SUBMISSION OF THE BEYOND PROHIBITION FOUNDATION IN RESPONSE TO PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS TO HEALTH CANADA’S MARIHUANA MEDICAL ACCESS PROGRAM
INTRODUCTION
The Beyond Prohibition Foundation was established in 2010 to advocate for the repeal of cannabis prohibition and its replacement with a system of regulated production and distribution. It operates the website www.whyprohibition.ca, Canada's largest dedicated drug policy reform website and host to more than 30,000 members. The Foundation's mission includes advocacy on behalf of safe access to medicinal cannabis and cannabis byproducts for those obtaining therapeutic and medicinal benefit.
This submission responds to Health Canada's consultation document titled "Proposed Improvements to Health Canada's Marihuana Medical Access Program" (the "Consultation Document"). In the Consultation Document, Health Canada foreshadows significant changes to Canada's medical cannabis policies. The Foundation welcomes Health Canada's tacit acknowledgement that the current Marihuana Medical Access Regulation (MMAR) system is deeply flawed and in need of significant reform. That reform is necessary in two primary areas: (1) the need to improve access to the legal protections afforded by the legislative and regulatory scheme; and (2) the need to provide consumers with safe access to an effective supply of medicinal cannabis and cannabis byproducts. This submission lays out the Foundation's view of the proposed changes and offers suggestions for making necessary improvements to the federal program.
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The “War on Drugs” was launched by President Richard Nixon 40 years ago this week. In 1980, at the end of its first decade, I began a nine-year career as a “captain” in the war on drugs. I was the attorney in the U.S. House of Representatives principally responsible for overseeing DEA and writing anti-drug laws as counsel to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime.
White House leadership
The heart of Nixon’s 5,300-word message to Congress on June 17, 1971 was a plan “to consolidate at the highest level a full-scale attack on the problem of drug abuse in America” in a White House Office. The office was dismantled soon after Nixon resigned having been resisted by Cabinet secretaries and anti-drug agencies. Read more »
Here was the Obama administration's well publicized position on medical marijuana, circa 2009 (via theOgden memo to all United States attorneys):
The prosecution of significant traffickers of illegal drugs, including marijuana, and the disruption of illegal drug manufacturing and trafficking networks continues to be a core priority in the Department's efforts against narcotics and dangerous drugs, and the Department's investigative and prosecutorial resources should be directed towards these objectives. As a general matter, pursuit of these priorities should not focus federal resources in your States on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon arrived in Washington on Thursday deeply frustrated with the United States - and with good reason. For four years, the courageous Mexican leader has been waging war against drug cartels that threaten to destroy the rule of law in Mexico at a cost of thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars. Success has been elusive - in large part because the traffickers continue to receive a steady supply of weapons and cash from the United States. While promising partnership to Mr. Calderon, Congress and the Obama administration have failed to deliver. Read more »
Spc. Richelle Gordon of the Oregon Army National Guard suffers from two incredibly painful autoimmune diseases. When she got to Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington state back in February, she arrived in a wheelchair, expecting to stay a few weeks and be medically retired from service. She immediately reported that she legally used cannabis to combat pain and nausea, and produced her Oregon medical marijuana card.
Now it's five months later, and Golden is still at Joint Base Lewis-McChord facing court-martial, caught between the laws of her home state, which allow medicinal marijuana use with a doctor's authorization, and the U.S. Army, which forbids it under any circumstances, reports Julie Sullivan at The Oregonian. Read more »
After 40 years of failure in dealing with drug abuse as a criminal problem, it's time to listen to the experts and recognize it as a health issue. Two health policy groups based in this province have helped launched an international effort to tackle the damage done by drug abuse and addiction in a new way. The principle being advanced by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy is simple.
Using a scientific approach, determine what works to reduce the damage done to individuals and societies, and what doesn't. Then do those things that are effective and quit doing those that are ineffective -- or worse, destructive.
The fact that this proposal is controversial shows how completely illogical the drug policy debate has become.
The groups and the International AIDS Society have drafted what they are calling the Vienna Declaration in advance of next month's AIDS conference in that city. Read more »
A North San Diego County medical marijuana provider, James Stacy, will be the first such case to go to trial after the Justice Department issued its new enforcement policy in October 2009, a month after the raid.
The trial date will be scheduled on Wednesday for Stacy, whose Vista dispensary was raided on September 9, 2009. Stacy will argue at the hearing that he's entitled to admit evidence of state law compliance, something which has been routinely denied to defendants in federal marijuana cases. Unlike the state laws in California and 13 other states, federal law classifies marijuana as a Schedule I "narcotic," with no medical value.
Stacy's dispensary, Movement In Action, was raided along with more than a dozen other San Diego County dispensaries as part of local-federal joint enforcement actions known as "Operation Endless Summer" which resulted in more than 30 arrests.
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In the wake Marci McDonald's newly released book The Armageddon Factor: The Rise Of Christian Nationalism In Canada, a political firestorm has erupted on Parliament Hill, igniting debate about just who's influencing the policy decisions made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The release of McDonald's book comes amid the brewing tension of apparent ideological moves made by the Harper government, including the 'Mexico City Policy' for the upcoming G8 maternal and child health initiative, the rescinding of funds of women's organizations who promote a full range of family planning options, and the denial of federal tourism funds for Pride Toronto.
With public focus being drawn to the back rooms of the PMO, the Harper government lashed out following a CBC segment featuring an interview with McDonald and a glimpse at some of the people discussed in the book. The Conservatives accused the public broadcaster of "fomenting religious division" and waging a "faith war" in an "ongoing campaign against the Conservative Party." (Take note, this is just the latest in a string of baseless allegations made by the Conservative Party and Right Wing pundits against the CBC.)
The desperation exhibited by Conservative strategists in a fervent attempt to discredit McDonald, gives proof to explosive information contained between the covers of The Armageddon Factor; connections the Harper government would rather Canadians not be aware of. Try as they might to downplay the influence of Right Wing religious figures on policy decisions made by Harper, Conservatives cannot deny the presence of one prominent Christian activist and senior advisor in the PMO, who recently moved from his position as director of policy to become Harper's new deputy chief of staff. Read more »
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The “War on Drugs” was launched by President Richard Nixon 40 years ago this week. In 1980, at the end of its first decade, I began a nine-year career as a “captain” in the war on drugs. I was the attorney in the U.S. House of Representatives principally responsible for overseeing DEA and writing anti-drug laws as counsel to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime.
Thanks to Shaleen for sending me 
Mexican President Felipe Calderon arrived in Washington on Thursday deeply frustrated with the United States - and with good reason. For four years, the courageous Mexican leader has been waging war against drug cartels that threaten to destroy the rule of law in Mexico at a cost of thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars. Success has been elusive - in large part because the traffickers continue to receive a steady supply of weapons and cash from the United States. While promising partnership to Mr. Calderon, Congress and the Obama administration have failed to deliver. 
By. Steve Elliot, Toke of the Town
By. Steve Elliot, Toke of the Town
By 
