Shutting Down Cannabis Compassion Clubs Hurts Patients and the Public

published on April 20, 2023 by Marilou Gagnon, Bernie Pauly, Karen Urbanoski, Tim Stockwell, Zach Walsh, Hudson Reddon, Rielle Capler, and Stephanie Lake in The Tyee

Canadian courts have long recognized the constitutional right of people to consume cannabis to manage health conditions and symptoms.

In 2001, following the landmark Ontario court decision in R. v. Parker, a federal medical cannabis program was created to ensure that people who medicate with cannabis are not criminalized and punished for accessing an effective medical treatment, thereby forcing them to forgo access or to choose less effective and potentially harmful alternatives.

In theory the federal medical cannabis program was intended to protect people who medicate with cannabis and provide them with access to medical cannabis…