Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 05, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A3 HONESTY . INTEGRITY . EXCELLENCE . RESPECT A+ ACCREDITED BBB MEMBER * Plus applicable taxes. Furnace may not be exactly as shown. Some conditions apply. 204- 774- 1474 IT'S TIME TO CALL 635 Ferry Road www. ontimegroup. ca INSTALLED! LIMITED QUANTITY! CALL NOW TO SEE IF THIS UNIT IS RIGHT FOR YOUR HOME! $ 2 , 499 * NEED A NEW FURNACE? We are a participating supplier in the Manitoba Hydro's Power Smart Program. APPLY TODAY & GET PRE- APPROVED WE DO THE THE PAPERWORK Hi- Efficiency Furnace Psychology works for: P ANIC D ISORDER Manitoba Psychological Society Visit us at www. mps. ca TOP NEWS WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2014 winnipegfreepress. com A 3 A local head shop owner says he believes Winnipeg police have launched a new way of making businesses like his go up in smoke - financially starve them out of business. Jeremy Loewen, owner of the shuttered Hemp Haven at 496 Larsen Ave. in Elmwood, said Tuesday that's what's happening to him and fellow head shop owners after he was arrested by police last week and had numerous items seized after selling a water pipe to " a 40- year- old couple." Loewen said he was charged with selling an instrument for drug use and possession of property obtained by crime. " When I said ' What am I not allowed to sell,' they ( police) said nothing," he said. " They're going to all the ( head) stores and threatening they have to close within 30 days or we'll do the same to you what we did to Hemp Haven and The Joint." Loewen said police went to The Joint about three weeks ago. That business's three locations - the Marion Street location has since closed for business reasons - were also raided last year with arrests being made, but the matter is still winding through the courts. Nobody would comment at The Joint about what happened during the latest visit by police, but the business, which still has outlets on Pembina Highway and St. Mary's Road, remains open. Loewen said while he's now closed, he has also had to go to the expense of hiring a lawyer to fight the charges. " I don't know what I'll do. I have bills still coming in," he said. " I think this is just a tactic to put me out of business." Winnipeg police said they could not comment until after they had spoken with the investigating officer today. Lawyer Neil Kravetsky, who is representing Loewen and some other shops, is calling the actions taken by police " very unfair and hassling these people." " These businesses have been going on, some for over 20 years... and there are now over 100,000 people in Canada with legal medical marijuana licences who get the instruments they need to smoke through businesses like this. " So why are police hassling them?" Kravetsky said each of the shops has signs saying they do not sell the items for illegal drug use, the individual items have the same warning label, and the shops do not sell to anyone under the age of 18. " It's like charging a pharmacist for selling syringes to somebody who later uses it for heroin," the lawyer said. " It is bullying and interfering with a legitimate business in my view." Loewen said after he was arrested and taken to the East District police station at 1750 Dugald Rd., he was charged again, this time with disturbing the peace, for an incident while he was being released. " The police called me a cab," Loewen said. " I said I didn't have enough money to go anywhere because my store was locked and the keys were inside with my wallet and when I called nobody was home. ( The officer) said ' too bad'. Under my breath I said ' this is bull--- -'... he grabbed me, threw me back inside and charged me." kevin. rollason@ freepress. mb. ca Head shops being harassed, biz owner says By Kevin Rollason M ARY Wasylenko has spent 10 years waiting for a phone call to tell her a kidney is available for transplant. After spending five of those years at the top of the transplant list to no avail, the 66- year- old Wasylenko decided to take matters into her own hands. The Winnipeg woman bought a personal ad in the classified section of last Saturday's Winnipeg Free Press . " I thought about it for quite a while," Wasylenko said Tuesday. " I need a kidney. A friend said ' Why don't you advertise in the Free Press ?' Then I heard on the news two people put something on Facebook and they got a transplant. I'm too old to use a computer so I thought sure I'll put it in the paper." Just above an advertisement looking for carriers to deliver flyers and below another advertising a collectibles- antiques fundraising sale by the St. James Museum, the small ad appeared under the heading: Senior needs kidney. Could someone donate? The ad has only sparked one call from a man whom she will meet this week to see if he is compatible for a transplant and, most importantly, if he is really interested in donating. " It would be devastating if you're all hepped up and ready to go and then he changes his mind," she said. Wasylenko, who turns 67 next week, said no family member is available to donate and her daughter also has the disease, which destroyed her kidneys. " I have dialysis three days a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, and it completely wipes out the whole day. All you want to do is sleep. " It also means I can't work. Where can you work on only Tuesday and Thursday?" Wasylenko said health officials have assured her it is not her age that has kept her from getting a kidney; it's there are lots of people waiting for kidneys. As well, three times during the years she has waited she has had to be temporarily taken off the list while undergoing surgery for other issues as well as recovery time. Wasylenko said she wishes the donor- card system for organ donation could be changed. " Why not just sign the card if you don't want anything taken for transplants? I once talked to someone who said if they did it that way, there wouldn't be a waiting list for transplants." Transplant Manitoba says Wasylenko is one of 262 Manitobans on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. Dr. Faisal Siddiqui, an organ- donor doctor with Transplant Manitoba, said he " can appreciate how difficult it is for a patient to sit on a wait list." But he said this is not the way to get a kidney. " A patient can look for their potential donors in a number of ways, but we don't encourage anyone to take an ad out in the paper or through social media to request potential living donors to step forward," he said. " There needs to be an established relationship between the donor and the recipient for a directed donation to take place." Transplant Manitoba officials said it is illegal for anyone to buy or sell a kidney. Siddiqui said if a patient doesn't have a family member or friend who offers a kidney, they can receive a kidney from a deceased donor, including those who have previously registered on SignUpForLife. ca or from an anonymous donor in the living donor paired exchange program. Val Dunphy, executive director of the Kidney Foundation of Canada, Manitoba branch, said she is concerned about kidney donation wait times because 80 per cent of Manitobans waiting for organ transplants are waiting for kidneys. " As the voice for kidney patients in Manitoba, we are concerned that we have the second- highest occurrence rate of kidney disease in Canada and the second- longest wait time for transplant," Dunphy said in an emailed statement. Wasylenko said the clock is ticking louder now for her. About a year ago, she had to have the device taken out of her arm that allowed the dialysis and have one inserted in the side of her neck. She said there is no other place to put it. " They say they work about three to five years. I need a new kidney." kevin. rollason@ freepress. mb. ca Classified ad seeks kidney Kidney donations THERE are currently 262 Manitobans on the waiting list for a kidney. . Under the Human Tissue Act of Manitoba, it is illegal to " buy, sell, or otherwise deal in, directly or indirectly, for valuable consideration, any tissue for a transplant, or any body or parts of it other than blood or a blood constituent, for therapeutic purposes or for purposes of medical education or scientific research." . Kidneys produce urine by filtering waste out of the blood while also controlling salt and fluid levels in the body, helping control blood pressure and producing a hormone that sparks red blood cell production. . Most people are born with two functioning kidneys, but the body can stay healthy with one working organ. . People can live on dialysis for as long as they stay healthy - there is no time limit for how long this is, but in general people on dialysis do not live as long as others. . Kidneys can be transplanted from living or dead donors. . In 2005, Manitobans were on dialysis for four years, on average, waiting for an organ from a dead donor. . On average, a person can be off dialysis after getting an organ from a dead donor for 15 years while a kidney from a living donor can keep them off for more than 20 years. . A donor has a risk of dying in one in 3,000 surgeries. . To state your wishes for donation, you can sign an organ donor card or list yourself on the province's intent to donate registry ( SignUpForLife. ca). Even if you are signed up, organ donation can still be vetoed by your family. - source: Transplant Manitoba and the Kidney Foundation of Canada JOIN THE CONVERSATION Is a classified ad seeking a kidney an indication we need a better system for organ donations? Go to winnipegfreepress. com and add your comments to the conversation Woman gets fed up waiting 10 years for new organ By Kevin Rollason PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mary Wasylenko says she is tired of being on dialysis and needs to find a new kidney. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Jeremy Loewen, owner of Hemp Haven on Larsen Avenue, was arrested last week. A_ 03_ Feb- 05- 14_ FP_ 01. indd A3 2/ 4/ 14 10: 05: 25 PM ;