The CN Tower, Off-Limits to Some?

As a kid growing up in Ontario, the CN Tower was a big deal to me. For years it was known as the world's tallest free-standing tower. That made me a proud young Canadian.  Even today, for Torontonians the CN Tower is like the North Star, helping city-dwellers navigate every day.  I remember the thrill I felt the first time I saw it while driving to Niagara Falls with my family.  That big bulbous tower signified something great in my young psyche.

There's one Ontario kid though, that sees the CN Tower differently now.  He and his family were just turned away from the Tower for the craziest of reasons.  A reason this kid doesn't need to be concerned about.  A reason that does not follow logic, or laws, or compassion.  You see, this kid's step-dad is a chronic pain sufferer. We all know and love one of those.  I too was a kid who's dad had chronic pain.  I've researched, and suggested.  I even asked a psychic once to tap into his energy and tell me how much pain he was really in.  Seeing someone you love grimace in pain leaves a mark that lasts forever.

Mike Knox is this kid's step-dad and he has finally found a medicine that eases his pain without addiction, constipation, nausea, or the numbing of his emotions. Mike is now a legal medical cannabis patient through the MMPR program.  I'd imagine like so many others, Mike tried the Tylen@l  route.  He may have even tried the opioid route too.  Both of which hold well documented detriment to the human body.  Look at this article that says Acetaminophen dulls emotions as well as pain.  Just what a parent wants and needs eh? And look at this summary from the Canadian Center on Substance Abuse.  It states that in Ontario opioid-related deaths increased dramatically from 2004 to 2011.  It increased 242% between 1991 and 2010.  There's clearly a problem here.  Yet both of these poisons are sold and pushed every single day on our fellow humans.  We need to stop the insanity.

Here's the scoop:  Mike took his lady Courtney and her son Lennon to see Canada's great big tower. It was supposed to be an adventure but it turned sour fast.  Before they were allowed entry into the tower they were asked by security to empty their pockets. None had anything to hide, so they did as they were asked.  Mike had his medicine in his pocket.  He even transported it in the prescription bottle it came in. They were only there for the day so he couldn't keep it anywhere else.  The security told him that he was not welcome there and told all three to leave.

The only details that matter here are the facts.  Mike is a legal cannabis user.  Mike followed all of the rules outlined by the MMPR program.  Mike is one of over 40,000 Canadians who use this plant legally for medical purposes and they have been prescribed this medicine by a Medical professional. Yet, like the Security at Canada's Wonderland, these ones are not educated or informed on any of those rules.  Read another blog post I wrote where my friend Anthony Goncalves, a legal cannabis patient was kicked out of Wonderland for ingesting this plant.  He was following the rules too.  And finally I can't help but mention Michael Korchak from Nova Scotia who was told he couldn't bring his prescribed medicine on the Air Canada flight home for the holidays.  Here's his story.  This one in particular hits home for me as I have friends who board their flight tomorrow and will go without their medication for the flight from British Columbia to Quebec.  They're both legal.

Do we understand what the word legal means Canada?

Thankfully, Lennon is only two so he likely won't remember the incident.  But it's a part of his history and that's a shame if you ask me.  His history ... all of our history's include this and other examples of the breakdown of humanity and the double-standards therein.  In the year 2016 Canada has a Liberal Government who promised to legalize this plant completely.  And at what was once known as the world's tallest free standing tower, the Security are not even educated on this Government-run Medical program.  What the hell?  We are better than this Canada.

In closing, I'd like to use this example and the many others that go unnoticed as a "teachable moment".  Ontario alone has many arenas, entertainment venues, museums, and other places where a person may be asked to empty their pockets at the door.  Is this going to continue to happen over and over again?  I'm hereby asking the Liberal Government to add another aspect to their legalization measures.  We need a team of educators to contact each and every one of these venues to ensure that tax-paying, law-abiding citizens are not turned away from their doors because they carry their medicine in their pockets or purse.  For instance, I live in Kingston where our local arena The Rogers K-Rock Centre has won #1 Venue for the past 3 years (under 8000 seats).  I know for a fact that there are legal Cannabis patients in Kingston.  If they come to a concert, function, or hockey game will they be asked to leave for bringing their doctor-prescribed medicine that they intend to consume outside during intermissions?  We must do a better job educating everyone on the rules regulating medical cannabis.