Mail order marijuana

I'm a medical marijuana patient. While I understand that there are those that don't believe in medical marijuana, there are a number of legal decisions that have determined my status, as a patient, with the right to access cannabis for medicinal use. So, that is a legal fact. No debate.

Now, try to imagine being told - as a diabetic or acute arthritis sufferer - that the only legal means for you obtain your physician prescribed medicine was by mail order. Additionally, imagine there is no professional allowed to assist you and you aren't even allowed to see your prescription being dispensed. You can wait 5 or 6 days for your prescription and you'll be charged for shipping. Transportation issues can further complicate the process. Fortunately, that's not the case for Canadian patients...except medical marijuana patients. Which brings me to my main point, that being the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries in our communities.

I'm a retiree. You won't find me at the annual 4/20 events. I don't have dreadlocks. My wife and I are looking forward to visiting our grandson, in Hamilton, and "snow-birding" somewhere warm.  In all respects, boringly normal. So, I hope to be forgiven if, like many thousands of other Canadian medical marijuana patients, I believe that I'm being discriminated against. The reason we're seeing so many dispensaries opening is because patients - your neighbours, friends, family members, co-workers - want them. The system, as it stands, is wrong. Everyone, from top to bottom, knows that medical cannabis patients have chosen to disregard the hypocrisy of a system set up to support corporate investment...not patient need or accessibility.

Dispensaries, while varied in their respective individual operations, are evolving into professional, modern clinics. Many provide patients access to medical professionals, either online or on-site. In the absence of regulations, dispensaries - as an industry - have, and continue, to raise the bar, in terms of providing the professional services and medicine that we, as patients and Canadian citizens, have the right to expect. 

So, don't be surprised when a dispensary opens in your community. It's not something to be concerned about. It's about Canadians expecting to be treated like their fellow Canadians.

Mark Conlin