Photo courtesy of BC Compassion Club

A year after the Liberal party approved a resolution for the legalization of marijuana during the last Biennial Convention, the party released its first draft policy paper on January 18, 2013. The draft outlined a policy framework for its legal implementation, including the sale, distribution and taxation of marijuana.

For the dispensaries and compassion clinics in Vancouver, legalization has been a long and distant dream, but from a medical standpoint, making cannabis a legal substance is not the only task at hand.

Isaac Oomen, Communications Coordinator for the BC Compassion Club, says that the proposed policy is progressive because it sets out a framework for regulating cannabis, in addition to legalizing it.

A young Vancouver actor who has asked not to be named, is in favour of legalizing cannabis, as long as it’s also regulated. He uses medical marijuana for his insomnia because he finds it helps him sleep. He prefers it to sleeping pills because it has fewer side effects.

But because it’s still a drug, he says that it needs to be used responsibly.

“There’s a difference between use and abuse,” he says. “Smoking pot all day, everyday, is obviously abusing the drug, but for me, personally, I’d rather smoke a small joint to help me get to bed at night.”

The apothecary at the BC Compassion Club. Photo courtesy of BC Compassion Club

Despite the policy proposal’s progressive stance, Oomen believes that what’s missing from the policy is that it doesn’t make a distinction between medical and recreational use.

“Our position, of course, has always been that there’s a massive difference between those who are using it medically because to use it medically requires really safe strains,” he says.

Oomen explains that at the BC Compassion Club alone they have over sixty different safe strains available, because different strains have different effects.

A family called Indica, for example, can help some people to sleep, while families like sativa provide an energy boost, says Oomen. Currently, the status of cannabis is still illegal in Canada. Under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, possession of marijuana is a criminal offense but there are medical exceptions. Health Canada is the only organization legally allowed to supply marijuana for medical purposes.

Under the present legal framework, compassion clinics and dispensaries have largely been operating in a legal grey zone. They exist because they provide a service that Health Canada hasn’t been able to match, says Oomen.

Oomen points out that Health Canada’s medical marijuana program is limited because it only provides one strain of the plant; however, patients can apply to grow it for themselves or designate others to grow it for them. This option also has limitations because not everyone wants to grow their own cannabis or ask someone else to grow it for them, he says.

Oomen has observed that a large number of people prefer to have a safe, medically tested source, and several strains of cannabis that can be consumed in a variety of ways. Some cannabis consumers want alternatives to dry cannabis, such as hashish, baked goods and so on.

But even if they don’t have legal status, Oomen maintains that compassion clinics and dispensaries do have safety standards. In 2011, a group of dispensaries in Canada came together to form the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, which serves as the self-regulating body for the safe production and distribution of cannabis.

Today, Oomen indicates that the club is a place of community. Some people still face shame when smoking cannabis, but the club provides a welcoming environment where patients become educated about marijuana and talk to each other, says Oomen.

The Vancouver actor also expresses the need to keep marijuana production local instead of corporate if legalization does happen.

If legalization does occur, suppliers of medical cannabis and patients will finally get what they’ve been hoping for.

Oomen suggests that it would also be helpful if the MSP could cover costs for medical cannabis.

“For us, it basically means that we move to a position that we’ve really wanted,” says Oomen. “Especially if that legalization includes regulation to come along and making it more accessible to people.”