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Contact CANNABIS DIGEST at: (250) 381-4220 or hemp101@shaw.ca

Cannabis Digest is a quarterly publication of the International Hempology 101 Society, which provides current legal, medical, and political updates concerning the medicinal use, growth and supply of cannabis. The Cannabis Buyers’ Clubs of Canada helps people with permanent physical disabilities and diseases. The Cannabis Digest is available online and in newsprint.

Thanks to all our contributors: Ted Smith, Steve Kindred, Gayle Quin, James Luker, Anthony D’Agati, Jack Knox

Times Colonist

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Ted Smith’s marijuana conviction hasn’t slowed the flow at the Cannabis Buyers’ Club.
The Johnson Street storefront is still open to the 1,400 or so people who say they need marijuana for medical purposes. A sign on the wall advertises a potluck (pun probably not intended) to mark this month’s ninth anniversary of the club, the oldest such organization in Canada.
At the reception desk sits a stack of flyers urging attendance at a rally to “protest Health Canada’s rules which make cannabis legal for medical purposes but consider food and skin products to be illegal.” That’s a reference to club founder Smith’s Jan. 7 conviction for selling ointments containing cannabis resin. He got a nine-month suspended sentence.
Smith was convicted again this week, this time for passing out joints at a pro-marijuana meeting at UVic in November 2000. Those gatherings have grown since then, with maybe 70 people joining in a circle at 4:20 p.m. every Wednesday to smoke dope and expound on its benefits. You can say this for Smith and friends: They’re not hiding from the law, not trying to profit from breaking it.
That’s unlike the commercial growers who have turned B.C. Bud into a multibillion-dollar industry. Those guys try to stay high-tech but low-key.
Not that they have much to fear from the law. The Vancouver Sun reported last week that just one in seven convicted B.C. growers gets any jail time at all. Most don’t even get fined. And remember, that’s just those who get convicted, let alone charged, let alone arrested. No wonder the wholesale price of pot has plunged; without fear of retribution, every man and his dog has a grow lab in the basement (including one at a municipally owned property in Saanich last weekend).
That must drive the police nuts. They bust their butts busting growers, only to see judges mete out sentences of two hugs a day and a week without television. The cops and courts seem to be at cross-purposes. Your tax dollars at work.
Politicians don’t provide much clarification. Ottawa made a big deal about doubling the maximum sentence for growers, but stayed silent on a minimum. The B.C. government huffs and puffs about getting tough with organized crime, but cut this year’s adult prison budget by $14 million.
All of which reflects the public’s ambivalence toward marijuana, in which a certain indifferent benevolence toward the likes of Smith — who, on the Threat-O-Metre, ranks well behind Osama bin Laden or, apparently, Luminara — muddily merges with the fear and loathing evoked by the organized criminals who have woven pot production into their cocaine-smuggling, meth-brewing, gun-running, tax-dodging, money-laundering, murderous ways. If our feelings are all over the map, it’s because we’ve tossed casual tokers, the Hells Angels, 13-year-old stoners, cancer patients, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and otherwise-upstanding dope-farmers into the same stew.
Meanwhile, the federal government’s decriminalization bill, which would provide for traffic-ticket-type fines but no criminal record for possession of small amounts, inches through Parliament. Liberal MP Keith Martin favours going even further, legalizing and regulating recreational use in the same way we regulate alcohol or tobacco. “That would be the worst news for organized crime,” he said Friday. Take the profit out of prohibition. As it is, we haven’t been nearly tough enough with organized crime, he says. You can agree with Martin’s solution or not, but few will deny something has to change. Either apply the law or alter it, but don’t pretend the current approach is having much effect.
“The status quo,” says Martin, “is not working for anybody.”

Hempology 101 started weekly meetings in Vancouver in November 1994, and I attended my first meeting in January 1995. By Sept I had decided to host the Wednesday night meetings in downtown Victoria and volunteered to write a Hempology 101 textbook.

With my involvement in the movement, I met a woman who made cannabis-infused salve and cookies and in January 1996, we decided to start the Cannabis Buyers Club. The CBC was the first public medical cannabis club in Canada complete with a pamphlet and a pager number. I found a downtown apartment a couple of months later in Victoria, but more thieves appeared than donors in those first few years and the services of the club stayed quite limited.

The CBC believes it is unfair to require a doctor�s recommendation, in order to access cannabis, from someone who suffers from a permanent, physical disability or disease. Doctors are reluctant to endorse cannabis, primarily because they have been warned by the College of Physicians and Surgeons not to promote the herb. Conservative doctors don�t want a smoked plant to be considered a medicine; and especially not if people enjoy the process. A lack of quality research has limited the medical community�s ability to understand cannabis and patients lacking a reliable supply of cannabis products cannot prove to their doctors that the herb helps them feel better. Without watching people improve their lives by using cannabis, physicians have little information.

Theo and Mordici �the Muffin Man� started a service in Vancouver in the summer of 1996 called the Vancouver Medical Marijuana Coalition; however the original team did not last long. When Hillary Black returned from Europe she joined Theo to form the Vancouver Medical Marijuana Buyer�s Club. Doctor�s recommendations were requested for some conditions and the name was changed to the Cannabis Compassion Club. The group incorporated as the B.C. Compassion Club Society in 1997.

Hempology 101 and the CBC made slow, steady progress in the early years. Many questioned my actions as I chose to fight for legalization with Hempology 101. I�ve attended public rallies where I have been known to smoke joints and pass out cookies. I believe that the responsible use of quality cannabis gives more benefits than harm to the average healthy person. However, under the circumstances I believe that the most vulnerable and ill of our citizens should not have to wait for the laws to change, or their doctor to become supportive, before they gain access to a club. By limiting membership in the club to people with incurable medical problems we hope to take the first step towards full legalization. Since the early days some people believed the CBC went too far and groups like Hempology 101 should be kept distant from medical suppliers.

On November 8, 2000, I was arrested and charged with trafficking for sharing a few joints after a weekly 101 Club 4:20 Hempology meeting at the University of Victoria. One week later, on International Medical Marijuana Day, I was arrested and charged again for trafficking, this time for giving pot cookies away.

In March 2001, while issuing a warrant in another apartment in my building, Victoria police advised me to move CBC to a storefront. We very quickly set the club up behind a downtown bookstore and began developing the world�s best edible and skin products.

On Jan 1, 2002, I cut-off a member caught re-selling beside the store. When he came back two days later, it resulted in an awkward police search and seizure, which put the club in debt but did not shut the doors. Warrants were issued in March and June of 2002, which again put the club in more debt and worried the membership.

We petitioned city hall relentlessly. Council passed a resolution stating support of medical cannabis and requested Health Canada to send a representative to Victoria to explain the M.M.A.R. After the June raid, I ran for mayor of Victoria in an attempt to prove I was not a criminal. Another raid in Feb 2003 made us feel like we had a gun pointed to our heads even though they had never pulled a gun during a raid. We kept working through it all.

My constitutional challenge had been delayed pending a Supreme Court decision in Clay/Caine/Malmo-Levine and in the summer of 2003 a technical argument was successful in getting charges dropped from the June 2002 raid. On Dec 23, 2003, the Supreme Court 6-3 decision in favour of the cannabis laws signaled the beginning of my trials. We managed to get the Jan 2002 trial set first.

Arguments began in May, with police admitting I was cooperative and the club �was run like a pharmacy.� I testified that we spent years publicly advocating, we opened the store after police told us to, and I argued that requiring a doctor�s recommendations to use cannabis was an unreasonable barrier to place upon someone already diagnosed with an incurable medical problem. Dr. James Geiwitz testified as an expert witness and educated the judge about the effects of cannabis. On Sept 7, 2004, Justice Chaperon granted a judicial acquittal to Colby Budda and me, since the person who brought the police to our door was cut-off for re-selling. She recognized our motives were not for profit but for helping sick people only.

No cannabis from Health Canada was available until the summer of 2003, which means before then, clubs like ours were the only option for anyone with a legitimate medical need. Charges from the March 2002 and Feb 2003 raids should get dropped in 2005.

The day after our acquittal, B.C. Solicitor General, Rich Coleman was asked if pot stores would be allowed to continue, considering Chaperon�s decision. His response was that sick people could get their pot from Health Canada and anyone openly selling pot would be shut down. The next day the Da Kine in Vancouver was raided, and though it reopened, it eventually closed because of police and media pressure.

Unfortunately, the Da Kine attempted to use the medical issue to shield commercial activities. By requiring members to sign forms stating they suffer from problems such as road rage and referring to the caf� as a compassion club, the Da Kine operators did not portray medical cannabis clubs as legitimate. It is ironic as I find myself criticizing Da Kine after years of being told by V.I.C.S. that ��simply requiring a diagnosis of condition leaves too much room for abuse in an already contentious treatment.�

Having convinced a judge that requiring a doctor�s recommendation from people suffering from incurable medical problems is unfair, we cannot help but wonder what the situation would be if our mandate were used across the country. According to some estimates, 1 million Canadians may need access to cannabis as medicine. Currently, the CBC assists about 1,700 people in Victoria and about 7,000 people are members of legitimate clubs across Canada. Statistically about 70,000 people in the Lower Mainland should have constitutional protection to use cannabis.

Establishing medical clubs is an important step in the legalization of cannabis. Hempology 101 and CBC will continue to work towards this end.

So cannabis seems essential to our mental, physical and spiritual well being to me. That having been said, it seems apparent that the only way to defend our selves is through education. So it is my great pleasure to teach you today how to make Cannoil, or cannabis infused oil you can use to do your own baking, make into massage oils and lip balms. This is distinctly different from making hashish or honey-oil, which is a concentration of the resins. We infuse the cannabinoids directly into the oil we are using, which is olive oil because of its benefits.

Massage oils are half the strength of cookies, first aide salve and lips balms have bees wax added to solidify them. We still prefer the more traditional method of a double boiler. First you get out your double boiler, or make one of a saucepan and a tight fitting ceramic bowl or another saucepan. Put 2-3 inches of water in the bottom pot and place on the stove. In the top pot put 1 once of good leaf (1/2 oz for massage oils mid lip balms), or % oz buds for extra strength cookies and Cannoil and 1 cup of olive oil. Boil for 4-5 hours – remember to check the level of the water every couple of hours and add more if necessary to keep from boiling dry. You don’t need high heat, just enough to keep the water boiling. This keeps your cannabis /oil mixture from getting hot enough to destroy valuable chemicals. Instead it gets cooked at a temperature that changes inactive cannabinoids lo active cannabinols. thereby increasing it’s potency. To high a temperature and you start to destroy the active chemicals. Take the top pot off and set aside to cool. Strain the cannabis/oil mix through 1 or 2 layers of cheesecloth into a clean measuring cup mid squeeze as much oil out as possible. Don’t worry about getting it all out because now you are ready to make a Cannaplast! Put an ounce of your strainings onto a piece of cheesecloth or sterile gauze twice the size of what hurts. Wrap it up like an envelope so one side has only one layer of cloth; (this is the side that gets put next to your skin). Tape it shut with masking tape and put it where it hurts (or in plastic bag in the freezer for later use). Look for uses of your Cannaplast in the nest issue. Now I usually divide the oil into 2 containers, ready for use. 1 make 50 cookies, or 100 lozenges from 1/3 cup of cannabis infused oil. You can also bottle it at this point to add to whatever food you like in the quantity you need at the time. The next tiling you need to remember is that low heat applies to baking as well. Cookies are baked at 250F. for 30-40 minutes (depending on the recipe you use). Cakes usually need to bake at the least 300F. so brownies and things like that are usually preferred.
It’s time to reveal the Secret Ingredient! This ingredient is so beneficial I was starling to wonder why it isn’t illegal. The secret, special ingredient is…. LECITHIN! That’s right. Lecithin. It comes from soybeans, eggs, com wheat and nuts. You can get it in liquid or powder for baking (also great for greasing your muffin tins with), or in capsules as a supplement. Lecithin is found in all living cells of the human body. It aids the body’s use of fats and oil- soluble vitamins by emulsifying them to a form we may use. We have never seen another cannabis recipe in a book or another club that mentions lecithin as an important ingredient, except that many patents exist where pharmaceutical companies have included it in combination with cannabis and other chemicals. We cannot keep this secret lo ourselves in good conscience.

Lecithin is essential to a healthy nervous system as it is found in higher concentrations in die Myelin sheath, (the fatty protective coating of the nerves) so you can see how it will help things like Multiple Sclerosis and White Finger. A type of Super Lecithin (lecithin combined with other nutrients) has been found to arrest Alzheimer’s disease. It can also restore memory banks weekend by coffee consumption, prevent gallstones from forming and lower your blood pressure. A lack of lecithin can cause forgetfulness, nausea, and intolerance to fats, high blood pressure, joint and muscle problems such as bursitis, cramps and soreness. Which leads me to think of things like Arthritis and Fibromyalgia. Years ago I wondered why folks would get so baked on my baking. Now I find out it was the lecithin my Naturopathic doctor told me to put in ALL of my baking to help combat the effects of Environmental Illness, (my joints like to dislocate if exposed to too much pollution). Although not well advertised, I agree that lecithin can be a vital part of your good health. So please, try to incorporate some lecithin into your diet and always use it when working with cannabis.

This decision stems from an undercover operation on Nov. 8, 2000 when police pretended to be students at the weekly 4:20 meeting of the University of Victoria Hempology 101 Club where they collected a roach from a joint I passed out and arrested me later in the parking lot. I was charged with trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking (PPT).

A constitutional question notice was filed soon after 1 was charged which claimed the state had violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by arresting me in this manner. Lawyer Robert Moore-Stewart argued with me that Sections 2. 7, 9, 11, and 15 of the Charter were breached by police and that their sweeping powers granted to them with this law are arbitrary and engender disrespect for the law. While our arguments failed at the Provincial Court level, the fight now moves to higher levels of justice. An appeal will be filed against this decision, as I am prepared to fight this law all die way to the Supreme Court of Canada. One of the arguments 1 presented in court was that cannabis has far more benefits than potential harm for the average person. Dr. James Geiwitz provided expert testimony which supported my claims that cannabis is generally healthy and benign, while also challenging misconceptions about the potential harms cannabis may cause to certain vulnerable groups.

In a decision laid down Dec. 23. 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada stated that the main goal of the cannabis law is to protect youth, addicts, mental health patients, pregnant women, and people suffering from heart and lung problems from the harmful effects of cannabis. The main argument that Caine/ Clay/ Malmo-Levine used was referred to as the ‘Harm Principle.” based upon John Stewart Mill’s assertions that the government should not harm people who are not harming anyone else except potentially themselves.

Since alcohol and tobacco are legally available, it was argued that the government has been arbitrary and inconsistent with the creation and implementation of the cannabis laws. The Supreme Court denied that the government can make any drug illegal which has potential harms, even if legal drugs are more dangerous. On March 14 I am facing another trial for being arrested before an annual cannabis cookie give-away on Nov 15. 2000. The year before police watched as I gave away 101 cookies at the library to celebrate International Medical Marijuana Day on Nov 15. 1999. The next year there was no chance for me to give away a cookie before police grabbed me and arrested me with possession for the purpose of trafficking. This trial has also been delayed for constitutional arguments to be heard at the Supreme Court level before beginning. We will argue that I was giving away health food, which had many medical benefits with few potential harmful side effects, which should not be a crime as I was enhancing public health and safety.

On Jan. 7. 2005.1 was convicted of trafficking cannabis resin for selling cannabis cookies, massage oil, salve and vegetable oil capsules at the Cannabis Buyers’ Club of Canada on March 21. 2002. At the same time, charges of trafficking cannabis were dropped against me because the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations only provide protection for cannabis (marijuana) and do not include cannabis resin or THC – the most active chemical in the herb. This means that even people who possess personal licenses to grow cannabis become criminals if they cook the plant into food. That is considered manufacturing a drug according to the current laws. These laws must change. On Feb. 3. 2005. An appeal will be filed to challenge this court decision and the federal government’ regulations. A protest at David Anderson’s office will only signal die beginning of our fight to change the laws to include cannabis food and skin products in the MMAR. If you cannot attend the rally, please call or write to various media sources to inform them of our activities and your opinion. A letter will be handed to David Anderson’s staff explaining why Health Canada should amend the MMAR to include cannabis resin, cannabis (THC) and the other cannibinoids mentioned in the CDSA. ( See page 3.) This letter will also be sent to politicians, bureaucrats and media listed on page 7. We need as much help as possible educating these people about cannabis resin, the medical benefits of eating cannabis and how the administration of justice is put into disrepute when unjust, irrational and insulting laws are enforced. Please be polite in all phone calls, letters and e-mails you send, and for some lips check out an article on writing posted at the club and on www.hempology.com.

Our leaders and the community should realize that the only people who benefit from this interpretation of the law are pharmaceutical companies. Millions of dollars have been accepted by Health Canada from drug companies to patent and market cannabis pills, inhalers and skin products. It will be years before any of these products are readily available on the market. This means license holders are expected to smoke, go without cannabis food or become criminal by cooking the herb, even if they could legally grow it. Many sick people neither have the kitchen utensils, knowledge or physical ability to make their own cannabis food. The experience gained over the years by the club has helped us develop healthy, consistent, cannabis food and skin products. Providing fresh baked, quality cannabis food is an essential component of ‘compassion’ clubs because edible products need to be consistent and readily available. Pressure will also be applied to Victoria City council to force Health Canada to come here and make a presentation about die medical cannabis programs. Almost three years ago, after die March 21, 2002 raid, we petitioned City Hall to help us. At a joint meeting with the police board, the city formally made a request of Health Canada to come here and explain die MMAR and how they impact the community. That meeting has never happened, despite the occasion signal from Ottawa that they were prepared to come. This meeting must happen or our club will continue to sit in limbo while everyone is wondering exactly what Health Canada is doing with its regulations and programs