Canadian Govt orders drug dealing...

[Gob]

A Canadian province has been ordered to pay for an ill couple's medical marijuana, Canadian media report.

The Nova Scotia income assistance appeals board ruled the couple needed treatment but were unable to afford growing supplies, CBC news reports.

The board ordered Nova Scotia to pay 2,500 Canadian dollars ($2,541; £1,569) to set up the growing operation.

The wife was injured in a car accident and her husband suffers from glaucoma and smoke marijuana to ease the pain.

"When I don't smoke marijuana, I have so much pain that I don't want to get out of bed. I have no energy, I don't want to do nothing," the woman told CBC News.

As well as the set-up costs, the province was also ordered to pay 100 Canadian dollars every three months towards the running costs of the growing operation.

A spokeswoman for Nova Scotia said the province was referring the decision to its lawyers but had yet to make a decision on whether to appeal, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported.

Canada's medical marijuana law came into effect in July 2000.

Patients are required to have licenses to use the drug for medical treatment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13845963

Not that it were needed, but isn't this the icing on the cake as to how screwed up society is about dope?

[Lord Jim]

I don't get this...

Doesn't the Canadian medical system have some other way of providing this couple with the marijuana they've determined they will pay for besides spending all this money to set them up in the pot growing business themselves?

If the law is anything like the one here in California, aren't there "medical marijuana dispensaries" that they could be given some sort of a voucher for?

[Crackpot]

Depends on where you are is my guess Canada is pretty sparsely populated outside of it's cities.

[Scooter]

Medical marijuana law here is a bit fucked up, so there may have been challenges finding someone to supply them near to where they live. Nova Scotia is not a very populous province and outside of Halifax does not have any major urban centres. Also, depending on their income, the court may have determined that they could not reasonably afford having to pay someone else for their marijuana on an ongoing basis. The federal government has its own growing operation that is supposed to be able to supply people by mail order, but it fulfills all the stereotypes about how gov't run businesses (don't) work, in that the stuff they produce is crap and they must be the only drug dealer in the world who has managed to lose money on its operation.

The Minister of Health just recently made an announcement that they are going to be putting all medical marijuana growers, both those who produce on their own behalf and those who produce for others, out of business. The feds intend to put out a tender for a medical marijuana producer who will supply all licensed users in the country. Apparently the police have been complaining that having many licensed growers is cutting into some easy arrests they used to be able to rely on to bump up their stats, so now those who grow their own are going to have to fork over more money (not covered by any insurance) to buy a commercial product they used to be able to harvest themselves.