CREDIT: THINKSTOCK

The haunting echo of a Conservative mother scared about her kids trying pot, is still ringing in their ears, but Canadians will soon be one step closer to a drug-free utopia if Health Canada gets its way.

The federal health organization has introduced “Marihuana Medical Access Regulations,” which will restrict licensed users' from growing their own medication because of concerns about illicit sale and violent crime. The ultimate injustice done here is inherent to the fact that medical marijuana users themselves are not the criminals. As far as Health Canada is concerned, if cracking down on non-medical users negatively impacts the medical users, that's none of their concern.

As Health Canada learned on March 21, however, Judge Michael Manson doesn't feel quite the same way. The federal judge granted an injunction, which will allow medical marijuana users to continue to grow their own supply if they had been licensed to as of September 20, 2013 or later.

The injunction is a temporary measure, which will allow medical marijuana users to continue their treatment as before until their legal challenge can be heard in court. The judge did allow one portion of the new regulation to take effect namely limiting the legal amount of dried marijuana a patient may possess to 150 grams.

A gram of pot has a street value of approximately $10 and advocates against the new regulations claim the initial cost from a licensed Health Canada grower would be comparable. This puts the price tag for a patient with a 15-gram daily prescription at $49,275 per year for medication, assuming a price of $9/gram.

This is at the heart of the court challenge to Health Canada's new regulations. The challenge hinges on the claim that raising the cost of treatment for medical marijuana users could be unconstitutional.

Many with a prescription for marijuana have chronic pain and are unable to work making the medication they need inaccessible under the new regulations. A medical user from Ottawa made headlines when he launched a lawsuit against the federal government for $6.5 million, his estimate of how much his and his wife's medical marijuana would cost over their lifetime under the new regulations.

When Liberal Party Leader, Justin Trudeau, stated that he had smoked marijuana while elected to the House of Commons, it sparked a media frenzy. No federal party leader could escape the question and before long, MPs and the Prime Minister himself were being asked when the last time they smoked up was.

The short-lived drama played out on a national stage with a regular procession of familiar faces, federal leaders, admitting to having used an illegal drug. It's difficult for many to disregard the recreational abuse of marijuana and its proliferation. The misstep comes when the concern over recreational users leads the government to take action that will negatively impact those with legitimate access to the drug for medical purposes.
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