Atamanenko spends time with constituents
by Mona Mattei on 07 Feb 2010
MP Alex Atamanenko, B.C. Southern Interior meets with the Grand Forks and Boundary Regional Agricultural Society; Photo, Mona Mattei
Taking advantage of the prorogued Parliament, MP Alex Atamanenko spent some time in Grand Forks meeting with constituents. During the day on Jan. 14, Atamanenko met with community members at the Grand Forks Public Library in open sessions. In separate meetings, he spent time with both the agriculture society and the medical marijuana support group.
The Grand Forks and Boundary Regional Agricultural Society (GFBRAS) met with Atamanenko at Selkirk College to discuss the abattoir project. Over 18 people were present to express concerns over the slow progress on the project and the roadblocks to moving the abattoir forward. GFBRAS has been working with the B.C. Meat Industry Enhancement Strategy contractors to create a mobile abattoir for the region that will be able to process multiple species of animals and poultry. The design is a new one for the province. Also present at the meeting was Abra Brynne, a contractor with the B.C. Food Processors Association (BCFPA) who is a regional support person for GFBRAS in this project.
"I've learned a lot today," said Atamanenko. "I want to thank all of you for your hard work with Doug (Zorn) on a number of issues facing agriculture in this area."
Atamanenko heard the groups frustration over the ongoing difficulties in working with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. He also was able to follow up with the federal government's Community Adjustment funding program where GFBRAS had submitted a proposal for funding to complete the project. While the project has not been chosen for funding, it is still in the running but Atamanenko was unable to determine a final date when the organization will know one way or another.
GFBRAS already has a $100,000 commitment in funding for the abattoir from the BCFPA and will need to match that funding in order to build their mobile unit. Basic approval from the BCCDC has been received, but a number of modifications are still required before the unit can be built. Community Futures Boundary has also committed $10,000 for GFBRAS to get detailed engineered plans developed for the abattoir's next step prior to actual building of the unit.
Atamanenko also spent time with Grand Forks medical marijuana support group. Members shared their stories of the challenges of their diseases such as cancer with Atamanenko, and their frustrations with unsuccessful prescription medications to treat their symptoms and conditions. Some members were licensed as Health Canada medical marijuana licensees, some were family members of medical marijuana users and some were concerned citizens.
“The use of medical marijuana is legal, but unfortunately access is often denied,” said Atamanenko. “The licensing process can be onerous to a sick person, much more so than obtaining a normal prescription.”
“At our meeting, I listened to some gut-wrenching stories of people suffering from various illnesses who have had difficulty in obtaining medical marijuana. This should not be the case. The social stigma of marijuana should not create barriers to prevent patients from obtaining necessary treatments to alleviate suffering.”
The support group assists patients to complete Health Canada applications to obtain medical marijuana licenses, with their doctor’s approval. Marijuana has been shown to bring relief for some chronic conditions like Multiple Sclerosis and helpful in pain maintenance for cancer patients, for example. The support group also provides a safe, compassionate space to converse with other medical marijuana users and supporters and gain education on the medicinal plant and its health applications.
The group is petitioning government leaders to promote the goal of the B.C. government assuming the regulation and licensing of medical marijuana under the Ministry of Health. The use of marijuana as a medicine has been legal since 2001, and the group believes it should be treated in a similar way to other prescription drugs.
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Comments
dignified safe access to medical marijuana
For your readers information below is the fact sheet and accompanying motion I will make at the city council regular meeting Monday February 8, 2010. Respectfully submitted, Joy Davies, Councillor, Grand Forks.
FACT SHEET:
1. In 2001, cannabis was made legal for medicinal use under the Health Canada’s MMAR (Marihuana Medical Access Regulations) programme.
2. In the 9 years that the program has been operating only 4029 people in Canada have been approved for the MMAR programme, 1008 of them British Columbians. (Health Canada Website, Stakeholder statistic, June 2009). There are over a million medical users of Marijuana in Canada. (Canadian Center for Substance Abuse Addictions Survey 2004). Approximately 10,000 people will die each year in Canada from harmful effects of medicines. (Women and Health Protection, 1998 www.shp-apsf.ca) whereas no people have ever died from using marijuana (Cannabis facts for Canadians, /www.cannabisfacts.ca). Marijuana is used for ADD/ADHD, AIDS, Anorexia, Arthritis, Asthma, Auto Accidents, Alzheimer’s Disease, Brain Injury, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Chronic Pain, Chronic Nausea, Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, Epilepsy, ESRD/dialysis patients, Side effects from Dialysis, Fibromyalgia, Glaucoma, HIV, Head Injury, Hypertension, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Migraines, Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscle Spasms, Nausea, Paraplegia, Parkinson’s Disease, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Quadriplegia, Radiation Therapy, Seizure Disorders, Sleep Disorders, Spinal Cord Injury/Disease, Sports Injury, Tourette’s Syndrome.
3. There are doctors in the Kootenays who are not yet aware that cannabis is legal for medicinal purposes. (patient testimony) . “The medicinal properties cannabis became part of Western medicine in the mid-19 century when cannabis strains from Egypt and India were imported by the French and British, respectively. Between 1840 and 1940, English, Irish, French and then North American physicians and pharmacists testified to the usefulness of various cannabis preparations for pain relief and other conditions including malaria, rheumatism, migraine headaches, gout and glaucoma. Cannabis was in the Canadian pharmacopeia until it was added to a list of restricted drugs in 1923 and its possession, cultivation and distribution became illegal.” (www.heretohelp.bc.ca) As Cannabis is no longer in the Pharmacopeia medical practitioners do not have the information required to treat their patients with cannabis and must re-create the wheel of information on use of cannabis including dosages.
4. Health Canada has not acted on the recommendations of the 2002 Senate Report on Illicit Drugs (http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/ille-e/rep-e/sum... ) including Recommendation 8: “ The Committee recommends that the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations be amended to provide new rules regarding eligibility, production and distribution with respect to cannabis for therapeutic purposes. In addition, research on cannabis for therapeutic purposes is essential”. Health Canada provides only one (1) strain of marijuana. There are over 100 strains of marijuana used for specific symptom relief.
5. Health Canada provides “an illusion” of access and the MMAR programme is determined as unconstitutional (2002-2003, Hitzig v. Canada)
a. A new application can take up to 3 months for approval. A Category 1 (end of life) patient in palliative care could die in that time. A Category 2 patient must either use their medicine illegally or suffer their symptoms until the license is granted by Health Canada.
b. Patients renewing their MMAR license can wait over 3 months for their renewal to be approved. Renewal’s often come after the date of expiry, making the patient a criminal until their license is received. (Tom Shapiro, 2006, International Journal of Drug Policy 20(2009)296-303 297, ww.themarijuanamission.com/exempteests.htm ;James and Moynan vs. City of Salmon Arm, 2009) ( www.whyprohibition.ca/decisions/bc-human-rights-tribunal-james-and-moyna... )
c. Under Health Canada’s current MMAR system a patient who uses cannabis in any other form than smoking is doing so illegally. They are not licensed to use tinctures, baked goods, oils, creams, etc. Many medical users do not smoke marijuana but ingest it.
d. Security: Health Canada requires confirmation on the MMAR applications to ensure security of their medicine. Unfortunately, Health Canada puts the licensee’s address on their card. If a licensee looses their wallet or has it stolen, the patient now becomes a target for “rippers”.
MOTION:
To the Annual General Meeting of The Association of Kootenay Boundary Local Governments April 2010
Access to Medical Marijuana
WHEREAS Health Canada has failed in its ability to provide safe, dignified, local access to medical marijuana to the citizens of Grand Forks, the Kootenays and British Columbia; and
WHEREAS The Province of British Columbia is responsible for regulating the health care of it’s citizens, and, electrical codes;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Association of Kootenay Boundary Local Governments, through the UBCM, petition the Province of British Columbia to assume licensing and regulation of medical marijuana to ensure safe local access to medical marijuana for patients in the Province of BC.