College professor allow to smoke pot

[old hippie 56]

Toronto Star
Sep. 26, 2006. 06:07 AM
PHINJO GOMBU
STAFF REPORTER

For years, University of Toronto Professor Doug Hutchinson smoked pot in his office.

Sometimes he'd hide behind garbage dumpsters or even climb trees to use the drug, which he said he needs to alleviate the pain from an undisclosed medical condition.

Now he's out of the closet and in the basement of the university's Trinity College, where he can finally smoke in peace and without recrimination — all with the blessing of U of T.

"It's a beautiful solution," Hutchinson said yesterday, at the end of a messy year-long battle with college officials.

It's also rekindled in him the fire to fight what he calls complicated and often-contradictory laws governing the use of marijuana in Canada by those who use it both medically and recreationally.

"I'm feeling lighter," said Hutchinson, 50, who teaches ancient Greek philosophy and specializes in the works of Plato. "It was burdensome being in the closet."

On any given day, between classes and students, he smoked up to 10 joints a day, or roughly an ounce of marijuana a week.

But Hutchinson got busted late last year after someone complained about the smell coming from his second-floor office, which overlooks the quadrangle of Trinity College.

"The first reaction (from college officials) was this has to stop, and I said, `No, this doesn't have to stop,'" he said.

"They tried to get me to admit to past offences and swear never to offend again," he said.

`We have to accommodate people with disabilities and recognize medical needs'

Margaret MacMillan, Trinity College

That's when, Hutchinson said, the ugliness began with cease-and-desist orders — both in writing and orally — that carried insinuations about his criminal behaviour and moral judgments about the fact that he smoked in front of his two children.

Trinity College provost Margaret MacMillan described the situation to give him his own room as "a necessary decision."

"We have to accommodate people with disabilities and recognize medical needs," she said, adding that once it became clear Hutchinson had clearance from Health Canada, it was simply a question of finding a suitable space.

"There was clearly discussion about this," she said. "We had to understand what those needs were."

Hutchinson said part of the reason for hiding his pot smoking was that it was only early this year that Health Canada, which was operating under new guidelines to allow marijuana for medical use, finally gave him the green light.

He said a doctor had monitored his use until then, even though he wasn't "officially" allowed to use pot.

Hutchinson believes the college came down on him in part because, after years of turning a blind eye to pot smoking, a student was expelled last year.

The professor fought back, aided by a U of T procedure that allowed a neutral office to review special dispensation for medical conditions.

It took months, but with his new card from Health Canada that allows him to smoke, the only issue was where.

Officials tried to move him to a new office, but he wouldn't leave the room where he's worked for almost 20 years.

Ironically, the room where he now smokes, which has its own ventilation system, is beside another room where, in years past, officials allowed students to smoke marijuana, he said.

Hutchinson said the whole process has "rekindled his activism on the marijuana front" to mount legal challenges for the rights of others who want to use the drug.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Nice find! You beat me to posting it!

[stoneinfocus]

cool! around here a teadcher doing this would be dismissed slightly and then die in an car "accident", or maybe will have some LSD in his coffe before one of his classes, not knowingly, of course ... and then die in an "traffic-accident".
Lol, but swastikas and directors and everyone not caring about it is cool!

[Riconoen {UGC}]

That's one step forward! Glad to hear some good news in the law section for a change.

[Bajeda]

Thats pretty sweet. Some of my professors in Ann Arbor smoke pot, I'm pretty sure of it. They just can't be as open about it as this guy.

[old hippie 56]

Years ago, swim was taking some classes at a Alabama college. This was back when swim looked like a hippie. One of his college professors(chemistry) invited him to a party. The party supplies was the purest and finest swim has ever done. A group of 10-15 people were all tripping, watching the ceiling fan. Them were the days.

[Nature Boy]

Nice to read a good drugs news post for once. Smoking in trees. Haha!

[elbow]

This is great!
I work in the Student Disability Services office of my local university and I take the position that people should be given reasonable accomodations for their disability or illness.

It is really cool that UT is allowing this guy to take his medicine.

[Fantasian]

Good to hear, i hope more stories like this appear more frequently.

[D.U.M.B]

I bet his classes are quite fun to have when he's stoned. I bet speaking about Greek philosophy while stoned is fun. It's nice to see some light hearted news here for once

[Riconoen {UGC}]

sorry for getting off-topic here but it's kinda related. My networking prof. likes to teach when he's tweaked, makes for some great and rousing lectures and I always look forward to his classes.

[Euphoric]

A York professor has been given a room on campus to smoke marijuana for medical purposes. Excalibur speaks to him about his right to light up

A York professor will get his own room to smoke pot for his medical condition.
In the second known case in Canada, York University has provided accommodation for a criminology professor to smoke marijuana on campus grounds for medicinal purposes.
Brian MacLean, recently hired as an assistant professor in sociology in July, suffers from a severe form of degenerative arthritis that requires him to use the controversial substance once every four hours. As of Monday, Nov. 6, he will no longer be forced to find private areas to medicate himself out of fear he would be stigmatized by students or colleagues.
"Part of the problem was the delay of two months. I would be smoking, medicating, on campus and people would either see me or they would smell it on me," said MacLean, who also admits that he still feels uncomfortable being negatively associated with a drug that he uses for health reasons.
"It's not corrective medication; it's enabling, and I don't think people quite understand that. I think there's a lot of really negative and damaging stereotypes around the use of drugs, generally."
In an Oct. 28 report by The National Post, University of Toronto philosophy professor Doug Hutchinson was the first employee to request and be granted accommodation to smoke marijuana as a form of medical treatment. He now has privileged access to "a drab basement space with a single window and ventilation fan," located in downtown Toronto's Trinity College.
Hutchinson was also the first to gain media attention in his quest for an accommodation: there were reports of clashes with the head of Trinity College, Margaret MacMillan, who claimed that it was the novelty of the case that slowed down the university's process to confirm medical need as well as finding a space; there was also an upsetting editorial published by the University of Western Ontario's The Gazette, which argues for his right to smoke but also calls Hutchinson a "pothead."
"It looks on the outside to be successful," said Hutchinson, when Excalibur contacted him for a phone interview. "However, you will find that it's not.
MacLean said that, because of Hutchinson, his experience with York did not require an uphill battle and was seen as addressing a medical need from the beginning by all parties involved.
Louise Ripley, a representative from his union, the York University Faculty Association (YUFA), confirmed that their discussions with the university has led to a room that has already been set aside for MacLean.
"It took a little time in being able to find a room because York is now totally a smoke-free environment. So, part of the problem was being able to find a room where he can smoke anything that wouldn't disturb other people."
"This is a first time for us; it's the first time we looked at this procedure," said Alex Bilyk, director of media relations at York.
When MacLean was authorized by Health Canada to possess and produce marijuana, he said that he approached the head of his department to request accommodation. He had also requested, in the meantime, to refrain from going to campus and offered to hold classes off-campus for students.
After CBC News made an Oct. 19 report that exposed MacLean's illness and treatment, he felt that there was no longer any reason for him to hide, and came to campus only to smoke pot in the "peripheries" of university grounds. Two weeks later, after discussions between YUFA, the employer, labour relations and facilities, MacLean was notified by his union that a room was made available at his disposal.
MacLean, however, said that even when he is given accommodation, there are still myths that need to be dispelled when it comes to marijuana, or what he wants to distinguish as "marihuana," as it is called under Health Canada regulations and academic studies.
"It's a stigmatizing circumstance. And I would hope that my colleagues recognize it for what it is - a medical condition, however unusual.
"I don't want people assuming that because I have a medical condition that I can't perform my duties properly. It's completely wrong; it's completely unfair; it's completely contrary to the Human Rights Code of Ontario and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."
MacLean, who has a sociology PhD, has been teaching for almost 25 years. He currently lists "recent developments in the decriminalization of cannabis for medical use" as one of his many areas of substantive research interests.

http://www.excal.on.ca/index.php?opt...=2350&Itemid=2

[Riconoen {UGC}]

Kick-ass, glad to see some of our rights are being given back to us. It's a start but baby steps are the way to go.

[The Doors]

SWIM goes to that University and finds it great that the administration is doing what it can do help the man. Now if only SWIM can know which room it is...

[izzy31]

Swim would light up before actually getting on campus.

He's a pussy.