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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Canada: ‘Stop arresting patients’: Rally calls for end to cannabis prohibition FRANCES WILLICK Herald News Saturday 02 May 2015 “The time for cannabis prohibition to end is long overdue,” said Debbie Stultz-Giffin, one of the rally’s organizers. “It’s failed, ineffective policy.” Stultz-Giffin is among 20,000 cannabis users who have a government permit to grow or use cannabis. She says many people who don’t have a permit but use it for medicinal reasons are still called before the courts. And those who do get charged with cannabis-related offences are a drain on public funds through the legal and justice system. “We have a number of patients in the crowd who have been arrested,” Stultz-Giffin said. “Some have gone to jail. Some are awaiting court proceedings. And it’s just simply wrong that our taxpayers’ dollars are being wasted by prosecuting and persecuting critically and chronically ill people.” Halifax’s rally was part of the 9th Global Marijuana Rally. Protesters planned to march from Victoria Park to the court on Spring Garden Road bearing signs that read, Stop Arresting Patients, Freedom or Health? and Charter Rights Gone Wrong. Bobbylee Dillman says he uses cannabis and its oil to treat a variety of illnesses, including fibromyalgia, arthritis, stomach problems and food sensitivities. He used to have a permit to grow marijuana, but he got raided after the rules changed and his application for a new permit was denied. Dillman says he can’t purchase cannabis from a licensed operator because he has sensitivities triggered by the chemicals and irradiation used in the production of licensed medical marijuana. “Cannabis should be taken off the CDSA (Controlled Drugs and Substances Act). If that’s taken off, then people like us can use cannabis and we don’t have a legal problem,” he said. “All I’m here for is, stop arresting patients, because my immune system is shot. This is the only way I can treat my ailments.” Not all in the crowd use the drug medicinally. Heather Shields says she uses cannabis recreationally, and although she believes it should be available to anyone who needs if for medicinal reasons, she also wants to see it decriminalized for all. “I feel like there are a lot of things that should be illegal. I feel like marijuana is absolutely not one of them,” Shields said. “There are no adverse side effects of marijuana.” http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1284194-%E2%80%98stop-arresting-patients%E2%80%99-rally-calls-for-end-to-cannabis-prohibition
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