Canadian Government to Privatize Medical growing (news link)

[Stranger]

Harper - mandatory sentances - privatize prisons - smart meters for everyone - pharna gets exclusive to grow.

Looks like a man with a plan and getting things done. Too bad he is trying to out U.S the U.S.

This shit is worldwide... evil mf's. Dutch too. Do peace loving tokers just not vote world wide?
Just the zealots and they suck up the fear mongering with gusto.

I swear Leary had it right from the start.

 

[SirTOKESalot]

They will never stop Cannabis.

Guns Actually kill people, and they are finding more and more on the street in my city every day, I don't give a fuck what the Gov says, My local PD will not put me in jail for the personal amount i grow. Had beers with a friend who happens to be an officer last night and discussed just this topic actually.

It may mean a slow down in cash crops, but i encourage every close friend I have to grow there own crop. I would love to see everyone growing for them selfs and moving on with life, There are alot of ways to make money out there if you love to grow besides growing grass.

Put your skills to use and open a green house, Grow all of your friends and fam's veggies and maybe even some restaurants you know get creative, use your skills... And keep the Small growshow at home Tucked away, nice and small....

I guess I am coming from the non medical side of things, but There is a huge shift to localize Fruit and veg... And who's better to do that??? all of the out of work Cani growers!!
Plp need to stay positive and be progressive
IMOA!!!!!

 

[KanadianKronik]

...

 

[budshoteyes]

I'll be waiting for my visit from the cops when the new regs are in place! They have all our address's!
They'll say someone called or the neighbors could smell etc...any old excuse they can use they will.

Start planning to go underground as none of anyone's letters or E mail will mean squat!
Start asking for free weed from the corporations that'll be growing....make the f...rs pay! Sink their ship by taking away their profits! Or refuse their weed if you can get it elsewhere!

Weed prices are dropping dramatically...it's summer and pounds now go for $1000.oo to $ 1500.00 max. This fall with the harvests coming expect even lower prices!

I've even heard rumors of as low as $500.oo to $700.00 a pound.

I don't think corporate pot will be able to compete in the long run......
......unless Harpers new draconian laws come into effect with their crazy jail sentences!

It's gonna be an interesting ride!

 

[Crush]

Who is stopping all of us from growing the meds and hoots we want, like alot of us do right now? Keep growing, doing your thing and let all of the lazy ones go buy there generic mass produced grass at mac's.

You have to be Canadian to understand. Canadians don't have an enterprising, free attitude like Americans do. They don't value their privacy and liberty. Canadians form small 'minority groups' and want 'special privilege' and always have their hand out wanting something for free from our gov't that everyone else has to pay for. They do this in exchange for votes. It's just life in Canada.

Legal medical marijuana patients, growers and dispensaries are an extremely, extremely SMALL circle of privileged people in Canada. We're talking in the hundreds and dozens.

They like it that way. Special privilege, for a special small group of people while I have to worry about getting arrested and doing jail time.

Actually let me put it this way. I contacted one of the rare medical collectives and offered them a lot of weed I sitting on for an extremely cheap price. (I get paranoid of keeping too much weed around in case my door gets kicked down). Basically let me put it this way. I was scared they were going to call the cops on me because I wasn't in their little circle of legal drug dealing.

California medical laws and Canada medical laws have almost NOTHING in common. Nothing at all. Night and day polar opposites.

Here in Canada we have this elite group of entitled people wanting hand outs from a large gov't make work project. If this really was about treating patients, they would let patients grow their own weed and let them make their own ear wax.

What goes on here is just more Canada 'special privilege for special people', huge gov't unionized work force, and who cares about the rest of us who also need mj? You know.. the majority of us. The MILLIONS of us in Canada?

The fastest way to ensure no one gets a license is to keep the medical community small and insular. That will guarantee these people are used as 'experimental football' by our gov't and you get lousy pot. Hey, you guys asked for it. Now the gov't has the power to control you like a rag doll and the civil servants can use you for their little make work projects as they play around with your life.

The way I see it, there really is no medical marijuana in Canada.

But this is life in Canada. You have to live here to understand it.

 

[Crush]

Guns Actually kill people

Actually people kill other people.

Guns are just a tool like a shovel, knife, hammer, etc. and they are used largely by country folk and farmers as a tool. But if you live in a city, you probably don't understand firearms or the shooting sports.

 

[growshopfrank]

Actually let me put it this way. I contacted one of the rare medical collectives and offered them a lot of weed I sitting on for an extremely cheap price. (I get paranoid of keeping too much weed around in case my door gets kicked down). Basically let me put it this way. I was scared they were going to call the cops on me because I wasn't in their little circle of legal drug dealing.



But this is life in Canada. You have to live here to understand it.

maybe they thought you were a cop i might be off base here but if i was operating a collective in canada (illegal as hell) and some stranger comes by offering product below market i would be a little concerned that their agenda may be a little less than pure

 

[atarijedi]

There are currently just over 5000 legal medical marijuana patients in Canada, it isn't "in the hundreds and dozens." Less than 12% of them buy from Health Canada, so that means roughly 4500 people grow on their own or have a designated grower.

 

[skinzilla]

Atarijedi's right. The figure of licensed growers is over 3000, and some of those are designated growers that are supplying several people. I would assume that only about 1000 people or less actually buy from Health Canada, which is likely why they're trying to make the changes(the company growing pot wants to make more money).

 

[Chimera]

A posting/petition on whyprohibition.ca ... feel free to copy and paste and send along to health canada, or make any alterations you wish and send it along.

Deadline is within a week!


Regarding Proposed Restrictions to the Health Canada Medical Marijuana Program

I am deeply concerned about the response by Health Canada to the various court decisions declaring its existing medical marijuana program unconstitutional. The proposals that have been brought forward fail to deal with the myriad of problems in the program. Specifically, I take issue with the following proposals:

Physician as “Gatekeeper”:
R v Mernagh found that physicians in Canada have effectively boycotted the existing medical marijuana program, and therefore the program itself was unconstitutional. Health Canada's response does nothing to address this boycott beyond the promise of making information accessible to physicians. Any changes to the Health Canada medical marijuana program must abide by the findings in R v Mernagh and meaningfully expand the “Gatekeeper” role beyond physicians, preferably to include Naturopaths, Nurse Practitioners, Doctors of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacists.

Personal and Designated Production:
Individuals have spent thousands of dollars and often years of time setting up production facilities and finding appropriate marijuana cultivars (strains) for their condition. Court cases including Sfetkopolous, Beren and Hitzig have found that denying production licenses on arbitrary grounds violates a patient's constitutional rights to access medical marijuana. Contrary to extensive misinformation campaigns in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, led by the RCMP research chair at the UCFV, there is no evidence that medical marijuana production facilities contribute any more to public safety threats than a myriad of other permitted activities (including cooking at home, having expensive possessions, installing a hot-tub, growing tomato plants). Any changes to the Health Canada medical marijuana program must include the preservation of personal and designated production.

Patient Identification:
Authorized medical marijuana patients from across Canada report that local police often fail to recognize current medical marijuana authorization identification, detaining and even arresting patients and often illegally seizing their medication. The proposal to remove any formal identification for patients will only lead to more unlawful detention of patients by local police. Any changes to the Health Canada medical marijuana program must include patient identification and education programs to ensure police do not continue to unlawfully detain authorized patients.

For profit production:
The proposal by Health Canada to only allow medical marijuana to be produced for profit by an oligopolistic group of license holders, at a price point those producers set, will be a disaster for patient access in Canada. Not only will patients be unable to acquire strains they have bred specifically for their symptoms, but they will be subject to exorbitant increases in price. Especially for patients who require large dosages this will result in an inability to access medication. The current holder of the Health Canada commercial production license has failed to create an adequate supply for Canadians. Patients report low quality, low efficacy, high prices and ineffective medical quality. There is simply no reason to believe that expanding the system of commercial production, based on current Health Canada requirements will result in any positive changes to patient access. Any changes to the Health Canada medical marijuana program must include alternatives to a purely profit driven system of production.

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries:
The current proposals by Health Canada do nothing to address the court sanctioned yet unlicensed system of medical marijuana dispensaries in Canada. These Dispensaries serve several times more patients than the current Health Canada program, and patients report much higher satisfaction with dispensary services. Any changes to the Health Canada program must include licensing the existing network of dispensaries.

The proposals by Health Canada constitute less than a bad faith response to court orders, they represent outright defiance. The current proposals do not meet the needs of medical marijuana patients in Canada, and will result in a further restriction of patient access to medical marijuana. I call upon Health Canada to return to the drawing board and come up with a program designed to succeed, not fail. I call on Health Canada to honour the spirit and intent of court rulings and create a meaningful system of workable access for medical marijuana.

Sincerely,

 

[cannarelief]

very well written and eloquent! Thank you for providing this essay

 

[budshoteyes]

It's not patient access that is the reason for Health Canada doing what their proposing. It's the criminal aspects that are involved in the system of growers and patients that exist now!

Access to mm in Health Canada's eyes has been met with the old system.....it's the doctors that have been the problem and thats what the courts have seen but can't address! The courts can't force doctors to sign in! And Health Canada can't force them either!

Can you blame the doctors..what are their reasons...it would be interesting to know!

Health Canada's reasons are evident as cops have found huge grows that are beyond patients needs! Residential houses pumping out 10 k + of lights and power.25-50 plant licenses each pumping out 100's of pounds a year...beyond patients needs!

Licenses of 100-400 plants....large amounts that the average grower can't handle. Imagine some designated growers are handling as high as 75 - 1000 plants! Whom here can say 1000 plants can be easily grown in the average home....let alone 200 plants or more!

Health Canada believes it has been feeding old criminals and creating new ones and the cops have given them evidence of such ventures!

Everyone's hands are tied....I seriously do believe the courts would love to see marijuana leagalized and the mm problem totally solved...no more criminals or money to be made off of pot unless one is to lazy to grow their own!

Health Canada has opened the door to a pot welfare system and that will be interesting to see how that works out!

 

[atarijedi]

Cannabis isn't a legitimate pharmaceutical in Canada, it isn't listed in Health Canadas Drug Product Database. As such, the Canadian Medical Protective Association doesn't really support its use as a medicine. The CMPA is the sole malpractice insurer for Doctors in Canada.

So, we have the CMPA saying that Cannabis isn't a legit medicine, so we can't say whether or not we will support Doctors who have malpractice suits filed against them. They give out a waiver to patients to waive their rights to sue their Doctor for malpractice if anything should happen, but waivers don't really mean a lot in court, especially when it comes to medical issues.

This makes Doctors scared, and much more reluctant to sign the paperwork.

If Health Canada added Cannabis to the DPD, then the provincial health insurance organizations would flip their shit, as would private insurers, as they would now have to provide health insurance coverage to offset the costs of Cannabis, like they do with other pharmaceuticals.

 

[skinzilla]

It will be interesting to see the first court case once these changes are made. If they catch someone growing that has a legal permit to possess, and previously had a permit to grow, I can't see any judge throwing that person in jail(except for maybe a Harper appointed judge). Especially if that person is within the allowable number of plants that were previously set in his grow permit. It will be interesting for sure, I just hope I'm not the first, lol.

 

[budshoteyes]

Atarijedi....good info..thanx!

Skinzilla
Agreed
If I continue to grow I'll stick with the 15 I'm allowed now,if caught more will look bad to any judge.

What will a 365 plant license grow get from a Harper judge....life?

 

[SirTOKESalot]

You have to be Canadian to understand. Canadians don't have an enterprising, free attitude like Americans do. They don't value their privacy and liberty. Canadians form small 'minority groups' and want 'special privilege' and always have their hand out wanting something for free from our gov't that everyone else has to pay for. They do this in exchange for votes. It's just life in Canada.

Legal medical marijuana patients, growers and dispensaries are an extremely, extremely SMALL circle of privileged people in Canada. We're talking in the hundreds and dozens.

They like it that way. Special privilege, for a special small group of people while I have to worry about getting arrested and doing jail time.

Actually let me put it this way. I contacted one of the rare medical collectives and offered them a lot of weed I sitting on for an extremely cheap price. (I get paranoid of keeping too much weed around in case my door gets kicked down). Basically let me put it this way. I was scared they were going to call the cops on me because I wasn't in their little circle of legal drug dealing.

California medical laws and Canada medical laws have almost NOTHING in common. Nothing at all. Night and day polar opposites.

Here in Canada we have this elite group of entitled people wanting hand outs from a large gov't make work project. If this really was about treating patients, they would let patients grow their own weed and let them make their own ear wax.

What goes on here is just more Canada 'special privilege for special people', huge gov't unionized work force, and who cares about the rest of us who also need mj? You know.. the majority of us. The MILLIONS of us in Canada?

The fastest way to ensure no one gets a license is to keep the medical community small and insular. That will guarantee these people are used as 'experimental football' by our gov't and you get lousy pot. Hey, you guys asked for it. Now the gov't has the power to control you like a rag doll and the civil servants can use you for their little make work projects as they play around with your life.

The way I see it, there really is no medical marijuana in Canada.

But this is life in Canada. You have to live here to understand it.

Not sure the point you are trying to get threw to me here, as i am Canadian.

 

[SirTOKESalot]

It's not patient access that is the reason for Health Canada doing what their proposing. It's the criminal aspects that are involved in the system of growers and patients that exist now!

Access to mm in Health Canada's eyes has been met with the old system.....it's the doctors that have been the problem and thats what the courts have seen but can't address! The courts can't force doctors to sign in! And Health Canada can't force them either!

Can you blame the doctors..what are their reasons...it would be interesting to know!

Health Canada's reasons are evident as cops have found huge grows that are beyond patients needs! Residential houses pumping out 10 k + of lights and power.25-50 plant licenses each pumping out 100's of pounds a year...beyond patients needs!

Licenses of 100-400 plants....large amounts that the average grower can't handle. Imagine some designated growers are handling as high as 75 - 1000 plants! Whom here can say 1000 plants can be easily grown in the average home....let alone 200 plants or more!

Health Canada believes it has been feeding old criminals and creating new ones and the cops have given them evidence of such ventures!

Everyone's hands are tied....I seriously do believe the courts would love to see marijuana leagalized and the mm problem totally solved...no more criminals or money to be made off of pot unless one is to lazy to grow their own!

Health Canada has opened the door to a pot welfare system and that will be interesting to see how that works out!

I dig!

My wifes sister and hubby are both Doc's.
Both have singed for multiple people, and are very open to the herb, and have amazing stories of how much better it is then most pharmaceuticals for countless health issues. She also happends to be 28, and from a very open minded fam.

A lot of her co-workers are older people and come from a time when it represented something much different and alot of them are just not willing to "put there license on the line" like many of them think they are doing by singing for MM. It is not a difficult thing to figure out, annnd there are many pharma corps that like to line the pockets of Doc's.

I do not want to blame the Doc's, It is a Problem with the whole system, It does need a change. Not A CORPORATE CHANGE, but there are issues and Remember people in 4 years everything could change.
For now, send your good vibes.... The conservatives get stronger with peoples negativity, like the hulk N' shit.

 

[B. Friendly]

if they privatize it because theY deem that those who have mmar's are not willing to be honest enough to pay the taxes that the proper law enforcement, health canada admin cost, doctor fees... would cost to protect that community,
then shame on us for not voicing our opinions and telling the government that we are willing to pay for all the stuff, whatever it may be, that needs to be paid for, so we can have any mmar program at all

I for one will sign anything that protects my freedoms, liberties and privacy, even if the result is that I pay some taxes in the process

whoever is not to GREEDY please join in this call for:
SELF REGULATION
SELF POLICY
SELF & WILLINGNESS TO PAY THE NECESSARY TAXES THAT GO ALONG WITH ALL THIS...

ONLY WE CAN PROTECT OURSELF INTEREST, AND IF WE DO NOTHING TO LET THE POWERS THAT BE KNOW THIS THAN
F'N SHAME ON US!!!!!!!!!

 

[still pluggin]

Then don't buy it. Plenty will be forced too.

wow

 

[headband 707]

I am glad i never applied for medicinal. Sucks they have all of your names in the system as growing and smoking grass....

All this means for us illegal growers is maybe a less online action and watching where you spend your cash online. For me a few small adjustments.

He will fuck everything up in Canada before he is out But in 4 years when NDP or lib in house and half of this will change. Sorry to hear about this everyone that needs meds.

Yeah I used to think that lol...
Let us not forget why ppl appied for this in the first place.. I believe there was a threat of taking everything we had if we did not unless certain guildlines were met.
I would love to see them try to do a 360 now that everyone has all their ducks in a row.. BULLSHIT they will go back to Harpoland's OZ...
What they should really do is look into the doctor due diligence throughout Canada on the issue of cannabis and their serious neglegence .Why are they not following the money? This is a money grab and how can they get their fingers in this pie which is why I for one have never like the Gov. in cannabis in any, way, shape or form as they will never change. Headband 707