BEDRIDDEN MS PATIENT FORCED TO HAND OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA

BRITISH COLUMBIA -- Life is already painful and difficult for 54 year-old Elizabeth Shaw, who suffers terribly from severe multiple sclerosis. Mrs. Shaw is completely bedridden and relies upon her husband's assistance for her daily needs. Now, despite Canada's historic medical marijuana laws, Mrs Shaw has been raided by the RCMP - and life just got a lot tougher.

Mrs. Shaw's doctor prescribed synthetic THC for her in order to relieve the severe pain associated with MS. Studies have found that MS patients who use marijuana, begin to show signs of improvement with their health and that once they discontinue using marijuana, their health often quickly declines.
After verifying this for herself, Elizabeth signed up as a member of the BC Compassion Society and recently, as a member of the Sunshine Coast Compassion Club. Both Clubs provide medical marijuana to patients with doctor's recommendations or prescriptions for marijuana.

When Art Shaw witnessed his wife's health improve after using marijuana, he decided become Elizabeth's caretaker and grow some marijuana plants for her.

He had never grown marijuana before, so he set out to grow 6 plants in his back yard. Not before long, Art began to notice that some of the buds were either being stolen or eaten by animals wandering by. So, he took his plants inside and continued growing them in his living room. Unfortunately, a neighbor spotted the plants framed in the living room window and decided to report Art and Elizabeth to the local RCMP.

On Saturday, October 7th, at 6:20pm, two RCMP officers went to Art and Elizabeth's home. They saw the marijuana plants from the window and when Art answered the door they hand-cuffed him and put him in the back of their police car. Then, an officer in plain clothes showed up and went inside to talk with Elizabeth, who was lying in bed, afraid and bewildered. The officer told Elizabeth she had a choice, they could either take her husband or her plants. Elizabeth opted to keep her husband. So, the officers seized all 6 marijuana plants, 4 female and 2 male, letting Art go free in exchange.

Two days later, Art Shaw contacted the Sunshine Coast Compassion Club, which is scheduled to open on October 21, 2001. One of the directors of the Club heard his story and immediately registered Art's wife, Elizabeth as a new member. Both Club directors, Lisa Kirkman and Renee Boje, are disappointed that the local RCMP seized the medicine of a woman that is so ill that she can't even get out of bed on her own. They would like to express their support of Elizabeth and Art Shaw and plan to supply
Elizabeth with some more medical marijuana free of charge during this
extremely painful and terrifying experience.