APRIL mumms the word outside final copy

Winter Updates
Winnipeg head shops experienced a police crack down this
winter (see March Issue) resulting in all charges laid being
stayed. This indicates that
there was little chance of enforcing the antiquated law that
was used to charge Hemp Haven's Jeremy Loewen.
With the RCMP bringing the
head shops to the forefront,
city hall decided to examine
how it can control where these
shops are located. The property and development committee have instructed administration to consider all regulatory
methods, including zoning, to
regulate where head shops
operate.
Mark Crossley returns to
Nova Scotia Provincial Court
in Shubenacadie on April 24th
for sentencing, the same day
that Justice Scovil will be returning to Nova Scotia Provincial Court in Amherst with the
Godfrey Vs. Regina decision.
Colorado's first month of
legal cannabis sales topped
$14 million, with 2 million of
that being in taxes, according
to figures released on March 3,
2014, by the State Department
of Revenue.
Tax revenue has been earmarked for school construction. 150 dispensaries are licensed to sell cannabis to the
21 year old and over crowd.
Colorado hosted the world's
first cannabis industry job hiring fair, CannaScene., on
March 13 in Denver. Fifteen
companies, all vying for candidates for at least three jobs per
facility, ranging from bud tenders to book keepers.
On March 5th, 2014, the Israeli Health Ministry ruled that
children in Israel suffering
from severe seizure disorders
will now be able to use medical cannabis. The government's
hand was forced when the
families of fifteen children,
who had previously been denied access, threatened to
move to Colorado, USA. Adult
epileptics may apply to the
Health Minister to have their
cases assessed individually.
The Health Minister has promised to review the applications
made on behalf of the fifteen
children in an expeditious
manner.
Upcoming Canna-Events
April 12
MUMM meeting, Bedford Legion, 124:00; finger food potluck;
information on filing a Human Rights Complaint and more.
April 20
-Erb for Herb legalize It rally, Victoria Park, Halifax; Music,
speakers, vendors and more; 14:30
-Erb for Herb legalize It rally, Bannerman Park, St. John’s, Newfoundland; 4:00
May 3
Halifax Global Marijuana March and Rally, Victoria Park, Halifax;
14:30; Speakers, music, vendors, food, and a march! Bring a sign!
May 10
MUMM meeting, Bedford Legion, 14:00
June 14
MUMM meeting; Bedford Legion, 14:00
www.mumm.ca / email [email protected] / Call 902665-2355 for more details or to volunteer and/or
vend at the events in Victoria Park!
Retail Directory
Crazy Diamonds Seed Company
www.crazydiamondsseeds.ca; ORGANICALLY grown; 100% germination guaranteed and Made in Canada!
Diamond Series Hydroponics & Accessories
2623 Sackville Dr., Upper Sackville, NS, B4E 3C3;
Telephone (902) 440-6357
Lahave St. Hydroponics and Garden Centre;
684 Lahave St., Bridgewater, NS, B4V 2V3;
Telephone (902)-541-4769; [email protected]
Steve’s Hydroponic Equipment
MUMMS'
The
Word
would like to extend our
deep condolences to the fam
ily and friends of Loretta
Josey, 43, Lower Sackville.
Sadly, Loretta passed away
on March 5th 2014, in the
Halifax Infirmary after suc
cumbing to her injuries re
sulting from a tragic snow
mobiling accident. Loretta
leaves to mourn her best
friend and daughter, Hillary
Murphy; her loving parents,
Brady and Rose (Currie)
Josey; caring brothers,
Charles, Chris (Joanie), Ja
son (Heather), and many
loving nieces and nephews
many aunts, uncles, cousins.
She also leaves behind her
partner Scott Reteff, and his
children, Kyle, Jacob, Jessie
and Grace, whom she loved
as her own.
For the past few years,
Loretta owned and operated
S&L Worx. Prior to this, she
was Regional Manager of
Hertz Canada. She was a
friend and mentor to many,
including many medical
cannabis patients, and fellow
MUMM members, to whom
she was able to offer invalu
able advisement and encour
agement with managing
their medicine. She was also
a MUMM supporter. She
loved life and lived it to the
fullest. She enjoyed her
weekend excursions to her
cottage; enjoying her four
wheeling and she looked
forward to her summer gath
erings with family and
friends.
John Conroy
y Page 2
C
501 Sackville Dr., Unit 103, Lower Sackville, NS, B4C 2S1;
Telephone (902) 865-7764; www.steveshydroponics.ca
Maritime Medical Marijuana Show
Bi-weekly YouTube Pot-Cast with your host, Chris Backer;
www.youtube.com/Karmammms, Telephone (902) 789-2573;
[email protected]
NORML Women’s Alliance of Canada
Debbie Stultz-Giffin; East Coast Community Leader;
www.normlwomen.ca; Telephone (902) 665-2355;
[email protected]
Valley Hobbyponics
8759 Commercial St., Unit 1, New Minas, NS, B4N 3C4;
Telephone (902) 365-3557; Fax (902) 365-3556;
[email protected]. www.valleyhydroponics.ca
McInnes Cooper; Lawyers/Avocats
Daniel Wallace, Council
Civil litigation, class actions and tax litigation; 1300 1969 Upper
Water St., Halifax; Telephone-(902)-444-8630
Island Hemp
CORNER OF ISLESVILLE AND BILBY
BILBY
THE WORD
“Scientific evidence over
whelmingly indicates that
cannabis is substantially less
harmful than alcohol and
should be treated not as a
criminal issue but as a social
and public health issue.”
Conservative Senator
Claude Nolan
MARITIMERS UNITE for MEDICAL MARIJUANA ( SOCIETY ) NEWS LETTER APRIL 2014
INJUNCTION
GRANTED
On March 21st Justice Manson released his decision to John Conroy's request to the Federal
Court to grant an injunction that would stop Health Canada from forcing nearly 40,000 patients and their caregivers to shut off their grow lights, destroy their medicine and purchase corporate cannabis at artificially inflated prices. Manson's decision is as follows:THIS COURT ORDERS that
1. The Applicants who, as of the
date of this Order, hold a valid Au
thorization to Possess pursuant to
section 11 of the Marihuana Medical
Access Regulations, are exempt
from the repeal of the Marihuana
Medical Access Regulations and any
other operation of the Marihuana for
Medical Purposes Regulations
which are inconsistent with the
operation of the Marihuana Medical
Access Regulations, to the extent
that such an Authorization to Pos
sess shall remain valid until such
time as a decision in this case is
rendered and subject to the terms in
paragraph 2 of this Order;
2. The terms of the exemption for
the Applicants holding a valid Au
thorization to Possess pursuant to
section 11 of the Marihuana Medical
Access Regulations shall be in ac
cordance with the terms of the valid
Authorization to Possess held by that
Applicant as of the date of this Order,
notwithstanding the expiry date stated on
that Authorization to Possess, except that
the maximum quantity of dried marihu
ana authorized for possession shall be
that which is specified by their licence or
150 grams, whichever is less;
3. The Applicants who held, as of Sep
tember 30, 2013, or were issued thereafter
a valid Personaluse Production License
pursuant to section 24 of the Marihuana
Medical Access Regulations, or a Desig
natedperson Production License pursu
ant to section 34 of the Marihuana Medi
cal Access Regulations, are exempt from
the repeal of the Marihuana Medical
Access Regulations and any other opera
tion of the Marihuana for Medical
Purposes Regulations which is inconsis
tent with the operation of the Marihuana
Medical Access Regulations, to the extent
that the Designatedperson Production
License or Personaluse Production Li
cense held by the Applicant shall remain
valid until such time as a decision in
this case is rendered at trial and subject
to the terms of paragraph 4 of this.
Order.
4. The terms of the exemption for an
Applicant who held, as of September
30, 2013, or was issued thereafter a
valid Personaluse Production License
pursuant to section 24 of the Marihuana
Medical Access Regulations or a Des
ignatedperson Production License
pursuant to section 34 of the Marihuana
Medical Access Regulations, shall be
in accordance with the terms of their
license, notwithstanding the expiry
date stated on that license;
5. Scheduling directions shall be
issued after consultation with counsel
for the parties with the view of fixing a
trial date as soon as practicable;
6. The Applicants are not bound by
an undertaking pursuant to r 373(2) of
the Federal Court Rules; and
The parties shall bear their own cost.
"Michael D. Manson"
MedCannabis
Patients
testify at
trial in
Amherst
Justice Scovil listened
intently as four wit
nesses who had testified
in the Godfrey trial took
the stand. Marcel Gignac,
Cale Sutton, Stephen
Burrows and Debbie
Stultz
StultzGiffin were joined
by five new witnesses,
Anita Cyr, Phillip Prall,
Chris Backer, Bobby
Dillman and Cory Amir
ault. Several witnesses
became emotional as
they discussed the stress
that the MMAR created
in their lives and how
they are impacted with
the decisions they must
make regarding their
health and liberty. Their
emotion resonated in the
courtroom, leaving very
few dry eyes, including
Justice Scovil.
422 Granville St., Port Hawkesbury, NS, B9A 2M7;
Telephone: (902)-625-7420; [email protected],
find us on face book
Atherton Nicholson; Barristers & Solicitors
Pat Atherton, Criminal defence lawyer
Telephone: (902)-429-4104; Cell: (902)-423-7083; 52 King St.,
Dartmouth, NS; [email protected]; Never plead guilty!
Sweetleaf Smokeshop
2859 Islesville St. (entrance on Bilby St.), Halifax, NS;
Telephone (902)-454-6646; [email protected]; find us
on face book; www.sweetleafsmokeshopandhydroponics.ca
MUMM - PEI Branch
Kat Murphy; Charlottetown;
Telephone: (902)-367-3648; [email protected]
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Story on page 3
MUMMS ’
THE WORD
John Conroy...The questions one has to ask oneself
in regard to the Injunction
Editor
Debbie Stultz-Giffin
Layout / Graphics
Cliff Giffin
Printing
Printwright
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In all of my discussions
with Government counsel in
relation to class actions, rep
resentative actions and con
stitutional challenges and
their differences, he has
agreed that in this constitu
tional challenge, if the
MMPR are found to impact
the constitutional rights of
one, then they will impact the
constitutional rights of all.
The questions one needs
to ask oneself are:
1.Do I currently (now until
March 31st) hold a valid ATP/
PPL or ATP/DG? If the answer
is 'yes' then you are grand
fathered until further Order of
the court the only change being
the 150gm possession limit;
2.Did I hold a valid ATP/PPL
or ATP/DG on September 30,
2013?;If you had one then and
didn't renew later you are still
covered as above as long as
you had valid documents on the
key date;
3.Do I hold a valid ATP/PPL
or ATP/DG issued after Sep
tember 30, 2013, whether a new
one or amended one? If you
managed to renew after that
date you are covered.
It seems to me that this covers
everyone except those who
expired before September 30,
2013 and didn't renew at all.
If the answer is 'yes' to any of
these you are grandfathered
until the trial and your licence
despite its Expiry date contin
ues according to its terms
(plants numbers, storage
amounts, etc.) and you do not
have to reapply or renew. Your
ATP possession limit, when on
your person is max 150 grams.
Applications for completely
new MMAR licences will not
be accepted pending trial.
Just because you did not re
new, does not mean you don't
fit into one of the categories
above.
Once we know how many are
affected by new locations and
address issues, we will see if
the court will remedy that prob
lem.
Editorial / MMAR—Charade of a Program
DEBBIE STULTZGIFFIN
MUMM; CHAIR
You could almost hear the
sound of 1000's of cannabis seeds
sprouting the weekend after Jus
tice Manson ordered HC to cease
and desist with the full imple
mentation of the MMPR in re
gard to those patients who had
been enrolled in the MMAR as
of September 30, 2013.
Justice Manson has agreed to
grandfather in these patients
while they await a trial to exam
ine the constitutionality of the
MMPR. Interestingly, Health
Canada is more interested in
preserving the vested economic
interest of the major cannabis
corporations as opposed to offer
ing some of this country's sickest
citizens protection under our
Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
To force patients to worry about
their personal health mainte
nance versus their liberty is un
conscionable! Perhaps this gov
ernmental department deserv
edly should be renamed? Wealth
Canada sounds more appropri
ate!
The heartless approach of the
Federal Conservative Govern
ment would have had seen pa
tients destroying excess medica
tion and cannabis plants and
mixing the debris with kitty litter
to be deposited in the green bin
curb side for refuse collection.
Furthermore, patients had to
notify Health Canada of what,
and how much, they destroyed,
and forward them verification of
the same, or face a visit from the
local constabulary at the request
of the Federal Government at the
end of April. All of these meas
ures were promoted to be in the
interest of “public safety”. What
utter balderdash!
Patients are your friends,
neighbours and family members.
Currently 1 in 380 Nova Scotians
are “legal”. Health Canada have
determined that in ten years it
will be 1 in 38. However, govern
mental statistics illustrate that 1
in 38 patients are actually in our
midst NOW, struggling to locate
a supportive doctor or they are
still too fearful due to Health
Canada approach to patients and
medical cannabis. The fact that
the catalyst for this program was
a court order has been evident
since Day One with Health Can
ada’s track record for incompe
tency and patient abuse, leaving
many patients reluctant to take
part in the broken program.
The bottom line is this, the time
is long overdue to revisit R. vs.
Parker, Ontario. In July 2000, the
federal government was granted
a twelve month reprieve to cre
ate a program equitable for ALL
patients requiring cannabis as
medicine, or cannabis would be
legal for all Canadians. Terry
Parker, the defendant and a gen
tleman with epilepsy, is still un
able to navigate the original
medical cannabis program to
gain legal protection.
This charade of a program
should be dead in the water and
the cannabis laws repealed from
the CDSA!
This action is long overdue!
Letter to the Editor
“Expert Witnesses”
I would like to make a com
ment on my experience with
RCMP expert witnesses. In my
case, there was no evidence to
show I did anything but grow
my own medicine, so they tried
to use the "expert" witness
(police drug unit cop) to try and
make it look like I had a huge
amount and could not have
possibly been able to use that
much medically as I claimed I
was.
In my prelim trial, I got the
"expert" on the stand for cross
examination and asked him if
he knew the difference between
indica and sativa strains. Did he
ever germinate a marijuana
seed, did he ever grow a mari
juana plant, did he ever cut a
marijuana clone, did he know
how much weight marijuana
buds lost in the drying process?
His answers were all NO.
Big Pharma and
Conservatives
using “Yellow
Science”
in Arthritis Study
Medical cannabis pa
tients and proponents were
astounded when CBC ran
with a story about an arthritis
“study” that appeared in the
American College of Rheu
matologists journal, Arthritis
Care
& Research, on March
3rd, 2014.
“The effectiveness and
safety of medical marijuana
to treat symptoms of rheu
matic conditions such as
rheumatoid arthritis, lupus,
or fibromyalgia is not sup
ported by medical evidence,”
the study reads.
With ongoing changes
in the medical cannabis land
scape in Canada and the pub
The judge did not allow his
testimony for my trial. It turns
out, he was no expert at all. He
was just a bought and paid po
lice contractor who went
around court rooms making a
profit out of trying to ruin peo
ple's lives and helping to per
petuate the big lie of prohibi
tion.
I am glad the Supreme Court
has made this decision, the ex
pert witness thing is a farce!
Michael MacDonald, Pictou
Health Canada’s decision to
share confidential information
I am shocked to learn of
Health Canada’s decision to
share confidential information
about medical marijuana users
with law enforcement officials
lic push for herbal cannabis
therapy for pain management,
Dr. MaryAnn Fitzcharles, one
of the study coauthors, says
physicians need to be very
aware of the health implica
tions of the drug and dissuade
patients with rheumatic condi
tions from using it.
“At this time, we cannot rec
ommend herbal cannabis for
arthritis pain management
given the lack of efficacy data,
potential harm from the drug,
and availability of other thera
pies for managing pain… Phy
sicians should discourage rheu
matology patients from using
medical marijuana as a ther
apy.”
One has to question the tim
ing of this yellow science that
only involved studying previ
ous flawed research on canna
bis use and arthritis and, from
what a more quizzical eye can
garner, cherrypicking from
only those studies with nega
tive findings (most of which
would NOT stand up in a court
of law for their accuracy).
after the Medical for Marijuana
Purposes Regulations (MMPR)
prohibit the growing of mari
juana in one’s home on April 1,
2014. This is a violation of the
privacy of medical marijuana
users, who entrusted Health
Canada with their confidential
personal information so they
could access medical marijuana
to treat their health conditions.
This decision directly contra
dicts Health Canada’s briefing
note to BC Attorney General
and Minister of Justice in Sep
tember 2013, when it stated that
‘due to privacy concerns,
[Health Canada] does not in
tend to disclose the addresses
of former licensed grow opera
tions once they are no longer
permitted to legally grown
marijuana’. I will be following
up with federal officials about
this sudden change of heart by
Health Canada, to ensure the
rights of medical marijuana
users are respected.
Ironically, Fitzcharles, one of
Canada's leading rheumatolo
gists, who claims responsibility
for the study, has received fi
nancial kick backs from no less
than five pharmaceutical com
panies in the past. She has ac
cepted speaking fees, consulta
tion fees and honorarium funds
from these major drug compa
nies. This leaves the credibility
of this “research” questionable
when the key player has her
hands in the pockets of so
many corporations, with so
much to gain!
Wonder why medical canna
bis may be suddenly garnering
attention from big pharma? 65%
of the patients currently en
rolled in Health Canada's
MMAR (26,000 individuals) are
actually arthritis sufferers.
Health Canada's projections
extrapolate the number of
medical cannabis patients in
creasing ten fold over the next
ten years. So, in 2024 that would
become 260,000 arthritic pa
tients using cannabis therapy.
4.6 million Canadians were
reported to have arthritis in
2011.
A 1.15% potential loss of
big business isn't really
enough of a dent in the
stocks to attract much atten
tion, but a looming 11.5%
potential reduction for stake
holders for big pharma really
must be stopped at all costs
don't you think? Makes one
wonder who paid these four
Canadian physicians and
researchers to conduct this
study? Big pharma, or the
Conservative government
who would love nothing
more than to further discredit
cannabis consumers?
One has to question the
timing of this yellow science
that only involved studying
previous flawed research on
cannabis use and arthritis
and, from what a more quiz
zical eye can garner, cherry
picking from only those
studies with negative find
ings (most of which would
NOT stand up in a court of
law for their accuracy).
Libby Davies posted on
March 17, 2014
It is with sadness that we inform you of the unexpected, sudden passing of Dr.
Jan Engelbrecht, Winnipeg, Manitoba on March 2, 2014. Dr. Engelbrecht, 51,
practised medicine at the Rhema Clinic and was a proponent of medical cannabis. He
was instrumental in assisting patients from coast to coast with their exemption applications. RIP Dr. Engelbrecht, your compassion will truly be missed! Our condolences go
out to Jan's companion, Jade Ridge and his family.
www.stephenhealthinc.com
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