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Canadian professors win right to smoke pot
TORONTO, Ontario - Two Toronto professors have been given the right to specially ventilated rooms where they can indulge their right to smoke medical marijuana.
Among nearly 1,500 Canadians who have won the right to use marijuana for health reasons, the two professors teach at the University of Toronto and suffer from chronic medical conditions. The professors petitioned their employers for the right to light up in the workplace citing human rights legislation.
"Without the medication, I am disabled and I'm not able to carry out meaningful and valuable, productive work," said York University criminology professor Brian MacLean, who suffers from a severe form of degenerative arthritis.
MacLean's three-month battle to persuade York University to provide a light-up room, is short in comparison to University of Toronto philosophy professor Doug Hutchinson's year-long battle.
MacLean's three-month response time from the university put him in a vulnerable position both medically and professionally. He smoked joints on the edge of campus, and on the edge of the law. He now uses a special smokeless vaporizer which allows him to absorb the medical components of marijuana without the residues that come from smoking a joint.
Health Canada figures show that 1,492 people are authorized to possess marijuana for medical purposes in Canada since 2001. The government grows marijuana in an abandoned salt mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba, and sells it to authorized users at C$5 ($4.40) a gram.
