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The Need For These Clubs – A Testimony From Lee Morrison
By Hemp | January 8, 2002
By LEE MORRISON
Member, Cannabis Buyers’ Clubs of Canada
One of the greatest factors that adversely affects recovery from illness is isolation.
If we lack personal support in our everyday lives (such as friends and family),
the healing process will be compromised. A paradox is very quickly created;
we require people for our healing process, and yet we often push them away when ill
for a variety of reasons:
- We often wish not to burden others with our “problems”.
Some illnesses can actually stigmatize the individual within society views creating
a social barrier i.e. AIDS, Hep C.
Dealing with a serious chronic condition often brings on depression and isolation.
Family and friends often have difficulties dealing with the changes that occur within
the ill individual.
That is why places such as the
Cannabis Buyers’ Clubs of Canada are so
important. These places are not so much to facilitate the distribution of medicine
(Cannabis), but more importantly to provide support for the 830+ clients the CBCoC has.
Here people can safely purchase, consume and learn more about how their medicine can
help themselves and others. They benefit from advocacy and emotional support,
accompanied with the dignity and respect that they deserve.
It is rare to see over 830 individuals, from the streetperson to the nurse, working
to support each other in a non-threatening, non-judgemental environment. And as we
continue to grow as an organization, we continue to grow as individuals. That is the
greater piece of this picture.
At the CBCoC we are working together, staff and members to cross this bridge. We are
fortunate to have members who are involved with outreach and creating a healthier
situation. It is amazing how empowering a simple hug is when the recipient is an
individual with AIDS. To us, people are people, tied together by a common bond of
serious long-term illness. It is time to realize that only those individuals who
deal with the pain of their illness can fully understand that very pain.
Now, we face a crisis. The Government can no longer ignore the existence of these
clubs since the recent serious events to strike the CBCoC’s Victoria Location.
The most tragic part is the extent of damage that this can and will have on so
many people. We never hid from the police and took every opportunity to work with
them in a non-confrontational way. The only reason the initial contact with the police
occurred was as a result of an ex-member becoming violent in the store. He had become
an ex-member because he had been caught reselling. You see, we have a very strict
policy against reselling. This medicine is meant for personal consumption only.
We have never despised the concept of working with the Government.
It is important to have some form of regulation to protect the members.
We now would ask the government to come forward, examine the prototype that we have
created. We have made a positive difference that I am very proud of.
We have filled a need – an incredible need – for a safe place for purchasing
medicine, in a warm, supportive environment.
I know we’re on the right track.
Lee Morrison
B.A. Psych., B.A. Eng Lit.
Member, CBCoC
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