Twenty-five years, ago David Dubois was diagnosed with HIV.

The Sudburian is used to facing adversity. He left his prestigious job as an accountant working on Toronto’s Bay Street, too sick to work. When he walked out the door he weighed less than 120 pounds.

In 2005, he came down with pneumonia and spent a month in intensive care. At the same time he lost the tax preparation business he’d started.

"I was supposed to die (then)," Dubois said this week, sipping coffee at Hardrock 42 Gastropub. "I found out a year ago."

There was one time Dubois took 32 pills a day. Two years ago he cut that down to zero. He believes he managed it because of the medicinal marijuana he’s licensed to smoke and grow.

"It makes my decisions better. I’m not as hyper," he said in a measured tone, thinking carefully about his response. "(There’s) a little pain management. I’m so healthy now. When I left work I was 118 pounds. I’m not the same person (now). I eat well. To the extent that marijuana helps me now is it just keeps me stable."

Dubois is one of the more than 35,000 Canadians legally allowed to smoke marijuana. Health Canada figures from December 2012 indicate at least 21,000 are licensed to grow it.

That all changes on April Fools’ Day. But for that somewhat select group, it’s no joke.

April 1, is when Health Canada stops producing and dispensing medical marijuana. As of March 31, private growers will lose their licences permanently. Users will have to apply for new licences, as well, and have until then to destroy what marijuana they have left, by mixing it with water and cat litter and throwing it in the trash.

"On April 1, I want to take a dump truck and pour kitty litter all over Health Canada’s front lawn," a slightly-smirking Dubois said.

The government agency is repealing its Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) and replacing it with the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR).

Dubois has been concerned about the change since mid-2012, when he received a notification it was coming.

On June 10, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq made it official. A press release essentially said the fast increase in authorized users (from less than 500 when the program was introduced in 2001) brought inadvertent issues, including abuse of the system.

Those included, it continues, “unintended consequences for public health, safety and security as a result of allowing individuals to produce marijuana in their homes. Under the new regulations, production will no longer take place in homes and municipal zoning laws will need to be respected, which will further enhance public safety.”

Dubois is all too aware of those “unintended consequences.” His home has been broken into too many times to count. When he lived in Toronto (before he started growing marijuana), it was the same thing.

“Six years ago my mom got sick,” the 58-year-old said. “I thought well, I can be in Toronto and come here, back and forth. I did that for two, three years.

“It was a total nightmare. When I was in Toronto, my house in Sudbury was being robbed. When I was in Sudbury, my apartment in Toronto was being robbed.”

He now lives full-time in Sudbury, but people still break into his place.

That doesn’t mean he’s pleased with the new regulations.

“Most of the people are sick, and they can’t afford the prices that are going to be in now.

“When I left work, my insurance was decent. But over the years that’s been eroded. I can’t afford it. I don’t want to smoke toxic pot, either. It’s going to have insecticides, it’s going to be grown with fertilizers. Mine is grown totally organically now. I don’t have to spray it, and they’re going to tell me I have to smoke toxic pot?”

Under the soon-to-be-former MMAR program, users with a doctor’s prescription can obtain licences to both grow and use marijuana. Those who choose not to grow their own can purchase it directly from Health Canada.

The new MMPR program removes the right to grow it for personal use. Health Canada isn’t going to produce it anymore, either.

Instead, people can apply to become licensed producers and, if approved, grow and ship it commercially to licensed users across the country.

Health Canada’s received more than 400 applications to produce and approved six so far.

“The regulations aim to treat marijuana as much as possible like any other narcotic used for medical purposes by creating conditions for a new, commercial industry that is responsible for its production and distribution,” an explanation on the agency’s website says.

“The regulations will provide access to quality-controlled marijuana for medical purposes, produced under secure and sanitary conditions, to those Canadians who need it, while strengthening the safety of Canadian communities. In addition, the new regulations will also enable more choices of marijuana strains and licensed, commercial suppliers.”

Last November, British Columbia lawyer John Conroy filed a class-action suit challenging the changes on behalf of users and their caregivers. He’s since changed it to a constitutional challenge.

The suit claimed the new regulations “violate the constitutional rights of patients.”

“Some 60-70% of the permit holders are indicated to be on disability pensions. The Plaintiffs say they will not be able to afford the estimated price of the medicine from the licenced producers created under the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations as the sole producers.”

On Jan. 26, Conroy delivered the relevant paperwork for the injunction to government lawyers.

“These new regulations are not reasonable access. It should be fairly easy to prove,” Dubois said of the case.

An emailed statement from Health Canada somewhat explains how the new producers will price their product:

“Licensed producers will be responsible for setting the price in a manner similar to how prices for other narcotics used for medical purposes are set by their manufacturers. The regulations introduce conditions for a competitive industry and it is possible that prices will fall over time in response to factors such as competition and changing technology.”

Greater Sudbury Police Staff Sgt. Al Asunma, who is with the criminal investigations unit, thinks the new rules will make officers’ jobs easier.

“I think it’ll improve the situation with us. Right now, individuals go through their doctor to obtain licences to grow and quite often we’re receiving information from individuals or we’re getting complaints about locations where people are growing marijuana; whether it’s the smell or something of that nature. I think what it’ll do is it will regulate it much better than it does now. It’ll make things a lot easier for us, because we’ll know exactly where those licenced growers are going to be.

Users, he believes, could be safer, too.

“Individuals, after awhile, they find out where these grow-ops are and subsequently they’re breaking into them, for obvious reasons. Hopefully, where these new grow-ops are going to be, the security will be a lot tighter on them.

“Obviously, we’re hoping that when the government makes these decisions and when these people are being screened they’ll approach us and we’ll have some say as to who we believe should be licenced growers.”

At a meeting of city council’s planning committee last month, councillors asked planning staff to schedule a public hearing on the subject.

As of April 1, it’s up to each municipality to decide where commercial producers can grow the green stuff.

“It’s not (for) recreation, we’re not grow-ops,” Dubois said. “It’s very sick people that are going to get hurt. The process kept the patients out of the consultation (stage).

“Some people abuse the system, but don’t change the system and hurt the patient. There should have been some sort of compromise.”

laura.stricker@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @LauraStricker