Mr. Paul Hunt and Ms. Arla Kaye founding directors along with other members of the B.C. Compassion Club Society opened the Green Cross Society of B.C in 2005. This was done in response to the growing number of members and the need for quality control and scientific research.
As a registered non-profit society we are a member's driven group, with the goal of providing our people with the highest quality herbal medicines available, plus education and participation in healing their own illness. A high percentage of our membership is on disability and has not responded to conventional therapies. We offer natural herbal remedies that are non-toxic and, for the most part, do not cross react with pharmaceutical drugs. As a result of this property we are able to offer harm reduction life styles.
Our approach is to move people away from addiction, not only to street drugs, but to prescription drugs and alcohol. We help people who suffer from chronic pain. Often a result of a job related, or automobile injury their pain is most frequently treated with addictive and ultimately harmful (to liver and kidney) opiates. We address this pain with natural product, quality controlled, cannabis such that members are able to make significant cuts or complete elimination of these drugs. We help people with HIV/AIDS.
A recent large scale study in the U.K. showed that more than one quarter of people with AIDS use cannabis to treat their symptoms. We have responded to this need by forming an alliance with the local British Columbia People with AIDS (PWA) Society. We are attempting to meet their needs for clean medicine by running routine quality control checks on product provided. In addition, we are initiating research protocols intended to optimize symptom relief with cannabis regimes and anti-vital medicines.
We help people with MS, Chronic pain, Epilepsy, Chron's disease. The immune modulating, anti-inflammatory, analgesic properties of cannabis make it an excellent candidate for treating these ailments. Many of our members are taking part in research studies into responses of their own illness to various herbal treatments.
We help people with addictions. A number of our members are now free of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin addiction using natural herbal and supplemental medicines. In addition, we offer a non-judgmental, relaxed entry into a better lifestyle, by sharing experience, strength and hope with the addict. Our mission is to offer safe, quality controlled, standardized herbal medicines to our growing membership, plus provide guidance, friendship and support on their road to a better quality of life.

January 23, 2007

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Dear Mr. McPherson,

The Green Cross has been up and running for six months now, and we would like to update you on our progress, as well as informing you of some very interesting observations.

Our current membership is growing rapidly . Most of these people have come to us through the old BC Compassion Club, so it was just a matter of re-confirming their physician's recommendations to allow them to become members of The Green Cross. At first, the old club obliged by faxing these records directly to us. But as time went on they began seeing a substantial drain on their own membership and ceased. For the remaining members we simply had them provide new notes from their doctors. Our membership continues to increase daily.

What we are seeing, over and over, is people using cannabis as an alternative to many prescription opiates, sedatives and anti-depressants. In addition, amongst our membership we have a number of people whom have come off harmful street drugs such as heroin, crack cocaine and even alcohol using cannabis. And, stayed off!

We are not the only ones observing this. A group of doctors in California in a recent web posting have also noted the same thing occurring among medical cannabis users that they are treating (see attached article).

As a result of these findings we have decided to compile all of this data into a study that will prove statistically that indeed this phenomenon is real.

We plan on doing this by documenting our current member's data, both retroactive and current, plus run a clinical-type study, through 2007, to prove that cannabis can be used as a safe alternative too many prescription and street drugs. This is harm reduction at its finest!

Another observation we have made is that many of our members are outcasts of the B.C. Medical system. People who have suffered severe trauma or illness and for many years were treated by the current system and only got sicker. Now the system brushes them off to specialists and more prescription drugs.

Through this we have come to see the true benefit of institutions like the Green Cross Society. We are dealing primarily with people on disability or with marginal income. People who have been involved in automobile or accidents on the job, people with MS, Epilepsy, HIV/AIDS as well as people with anxiety and depression. These are the people we deal with on a day-to-day basis.

For them we provide a safe, clean, haven where they can socialize, be “part of”, and even contribute to the Society by using their individual skills. Personally, I believe that there are a few members that we are keeping alive, from suicidal depression, a day at a time. And we are doing this only by being there and providing the needed sense of community, caring and belonging.

Essentially, these are Vancouver's street people. Not bad people. They are people that need help. And we are offering that by providing them the caring and listening that they need. This includes some of the City's hard core drug addicts whom, as stated earlier, we are attempting to wean from street drugs to a much safer alternative. A concept that you, yourself, said was a “no-brainer”.

In summary, the past six months have been tremendously exciting. Particularly for myself seeing our much needed institute beginning to flower. Exciting, because I can now clearly see the tremendous usefulness of the cannabis herb, bringing relief and help to so many people.And this occurs on a very broad spectrum of illnesses with no apparent toxic side effects.

From this vision, we are looking to become a true asset to the City of Vancouver.

Sincerely yours,
Paul Hunt

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