Health Canada to its medical marijuana patients: The no-grow rule change takes effect April 1st. You - Polidicks

[URL="http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2014/03/17/medical_marijuana_growers_warned_to_destroy_pot_or_face_police.html"]Medical marijuana growers warned to destroy pot or face police[/URL] (Toronto Star) [QUOTE]Health Canada is warning medicinal marijuana users and growers, licensed under an outgoing law, that if they don't destroy and dispose of their pot before new regulations take full effect April 1 the police will be notified. The department is asking those licensed under the old program to fill out a form declaring they no longer have any cannabis obtained under the outgoing Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR). They'll have until April 30 to respond. Those who don't comply with the directive risk having the police show up at their door. That's a risk one Fort Erie grower says he will have to take. William, who asked that his real name not be used, suffers from a number of ailments and says Health Canada is "going after sick people." "The department will take compliance and enforcement action," reads Health Canada memo posted on the federal agency's website and being mailed to more than 40,000 users and growers licensed under the old program. "This includes informing law enforcement of your failure to notify Health Canada. . . . In addition, the department will continue to co-operate with police, and provide information needed to protect public safety." ... Health Canada is relying on people to be truthful about their pot disposal. So, if users fill out the form stating they have complied, there will be no verification.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/health-canada-will-inform-police-if-medical-marijuana-growers-flout-new-rules-1.1733388"]Health Canada will inform police if medical marijuana growers flout new rules[/URL] (CTV News) [QUOTE]Health Canada says it will tell police if medical marijuana users fail to declare they have disposed of their homegrown stashes -- a requirement of strict new federal rules. The department says it will share relevant information -- including the names and addresses of those who flout the new system -- with law enforcement. Under the existing federal program, thousands of people have licences to cultivate marijuana for personal use to help ease painful symptoms. Beginning April 1, the government plans to allow only select commercial producers to grow marijuana under "secure and sanitary conditions" for postal distribution to medically approved patients. Health Canada says anyone other than a licensed producer growing marijuana as of that date is breaking the law. It means those who now possess or grow marijuana under the old rules must destroy and dispose of plants, seeds and dried pot by March 31. The Health Department recommends breaking up plant material, blending the marijuana with water, mixing it with cat litter to mask the pungent odour, and putting it all out with the trash. It is sending letters to those enrolled under the old rules to say they must submit a signed form by April 30 confirming they have stopped growing pot. Users are also required to list the number of plants -- and the number of grams of dried marijuana and seeds -- they have destroyed. Those who fail to comply will be reported to police, Health Canada says in a notice on its website. The department will also "continue to co-operate with police, and provide information needed to protect public safety, as appropriate." However, it will stop short of providing municipalities with a list of marijuana production sites that must shut down under the new rules, saying such information is protected by federal privacy law.[/QUOTE] However, the battle over the change from MMAR to MMPR is already well underway. [URL="http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Preventing+patients+from+growing+medical+marijuana/9633348/story.html"]Preventing patients from growing medical marijuana unconstitutional: lawyer[/URL] (Vancouver Sun) [QUOTE]Changes to the medical marijuana program that will force patients to stop growing their own pot will violate the rights of those who won't be able to afford marijuana under the new system or obtain strains that work for them, their lawyer told Federal Court on Tuesday. More than a decade after a landmark court case forced Ottawa to legalize medical marijuana, a group of patients were in Federal Court on Tuesday asking a judge to temporarily block new regulations that will limit production to approved commercial growers. As of April 1, patients currently licensed to grow or possess medical marijuana under the old system will be breaking the law unless they dismantle their grow-ops and destroy their plants and seeds. The patients' lawyer, John Conroy, urged the judge to issue an injunction to allow those patients to continue growing and possessing marijuana under the old regulations until their legal challenge goes to trial. He argued the law will deprive the patients of their right to access important medicine, and he pointed to the federal government's own research that concludes medical marijuana prices are expected to initially increase when the new rules take effect. "The legislation not only doesn't address the poor or those who can't afford (marijuana under the new system), but it takes away the right to produce completely," Conroy told the court. "The government ... has come up with a scheme that doesn't create a supply to everyone and expects those who can't afford it to wait and see what happens over time instead of preserving the constitutional rights of the patients."[/QUOTE] It's not easily embedded, but [URL="http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Video+Vancouver+police+enforce+marijuana/9578933/story.html"]the Vancouver Sun also has a video piece[/URL] on how, in Vancouver, Health Canada's rule changes won't affect the dispensaries operating in the city, since local police and city council agree that, as long as they behave, they aren't doing anything wrong. Fuck you, HC. :v: [B]Important reminder if you live in British Columbia:[/B] [URL="http://sensiblebc.ca/"]Sensible BC[/URL] [URL="http://sensiblebc.ca/"]Sensible BC[/URL] [URL="http://sensiblebc.ca/"]Sensible BC[/URL] BC is the only province with a citizen referendum power, so it's up to us to do this. The first step towards legalization in Canada is provincial decriminalization by barring the RCMP from expending provincial resources (i.e. their own budget) on going after basic, otherwise-harmless possession. We [I]failed[/I] the first time around, but we've got another chance for this upcoming referendum period and we need to get a win. Shove it in Harper's face.

Well it [I]is[/I] a medicine.

Send them a confirmation the day it starts, April 1st. Then keep growing the pot. Hey, it's not your fault they decided to ask you on April Fool's day.

It's funny how one of the conservatives' biggest fears is the government doing pretty much exactly this to people's guns

[QUOTE=Zeke129;44290881]It's funny how one of the conservatives' biggest fears is the government doing pretty much exactly this to people's guns[/QUOTE] The irony is appalling

[QUOTE=Furioso;44290906]The irony is appalling[/QUOTE] well obviously a plant that people are growing for medicinal reasons is far more dangerous than a machine designed to propel bits of metal at things in order to destroy them our government is keeping our streets [i]safe[/i]

[QUOTE=Zeke129;44290881]It's funny how one of the conservatives' biggest fears is the government doing pretty much exactly this to people's guns[/QUOTE] Well, the conservatives only want people to keep potentially harmful tools.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;44290881]It's funny how one of the conservatives' biggest fears is the government doing pretty much exactly this to people's guns[/QUOTE] Then vote Libertarian, they want to let you protect your grow-op with guns while smoking pot at your gay wedding. In all seriousness though, the arguments about banning X from either side are appalling. For exactly the reasons you said here from the right wing, and vice-versa from the left.

If a rock with a "C" on it ran as a conservative it would win in many parts of Canada.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;44291134]If a rock with a "C" on it ran as a conservative it would win in many parts of Canada.[/QUOTE] It'd win nationwide for two decades straight and have its portrait carved into a mountain.

[quote]Health Canada is relying on people to be truthful about their pot disposal. So, if users fill out the form stating they have complied, there will be no verification. [/quote] um

[QUOTE=The golden;44291178]I doubt those people even know who they are voting for and what their platform is. They just vote Conservative no matter what. Lookin at you, Alberta.[/QUOTE] I'm literally the only person in Alberta who doesn't support the Conservatives. Send help.

[QUOTE=The golden;44291178]I doubt those people even know who they are voting for and what their platform is. They just vote Conservative no matter what. Lookin at you, Alberta.[/QUOTE] Hey, last election, I voted Rhino

[QUOTE]Health Canada is relying on people to be truthful about their pot disposal. So, if users fill out the form stating they have complied, there will be no verification.[/QUOTE] So basically, everyone will bullshit the fact they've destroyed the crops when really they are still growing

[QUOTE]Health Canada is relying on people to be truthful about their pot disposal. So, if users fill out the form stating they have complied, there will be no verification.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=fruxodaily;44291726]So basically, everyone will bullshit the fact they've destroyed the crops when really they are still growing[/QUOTE] That's politics in general for you. A problem pops up, gets swept quietly under the rug, and is claimed to be resolved for either eternity or until it creates a big enough fuss again. Rinse and repeat until your constituents want your head on a pike, while you laugh all the way to the Carribean on your solid-gold yacht.

[QUOTE=The Chef;44291559]Hey, last election, I voted Rhino[/QUOTE] idk, the elephant would win in a fight, but I loved the donkey in shrek...

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;44291726]So basically, everyone will bullshit the fact they've destroyed the crops when really they are still growing[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=TurboSax;44291883]That's politics in general for you. A problem pops up, gets swept quietly under the rug, and is claimed to be resolved for either eternity or until it creates a big enough fuss again. Rinse and repeat until your constituents want your head on a pike, while you laugh all the way to the Carribean on your solid-gold yacht.[/QUOTE] To you both, actually, this is likely something that would be used against you to get a more severe sentence if you are then prosecuted in the future for growing. You'd presumably have to be caught by other means (i.e. any way of being caught other than Health Canada ratting you out when they said they wouldn't), but they'd contact HC and ask if you were a past MMJ patient, and if they say "yes, and he had a license to grow from 20XX to 2014 until we killed that program, and we have a form on file from him documenting the destruction of his operation," that gives the criminal prosecution more things to get the judge mad at you with. [URL="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/medical-marijuana-growers-uninspected-by-health-canada-1.1146525"]It's all Health Canada's fault for only paying 15 people to conduct compliance inspections for over ten thousand license-holders in the first place,[/URL] so fuck them. It's pretty obvious that Health Canada does not want to run the program and is only doing so because a Supreme Court decision [I]forced them to[/I]. MMAR had like 7 Supreme Court/highest provincial court below the federal SC decisions in 10 years, because one thing or another about it was flatly unconstitutional. If you live in BC, register for Sensible BC so we can take the burden off Health Canada and just grow our own.

[QUOTE=DaCommie1;44291098]Then vote Libertarian, they want to let you protect your grow-op with guns while smoking pot at your gay wedding. In all seriousness though, the arguments about banning X from either side are appalling. For exactly the reasons you said here from the right wing, and vice-versa from the left.[/QUOTE] I don't think people should be allowed to run a "grow op" any more than they should be allowed to open a brewery (that is, you can, but only with the right permits). Growing a few plants for personal use, fine. I also think libertarians are ass-backwards when it comes to the economy, healthcare, and other social services, so while there may be 1 or 2 reasons why I'd want to vote for them, there are plenty why I wouldn't. [editline]19th March 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=The Chef;44291559]Hey, last election, I voted Rhino[/QUOTE] May as well spoil the ballot, they count those as well.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;44292164] I also think libertarians are ass-backwards when it comes to the economy, healthcare, and other social services, so while there may be 1 or 2 reasons why I'd want to vote for them, there are plenty why I wouldn't.[/QUOTE] Separating the fiscal conservatives from the social conservatives would be great. "Well ah don't think Nelson Mandela is the anti-christ but I wanna lower them taxes".