Coe Hill community shows strong support for Dr. Kamermans
/ Stoner Girls Guide
By: Papa Ganja
In the little Ontario community of Coe Hill, nestled in Bancroft’s cottage country north of the Trans Canada Highway, there was a lot of love and music in the air last Saturday afternoon, September 26, 2015 as area residents, patients, friends and neighbours of Dr. Rob Kamermans came together in an expression of support for the long-embattled doctor.
Back in 2013 Ontario Provincial Police took Dr. Kamermans out of the Sturgeon Falls emergency ward in handcuffs and charged him with a host of offences all focussed on the doctor’s signature appearing on about 4,000 patients’ medical marijuana licence applications. At that time there were about 13,000 medical marijuana licences issued to Canadians.
“In my mind I did not sign enough licence requests,” said Dr. Kamermans. “It is up to Health Canada to issue the medical licences and they did issue a licence to every application I signed but many doctors are unwilling to sign patients requests for fear of retribution like I have experienced. There has been a great deal of stress for both myself and my wife Mary, who is a nurse.
“Medical marijuana enabled many of my patients to avoid using other addictive narcotic pain killers like OxyContin and Percocet. Those drugs are freely given and kill about 20,000 people a year in North America. No one has ever died from marijuana. It is impossible but it does give a great deal of pain relief to my patients with chronic arthritis and other painful conditions. I’d rather not prescribe addictive narcotics, even though they are sanctioned by the Canadian medical community, when we have a much safer alternative.”
Comparatively, in a study cited by St. Michael’s Hospital doctors in Toronto prescription opioides are responsible for 1,000 deaths a year in Ontario with the 2011 estimated costs of $318 million to Ontario alone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmYsAWjQOs4
Musicians from as far away as Toronto shared the stage at the Coe Hill Fairgrounds from noon until 8 p.m. with many talented local musicians. Campbellford’s People Advocating Cannabis Education (PACE) had an information booth set up along with other cannabis related vendors. And of course there was a great food truck on site for anyone who happened to get the munchies.
Near the end of the evening Lee Lavendar Love expressed what many others had throughout the day. “We love you Dr. Kamermans!” she said before breaking into an original song about the community’s great appreciation for Dr. Kamermans and his wife Mary taking such good care of the people of Coe Hill.
When asked how the court cases were going Dr. Kamermans noted what a long struggle this has been for him and how appeals are slowly working their way through the legal system. “Our government has unlimited funds for lawyers and the court system so this is naturally a very long and expensive battle for me. But we have been winning! I believe I did the right thing. I was very surprised no other doctors would do it,” he concluded. “The first rule of the Hippocratic Oath of ‘Do No Harm’ is a good one.”
Article source Stoner Girls Guide
