Madam Speaker, the House is being very generous tonight and I appreciate it because we did start early.
Dr. Suzuki in his program was talking to his listening audience about marijuana and its use. He was talking about a gentleman who had a sick son. I want to put this on the record because it spells out pretty clearly the effects and how positive it can be when used for the right reasons.
A gentleman by the name of Lester Grinspoon was speaking. He said:
My son who in 1967 was diagnosed as having acute lymphatic leukaemia, he was 10 years-old then. By the time he reached the age of 13, was beginning to get some of the cancer chemotherapeutic substances which cause severe nausea and vomiting. He would vomit for about eight hours or have the dry heaves for eight hours. He would vomit in the car on the way home from the hospital and just lie in his room with his head over a bucket on the floor.
That is a very common experience for any of us who have had relatives and loved ones who were sick and receiving chemotherapy. It is not unusual for that to happen.
He went on to say that he and his wife were at a dinner party and a doctor recommended the use of marijuana for this young boy. He said:
On the way home from that dinner party my wife Betsy said “Well, maybe we should get some marijuana for Danny”. I'm ashamed to say it, I said “No we can't do that. It's against the law and we don't want to embarrass the people at the Children's Hospital who are taking such great care of Danny”. His next chemotherapy was due a couple of weeks later and Betsy and Danny smoked in the parking lot outside of the Children's Hospital. I couldn't believe what happened because not only did he not have any nausea but he even asked his mother “Could we get a submarine sandwich on the way home?” And I then called Dr. Jaffy who was the doctor who was directly involved in Danny's care and said to him “Look”, I told him the story, I said “I'm not going to stand in the way of his using marijuana this time”.
The story goes on in quite a bit of detail. Basically what it is saying is that it does work under controlled circumstances. I believe that the House has to consider that.
Again, going back to the very nature of this bill, we are talking about the word compassion. In relation to other substances out there let us give it a try under controlled conditions, under doctor's orders. If we could do that we would be prepared to support this bill.