The UCC operated from 1998 - 2000 - for historical purposes only
Universal Compassion Centre
"helping people regain a better quality of life through natural healing and self-empowerment"
Calgary, Alberta
"To help people regain a better quality of life through natural healing and self-empowerment"
About Us The Universal Compassion Centre (UCC) is a registered non-profit research / resource healing and wellness organization located in Calgary, Alberta that began in 1998 when some concerned citizens, patients and caretakers realized the need to offer cannabis as medicine. Our mandate is to assist patients whose lives are, or could be improved by the therapeutic use of natural remedies, including cannabis, in conjunction with traditional medical care and / or alternative therapies.
We currently operate through the generosity of dedicated volunteers who donate most of their time and effort in fulfilling our mandate and mission statement. Difficulties accomplishing our larger objectives will be significantly reduced once funding is established and full-time staff are employed.
Benefits of Being a Member
- - high-quality clean and safe, *regulated* cannabis
- - less expensive than black market products
- - information, resources and support for patients pertaining to harm reduction, government processes, medical research.
- - networking with other like-minded and / or like-bodied individuals enabling employment, career, healing and friendship opportunities to develop.
- - access to doctors and health practitioners who support natural alternative therapies.
Our Commitment
- - helping those who use cannabis in their healing process by supplying safe, clean, medicinal-grade quality product.
- - working with health practitioners and medical professionals by supplying any information that may be requested about cannabis and acting as a liaison between the medical profession and the government.
- - researching the effects of certain strains of cannabis on certain medical conditions and different forms of ingestion and methods of application.
Our Strategy
MarketingThe need to raise capital is usually the biggest issue for most fledgling organizations, and we are no exception. In fact, we are in an extremely unique position of having the ability to make SO MUCH money we would be set for life. The law does not differentiate between the black market and the therapeutic market. Luckily most compassion centres across Canada do.
We are looking into fund-raising through marketing ventures that will generate revenue to keep our products and service affordable. Supporting the UCC through ACN is now in place and other potential opportunities are being considered.
We began the "hempty Campaign" which entailed setting up a virtual store known as Ye Natural Shoppe, to sell hempty, an organically grown, hemp tea.
By purchasing hempty you will be supporting:
1) the right to choose non-genetically engineered foods
2) the right to maintain control over lifestyle and health-related choices.
3) the right to say no to senseless laws (without serious consequences).
PLUS, the proceeds from sales of hempty from Ye Natural Shoppe will be going to the Universal Compassion Centre.
Education and Advocacy
Very few people are aware that cannabis, better known as marijuana, has been used for thousands of years and it's medicinal properties were first recognized in a Chinese pharmaceutical book written in 2737 B.C. It is also not well known that there has never been a fatality directly attributed to cannabis throughout history. Despite what is conceivably the safest record in history, access to this innocuous herb is still being denied.
Education removes many of the myths surrounding cannabis and despite punitive legislation that bans this knowledge, promotion of it's healing properties are becoming widespread and mainstream at an unprecedented rate . When people learn the truth, they realize the laws are unrealistic and openly support integration of this herb into society.
We believe that the present laws are intolerable and advocate citizens empower themselves through the electoral process by voting for politicians who are willing to act responsibly and adopt legislation which reflects 83% of Canadians support the use of cannabis for medical use.
Establishing Regulatory Framework
At the present time there is no regulatory framework in place governing the supply and distribution of cannabis which subsequently makes it very time-consuming providing this natural health product to our members. We perceive the need to rectify the situation by establishing policy, procedures and paperwork to operate within and creating forms that are necessary for proper quality and inventory control. Standards and guidelines to define what is acceptable quality, labeling the different strains being consumed, pricing , distribution and security are some of the issues we are dealing with. We are also working with other organizations across Canada by forming a regulatory body (Canadian Cannabis Coalition) to ensure future consistency nation-wide .
Our Goals
Wellness Centre
We are fund-raising for a Wellness Centre that will offer the services of various health practitioners including a chiropractor, nurse, acupuncturist, naturopath, nutritionist, midwife, herbalist, healers, a crisis counsellor , etc. This would allow us to become a better resource base to our members and accessible to all who require our services. Once we have an established location we anticipate our membership increasing by approximately 200-300 members in the first year. Volunteers from our membership will become part of the clinical trials we are conducting in accordance with our research protocols.
Research Foundation
A large number of medical conditions have, over the years, been shown to be controlled by the use of cannabis. Cannabis has proven to be an antiemetic, antispasmodic, anticonvulsant and antidepressant. These properties, along with others, make it suitable for treating nausea, multiple sclerosis, AIDS wasting syndrome, epilepsy, glaucoma, migraines and depression to name a few.UCC plans to host a community-based research project focusing on pain and novel delivery systems of cannabinoids. Analysing different strains in order to discover their cannabinoid content in relation to pain control will be investigated.
The novel delivery routes is something the government of Canada has placed a priority on since they do not intend to allow the use of smoked cannabis beyond the clinical trials. This is an important issue, since smoking is "low tech" and low cost. Lobbying the government to allow medical users to grow and smoke their own medicine is an issue of self-empowerment for a group of people who will likely be financially and emotionally burdened already. Chronic pain sufferers are typically underemployed due to their condition. Low cost medicine is an obvious advantage in this case.
Developing alternative delivery routes that do not require considerable technology is important since this could allow for third world countries to use these medicines without having to buy from multi-national pharmaceutical companies.
We are also investigating the interaction of cannabis with other medications.
The supply needed to conduct clinical trials must be from specified strains and of the same consistent high-quality cannabis which the patients are already using to alleviate symptoms and will continue to use once the studies are concluded.
UCC Releases
UCC Court Victories
Our Thanks We are grateful to DrugSense, Marc Emery, Matt Elrod, Brian McAndrew, herbman and Chris Clay for their help.
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