Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Support Grows for the Cannabis Club

Yesterday, a small but hearty group of supporters gathered in front of Guelph City Hall to rally support and generate awareness about the closure of the Medicinal Cannabis Club of Guelph last week.

When I arrived, a man named Julian said that they were waiting to get started until the arrival of a few more people. "The issue isn't to legalize marijuana," he says, adding that his own parents were cancer patients. "The issue is that sick people can't get their medicine [...] They're attacking sick people that have no other recourse."

Here's the complete recording of Julian's comments to the crowd:



The Protest against the raid on the MCCG will take place this Saturday, May 15th from 2 pm - 3:30 pm in St. George's Square. The Facebook event notice can be found here.

Press Release from the MCCG:

On Thursday, May 6, 2010 the Guelph Police Service (GPS) raided the Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph Inc. (MCCG).

330 patients are now without their medication. These include patients suffering from Cancer,HIV/AIDS, Hep C, MS, Spinal Cord Injury, among others. The actions by the Guelph Police show their lack of concern for the medical welfare of the citizens of Guelph. The POLICE ARE NOT DOCTORS and should not be interrupting patients’ treatment.

The MCCG is open and operating. We are currently unable to dispense medication to our patients, but are continuing our services of helping patients complete Health Canada MMAR applications, providing information on how to cultivate, ingest, and cook cannabis, sales of delivery mechanisms, and answering general inquiries about medical cannabis.

The MCCG was originally founded in order to fill the gap in the City of Guelph, between those who are chronically ill and desperately in need of adequate medicine, and the lack of a supply. The MCCG provides people with a choice of a variety of strains of cannabis allowing patients to select the strain of cannabis which best alleviate their symptoms.

The MCCG is a lawful corporation, with strict standards in place. The MCCG reports all sales to Revenue Canada, and has paid all owing income tax, CPP, and EI deductions.

The MCCG’s mission is to provide safe, clean, and reliable access to cannabis for disabled and chronically ill people in a supportive environment. We also help members achieve selfsustainability and independence by providing cannabis cuttings.

The MCCG would like to make two further points clear. The $10 000 seized was taken from Mr. Kovacevic’s house, and was for his wedding this summer. It is not related to the MCCG. While in custody, Mr. Kovacevic’s medical condition worsened making him unable to walk. Mr. Kovacevic was told by officers that if he couldn’t walk he would have to go to jail for the weekend as there were no accessible services or elevators available to get him to bail court. This is a violation of Mr. Kovacevic’s human rights, is discrimination on the basis of disability, and will be strongly litigated.

The Medical Cannabis Club of Guelph Inc. (MCCG) was established in 2006. The MCCG is a proud member of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Guelph Business Association.

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