T
The420Guy
Guest
Jan.8, 00
Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Author: Kathleen Harris, Ottawa Sun
****
It has been a long year and Robert Brown has run out of patience. Tomorrow, he will plant his frail, sick body on the frozen grounds of Parliament Hill in a desperate push for permission to ease his own suffering. Brown plans to stay there until he gets the answer he needs from Health Canada. Or until he dies. "These people have been playing games with my life for months now," said Brown, 43. "I've been suffering in my house alone -- now it's time to suffer in public."
Diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1990, Brown's body is seized with constant nausea, throat spasms and lack of appetite. He has tried every treatment, pill and injection to ease the symptoms, but insists cannabis is the drug that keeps him alive. Chronically fatigued by the disease, Brown is being forced through the criminal justice system while Canada takes cautious steps toward decriminalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.
In December 1998, police came to Brown's farmhouse near Beachburg and seized plants, literature and growing lamps. He and wife Linda -- who does not use cannabis -- were charged with possession, cultivation and intent to traffic. Their week-long trial is scheduled to begin in June. Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the date Brown first applied for an exemption to use the controlled narcotic.
His lawyer, Rick Reimer, has augmented the file with several documents, including detailed reports from physicians describing the positive psychological and physical benefits Brown derives from cannabis.
One year later, Brown is more thin and more sick. But he's still waiting. "All I'm doing is fighting for my life," he said. "I'm not afraid of winter, and I'm not afraid of dying because I'm dying already. I'm just tired of this." Brushes With The Law Brown considers marijuana a "medical necessity" that helps him manage enough food and pills to survive. With a former long-standing addiction to drugs and alcohol and a couple of brushes with the law, his decision to use marijuana was not made easily. It took a suicidal crash in 1987 before Brown managed to give up the drugs and booze to rebuild his family and life. He was diagnosed with the fatal hep C three years later. Last spring, when Health Canada promised to commission clinical trials for marijuana, it was clear the process could take years.
In the interim, Health Canada said, patients who benefit from cannabis could apply for exemptions from prosecution. But Brown's experience has proven this process is bureaucratic: Complicated, confusing and slow. As of yesterday, the federal health department had received 74 applications and another 80 inquiries for exemption under the controlled substance act.
Jeff Pender, a spokesman for the health ministry, said 19 have been granted and another 15 are under "extensive review." The approvals process is slowed down by incomplete files, he explained. Reimer, a partner in a Pembroke law firm who has also applied for an exemption to ease his symptoms related to multiple sclerosis, says the process is unnecessarily complex and unclear. When it comes to allowing marijuana as medicine, he believes the ministry isn't living up to its mandate of speedily ensuring proper health care.
But Reimer does not want his client to become a martyr for the cause. "Robert Brown is a courageous man," he said. "But as important as the cause may be, it's not as important as his life." Brown does not have a permit for his protest and plans to set up a tent on the Hill. Government rules prohibit camping on the property, which means Brown may be expelled. Yesterday, he received a call from Health Canada seeking further health information. But Brown has learned not to get his hopes up -- he decided to go ahead with the demonstration. He is sick. And he is sick of waiting.
Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Author: Kathleen Harris, Ottawa Sun
****
It has been a long year and Robert Brown has run out of patience. Tomorrow, he will plant his frail, sick body on the frozen grounds of Parliament Hill in a desperate push for permission to ease his own suffering. Brown plans to stay there until he gets the answer he needs from Health Canada. Or until he dies. "These people have been playing games with my life for months now," said Brown, 43. "I've been suffering in my house alone -- now it's time to suffer in public."
Diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1990, Brown's body is seized with constant nausea, throat spasms and lack of appetite. He has tried every treatment, pill and injection to ease the symptoms, but insists cannabis is the drug that keeps him alive. Chronically fatigued by the disease, Brown is being forced through the criminal justice system while Canada takes cautious steps toward decriminalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.
In December 1998, police came to Brown's farmhouse near Beachburg and seized plants, literature and growing lamps. He and wife Linda -- who does not use cannabis -- were charged with possession, cultivation and intent to traffic. Their week-long trial is scheduled to begin in June. Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the date Brown first applied for an exemption to use the controlled narcotic.
His lawyer, Rick Reimer, has augmented the file with several documents, including detailed reports from physicians describing the positive psychological and physical benefits Brown derives from cannabis.
One year later, Brown is more thin and more sick. But he's still waiting. "All I'm doing is fighting for my life," he said. "I'm not afraid of winter, and I'm not afraid of dying because I'm dying already. I'm just tired of this." Brushes With The Law Brown considers marijuana a "medical necessity" that helps him manage enough food and pills to survive. With a former long-standing addiction to drugs and alcohol and a couple of brushes with the law, his decision to use marijuana was not made easily. It took a suicidal crash in 1987 before Brown managed to give up the drugs and booze to rebuild his family and life. He was diagnosed with the fatal hep C three years later. Last spring, when Health Canada promised to commission clinical trials for marijuana, it was clear the process could take years.
In the interim, Health Canada said, patients who benefit from cannabis could apply for exemptions from prosecution. But Brown's experience has proven this process is bureaucratic: Complicated, confusing and slow. As of yesterday, the federal health department had received 74 applications and another 80 inquiries for exemption under the controlled substance act.
Jeff Pender, a spokesman for the health ministry, said 19 have been granted and another 15 are under "extensive review." The approvals process is slowed down by incomplete files, he explained. Reimer, a partner in a Pembroke law firm who has also applied for an exemption to ease his symptoms related to multiple sclerosis, says the process is unnecessarily complex and unclear. When it comes to allowing marijuana as medicine, he believes the ministry isn't living up to its mandate of speedily ensuring proper health care.
But Reimer does not want his client to become a martyr for the cause. "Robert Brown is a courageous man," he said. "But as important as the cause may be, it's not as important as his life." Brown does not have a permit for his protest and plans to set up a tent on the Hill. Government rules prohibit camping on the property, which means Brown may be expelled. Yesterday, he received a call from Health Canada seeking further health information. But Brown has learned not to get his hopes up -- he decided to go ahead with the demonstration. He is sick. And he is sick of waiting.