Canadian AIDS Society to Hold Press Conference on New Medicinal Marijuana Report
OTTAWA, June 12, 2006 - The Canadian AIDS Society (CAS) is holding a press conference to announce the launch of a policy report on medicinal cannabis (“marijuana”) for people living with HIV/AIDS on Wednesday, June 14.
Although a federal medicinal cannabis program has been in place in Canada for several years, few of the thousands of Canadians who currently use cannabis as therapy are doing so legally. Drawing on the information gathered from focus groups, questionnaire responses and an exhaustive legal analysis, this report is the culmination of in-depth consultations with Canadians living with HIV/AIDS and other key stakeholders. The report,
Cannabis as Therapy for People Living with HIV/AIDS: “Our Right, Our Choice”, identifies the barriers to accessing medicinal cannabis and proposes recommendations to address them.
Panelists will include:
Following introductory statements from the panelists, there will be time for a brief Q&A.
Date and Time:
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Location:
Delta Hotel and Suites
Algonquin Room
361 Queen Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Media Inquiries:
Henry Lau, Communications Consultant
Canadian AIDS Society
(613) 230-3580 x130 | (613) 878-2337 (mobile)
henryl@cdnaids.ca | www.cdnaids.ca
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The Canadian AIDS Society is a coalition of over 125 community-based AIDS organizations across Canada. Our mandate is to speak as a national voice and act as a forum for a community-based response to HIV infection, as well as to advocate for persons so affected.
Panelist Bios
Alan Young
Alan Young is a criminal lawyer, an author, and has been an Associate Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, since 1986. He is a lecturer at Woodsworth College, University of Toronto. He has been a litigator in some of Canada’s key cases on the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, namely R. v. Clay in 1997 and 2000, Wakeford v. Canada in 1998, 1999, and 2000, and Hitzig et. al. v Canada in 2003. He is the legal consultant for the Cannabis as Therapy for People Living with HIV/AIDS Project.
Brent Lewandoski
Brent Lewandoski currently sits on the board of directors of the HIV/AIDS
Network of South Eastern Alberta Association. He has worked as a life skills coach, and a probation officer in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He helped start a local AIDS service organization in Medicine Hat, Alberta. He was active in the Alberta Community Council on HIV and served as a board member of the Interfaith Centre for AIDS Resources and Education. He was involved in the formation of the Alberta Positive Network and sat on the steering committee for the first four years. For the past three years, he has been a member of the Alberta Community HIV Fund Consortium. He speaks in schools about living with HIV/AIDS and was the first person in his community to go public with his HIV status. He was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1996. Although he does not use cannabis as part of his therapy, Brent strongly believes in a person’s right to choose the therapy that works for them.
Raymond Berger
Raymond Berger is a member of the National Steering Committee for the Cannabis as Therapy for People Living with HIV/AIDS Project. He has been a member of the Canadian AIDS Society’s Board of Directors since 2004 as the Quebec Regional PLWHIV/AIDS Director. He is also the Vice President of the
Comité des personnes atteintes du VIH du Québec (Quebec’s Persons Living with HIV/AIDS Committee). He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in social work from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM). He has been living with HIV/AIDS since 1987, and uses cannabis to help manage adverse symptoms of HIV/AIDS and side effects related to the HIV treatments.
Lynne Belle-Isle
Lynne Belle-Isle worked as an epidemiologist at Health Canada from 1994 to 2002, where she was involved in environmental health, and in chronic diseases such as asthma, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, genetic testing and biotechnology. During this time, she volunteered at a community-based organization, Pink Triangle Services (PTS). She left Health Canada in 2002 and became PTS’ first full-time staff, as the office coordinator and volunteer coordinator. She was hired by the Canadian AIDS Society as a National Programs Coordinator in January 2004 to work on issues related to prisoners, hepatitis C, harm reduction, epidemiology and medicinal cannabis. She sat on Health Canada’s Stakeholder Advisory Committee on Medical Marihuana as a representative of CAS. In January 2005, she took on the Cannabis as Therapy for People Living with HIV/AIDS Project as Project Consultant.
Gail Flintoft
Gail Flintoft is currently the Chair of the Canadian AIDS Society’s Board of Directors. She has served on CAS’ Board from 1992-98 and 2001 to the present, and has held other positions such as Treasurer, Secretary and Chair of Board committees. She has been working as a social worker for 27 years. For five years she worked at a women’s hostel and was part of a group that started up two nonprofit agencies to provide housing and support to individuals with mental health issues. Since 1990, she has been working at Casey House Hospice, an AIDS hospice in Toronto and has worked extensively with people who have mental health, housing and substance use issues. She has been a board member and co-chair of the Ontario AIDS Network and was chair of the steering committee that worked toward its incorporation in the early 1990s. Gail has been a long time volunteer at Fife House Foundation and has served two terms on its board. She is also on the case management committee for Hospice Toronto.