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Couple Serves Up Medicinal Recipes -- Even Russell Barth cringes at the thought of sipping a homemade tea that's been steeping in a cannabis solution for 10 minutes. "It tastes gross," the 37-year-old pot activist says as the concoction cools in a refrigerator at the Jack Purcell Community Centre. "I'm not drinking it for fun. I'm taking it to alleviate symptoms." Barth and his wife, Christine Lowe, put on a cooking clinic during the Ravenswing Craft and Zine Fair at the community centre yesterday.
Licence to Use Barth and Lowe can be cavalier about their pot use because they hold federal licences to use the bud for medicinal purposes. Barth suffers from fibromyalgia, which causes insomnia and widespread pain in muscles; Lowe suffers from a slate of illnesses, including epilepsy, multiple personality disorder and eating disorders. "Cannabis is the only thing I use," said Lowe, 37, noting she doesn't take any other medications for her illnesses. The couple showed a small crowd how to make pot-infused tea, oil and butter, which, if spread on toast, might make anyone a morning person. The couple finds smoking pot "very unpleasant," so cooking the bud is one way to get around puffing it. While Barth and Lowe rely on the cooking techniques to cope with their medical conditions, other curious visitors were interested in recreational applications. Mike Foster, of head shop Crosstown Traffic, who helped organize the cooking demonstration, noted the event was perfectly legal, as long as Barth and Lowe didn't hand out samples. A recreational marijuana user, Foster, 52, is also trying to find alternatives to lighting up. "I've been a smoker for over 30 years," the 52-year-old said. "You get concerned about your health." Newshawk: CMAP http://www.mapinc.org/cmap
Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jun 2006
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: oped@ott.sunpub.com
Website: http://www.ottawasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Author: Jon Willing
Photo: Activist Russell Barth takes a swig of his medicinal pot tea during the Ravenswing Craft and Zine Fair yesterday. (Blair Gable, SUN) http://www.mapinc.org/images/RussellBarth.jpg |
