Dear editor,

I would like to express my disappointment, disgust and contempt at the government and RCMP for the recent bust of the Compassion Club in Courtenay. I was one of many clients who depended on these people for relief of my illness that my doctor and his pharmacy drugs could not provide. I have been very sick for 25 years and have been on disability for 12 years. There is nothing I can take that makes me all better, but some things provide a small amount of relief. Marijuana is one of them. So what did the RCMP accomplish? Do you really think any of the clients of the club are going to quit smoking, buying, or growing marijuana? No; now we have to pay more to street dealers and possibly contribute to organized crime. There are a lot of recent complaints about the court system being overloaded. I would dearly love to know who exactly we were bothering. CHEK News said that RCMP acted on public complaints. If, indeed, there were a couple of complaints, how does this outweigh the needs of hundreds of sick people? Now, I understand not everybody is on our side of the fence. I was a redneck steelspar logger for 20 years and spent a lot of my time badmouthing people who lived on government assistance and doing drugs. Until I got sick, and now I am on assistance and doing marijuana and painkillers. So I say, if you don鈥檛 like marijuana for whatever reason, don鈥檛 have anything to do with it. But for those of us who have a use for it, I wish you all would mind your own business. One more thing: hats off to Bill, Ernie and all the members of the Compassion Club for their guts and dedication. I鈥檝e already called my MP and MLA, and I hope that all that believe in our cause will join in. The Compassion Club helped us; let鈥檚 help them.

Russel Green

Campbell River