemicalconsequences of inhibiting cyclooxygenase torelieve inflammatory pain will be comparedwith the use of medical marijuana.

Complex systemsAll life is dependant upon the mainte-

nance of its dynamic organization throughsufficient input of nutrients and removal ofwastes. The more complicated an organism,the more complex the coordination requiredto accomplish the essential tasks required tomaintain this vital flow of inputs andoutputs. Coordination requires communica-tion. Cells communicate by thousands ofdifferent, but specific receptors on cellsurfaces that respond to thousands of differ-ent, but also specific molecules (ligands) that

bind to the receptors. A receptor that isbound to its activating ligand causesbiochemical changes to occur in the cell. Inresponse to such regulatory signals on thecell surface, biochemical regulation withinthe cell occurs at the level of gene expressionas well as at the level of enzyme action.Ultimately, these changes, through complexbiochemical pathways, allow cells to divide,carry out specialized tasks, lie dormant, ordie. Any of these cellular activities, when notproperly coordinated, can result in illness.The coordination typically involves a ther-mostat-like balance of opposing forces oftenmanifesting as pro- and anti-inflammatoryactivities. Evolution has selected the endo-cannabinoid (internally produced marijuana-like compounds) system as a central player inmaintaining biochemical homeostasis.

The Endocannabinoid SystemThe endocannabinoid system appears to

be quite ancient with some of its compo-nents dating back approximately 600 millionyears to when the first multi-cellular organ-isms appeared. The beginnings of themodern cannabinoid system are found inmollusks and hydra. As evolution proceeded,the role that the cannabinoid system playedin animal life continuously increased. It isnow known that this system maintainshomeostasis within and across the organiza-tional scales of all animals. Within a cell,cannabinoids control basic metabolic

Cannabis Health 31

C a n n a b i s & B i o c h e m i c a l B a l a n c e

Dr. Robert Melamede

processes such as glucose metabolism.Cannabinoids regulate inter-cellular commu-nication, especially in the immune and nerv-ous systems. In general, cannabinoidsmodulate and coordinate tissues, organs andbody systems. (including the cardiovascular,digestive, endocrine, excretory, immune,musculo-skeletal, nervous, reproductive, andrespiratory systems). Because cannabinoidshave such a broad spectrum of biologicalactivities, they are involved directly or indi-rectly with many illnesses.

The endocannabinoid system has numer-ous components. Endocannabinoids must besynthesized, bind to and activate receptors,and ultimately they must also be brokendown. The breakdown is not simply abiochemical garbage disposal system. Rather,the breakdown products themselves havebiological activity often mediated by theirown array of receptors with associatedbiochemical modifications. Life and health issustained by an intricate and multi-dimen-sional, dynamic biochemical balancing act.Disease states result from imbalances inbiochemical flow. Our pharmaceutical andmedical industries focus on developing andusing drugs to terminate pathways that areexcessively active or to activate those that arenot active enough. This process typicallyignores the complex web of biochemicalflows where the basic rule is that the whole isgreater than the sum of its parts.

Changing Health RequirementsWith the discovery of antibiotics and

increased public health, the leading cause ofdeath in the United States has shifted overthe last century from infectious diseases,especially those involving intracellular para-sites such as Leishmania, Legionella, andTuberculosis, to age-related diseases such ascardiovascular, autoimmune, neurologicaldisorders and cancers. All of these diseases,including the aging process itself, are thought

to have free radicals as causative agents. Freeradicals are highly reactive chemicals that areproduced as a result of using oxygen to burnfood for fuel. They modify proteins, DNA,RNA, lipids and carbohydrates thus reducingthe efficiency of biochemical processes andleading to genetic changes in cells.

Current scientific literature regardingcannabis indicates that its use may be benefi-cial for many age-related diseases because ofthe prominent role that free radical-induceddamage appears to play in these often inflam-matory diseases. In general, free radicals canbe viewed as biochemical friction whilecannabinoids are the biochemical oil of life.Essentially, cannabinoids exhibit anti-agingproperties. This view is supported by thedecreased lifespan of cannabinoid receptor

(CB1) knockout mice (mice lacking the mainneurological cannabinoid receptor), andconversely, the increased longevity of micefed THC. An overwhelming number of scien-tific studies also demonstrate the impact ofthe cannabinoid system on all classes of age-related diseases mentioned above.

Cyclooxygenases:Mediators of Inflammation

Cyclooxygenases (COX-1 and 2), alsoknown as prostaglandin synthases, have beena pharmaceutical target for inhibitionbecause of their role in generating lipidmetabolites that often promote inflammatoryreactions and which have a fundamental rolein the etiology of age-related diseases andtheir associated pain (for example arthritis).COX enzymes were logical targets for drugdevelopment since the inhibition of theseenzymes is the mechanism by which aspirinworks. However, COX-1 helps protect thelining of the stomach, which is why excessaspirin and NSAID use leads to stomachbleeding and ulcers. As a result, the pharma-ceutical industry developed specificinhibitors of COX-2. These drugs have been

32 Cannabis Health

C a n n a b i s & B i o c h e m i c a l B a l a n c e

The endocannabinoidsystem appears to be quiteancient with some of itscomponents dating backapproximately 600 millionyears to when the firstmulti-cellular organismsappeared.

hugely successful, both in terms of relievingpain and in terms of being highly profitablefor drug companies. However, recent studiesdemonstrate that these drugs are not as safeas expected. Vioxx was the first of thesedrugs to be associated with heart and circu-latory problems, and was soon followed byCelebrex, and most recently, by the over-the-counter medication Aleve. The significanceof this problem is dramatic. For examplethere have been 20 million prescriptions forVioxx resulting in a possible 27,000 heartattacks and deaths.The accompanyingfigure suggests why inhibiting COX-2 isdangerous. Arachidonic acid is an essentialfatty acid (an omega 6) and its breakdownleads to a variety of downstream pro-inflam-matory lipid metabolites. Inhibiting theirproduction was assumed to be beneficial forinflammatory conditions and their associat-ed pain. We now know that arachidonic acid(AA) can be modified by other enzymes togenerate arachidonic acid ethanol amine(AEA) which is one of a growing list ofmarijuana-like compounds known as endo-cannabinoids. AEA, acting throughcannabinoid receptors and its metabolitesacting through other receptors, have anti-inflammatory activities. Furthermore,cannabinoids are protective for cardiacmuscle cells and nerve cells. Additionally,AEA has demonstrated pain-relieving prop-erties by binding to vanalloid receptors onpain transmitting neurons. Thus, instead of

restoring the biochemical balance of pro-and anti- inflammatory activities by admin-istering cannabinoids, COX inhibitors shutdown both the inflammatory and protectiveactivities of COX products.

Personalized PharmaceuticalsAdditional insights into the medicinal

properties of medical marijuana can begained by further examining the biochem-istry associated with the COX enzymes.Medical marijuana patients report profounddifferences in the therapeutic efficacy ofdifferent cannabis strains. There are oversixty cannabinoid-like compounds found inmarijuana, and their ratios vary from strainto strain. The combination of COX and otherlipid metabolizing enzymes (such as lipoxy-genases) will produce a spectrum of biologi-cal active metabolites. The medicalmarijuana patient is best qualified to deter-mine what works most effectively forhis/her particular illness. Unlike conven-tional pharmaceuticals, cannabis has anincredibly high therapeutic index requiringthousands of times the therapeutic dosebefore potential harm might occur, therebynegating the arguments for FDA oversight.Fortunately, for those who could benefitfrom medical marijuana but who also want astandardized, consistent medicine, GWPharmaceuticals is developing commercialpharmaceutical grade extracts of cannabis ina fast acting oral spray format. Approval is

currently pending in England, the EU andCanada. Bayer AG will market the first ofthese products, Sativex.

SummaryRather than restoring biochemical

balance, COX inhibitors turn down theproduction of inflammatory mediatorswhile also turning down the production ofendocannabinoids thus inhibiting theirassociated cardiovascular and neurologicalprotective effects. For many people, depend-ing on their genetics and personal history,COX inhibitors may be safe. However, forothers this type of medication can be lethal.A safe alternative to inhibiting the COXenzymes exists. For many patients sufferingfrom pain related to inflammation and age-related diseases, the use of medical marijua-na would enhance the protective propertiesof the endocannabinoid system while alsoreducing inflammation and its associatedpain. The rapid change in the causes ofdeath in a modern society requires biochem-ical adaptation at a rate more rapid thanevolution can provide. Fortunately, makingsure we consume essential fatty acids, theprecursors for endocannabinoids, and usingmedical marijuana provides us with safemedicine that directly addresses the needsof an aging population.

Cannabis Health 33

C a n n a b i s & B i o c h e m i c a l B a l a n c e

Hello weedeaters! For those of youwho don’t know me, I’m Joey, aka PuffMama. I run a cannabis bakery throughmy private club in Toronto. I sell mostlyto exemptees and compassion clubs, and

I pop up at various festivals. I don’t sellto the general public, but I will tell youall my secrets so you can do it yourselfand keep the revolution alive! Thefollowing recipe is dead easy and deadly! IngredientsBudder Pecan Pie1/2 cup cannabutter, 3 large eggs, 1 cupwhite sugar, 3/4 cup light corn syrup,1/4 cup honey, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/4 tspsalt, 1 cup chopped pecans , softly pre-baked pie crust, whipped or ice creamDirections:

1 Pre-heat oven to 300°F2 On low heat, in a saucepan, watch

the cannabutter, but don’t stir until itstarts to go a shade darker and sizzles.Give one good stir and set aside.

3 In a blender or food processor,blend the eggs, sugar, syrup, honey,

vanilla and salt until smooth. Add thebrowned butter. Then stir in thechopped pecans.

4 Pour the mixture into the pie crust,and bake for 30 - 40 mins, or until thefilling has firmed. Remove and cooluncovered on a rack.

5 Serve at room temperature withwhipped or ice cream.

To find more recipes and how tomake the cannabis butter, go towww.puffmama.ca and click on recipes.You’ll find tons of excerpts and recipes(including a vegan section!) from myzine style cookbooks, the CannabutterCookbook, The Hard-Core CannabisCookbook and How to Eat Hemp. Awhole new world of flavour and funawaits!

34 Cannabis Health

P u f f M a m a : C o o k i n g W i t h C a n n a b i s