When he first started selling a new dietary supplement and passed brochures out at his neighbourhood corner store, a kid picked it up and exclaimed, "Look, Wayne Rodgers is selling drugs!" Since then, the Portugal Cove-St. Phillips man has explained to the boy he's not a drug dealer and that what he's doing is legal. "I'm not selling marijuana, I'm selling a health alternative to medications that is perfectly formulated." Rodgers explains that distributing the food supplement, Med Marijuana, falls within Canadian guidelines. He produces a lawyer's letter outlining that it follows industrial hemp regulations. That's vital when he talks to clients. "I love giving my business card to people. They read it and raise an eyebrow at me. 'Are you serious?' they ask." 'on a lark' But Rodgers is dead serious. Working on his feet in the food industry for years, he suffered from debilitating arthritis pain. At one point, to get off a chair, he had to slide down on his hands and knees, and gradually work to a standing position. His knees were gone, too. After falling down an embankment in the winter, breaking a leg and tearing ligaments in the other knee, he was in wracks of pain. His hands were also affected by the arthritis. He slowly started losing their use. He managed his arthritis with doctor-prescribed medication that required regular blood tests. Eventually he stopped using them because they made his blood pressure skyrocket and ate away at his stomach lining. Those drugs have since been taken off the market. After his accident, Rodgers began physiotherapy and things seemed to settle. But when the therapy ended, the pain returned. He started looking for alternatives. A newspaper ad caught his eye. "It said, Looking for dealers, Med Marijuana. So on a lark, I called. I thought maybe this is something I can do part-time." The CEO from a Halifax-based company, Med Marijuana, was in town to discuss a new product. Rodgers thought it might have a positive effect on his arthritis. But it involved the use of an oil derived from the marijuana plant. Although few attended the information session, Rodgers' interest was piqued. Over the next three months, he and the owner of Med Marijuana talked back and forth. "She was telling me about all the good points and trying to get me onto taking a distributorship. I thought about it. I researched it and went to Health Canada. I started reading about hemp oils and marijuana, and I discovered that there was a lot of good qualities in them." Produced in the Nigaria area in Ontario, Med Marijuana has been legal since 1998. "I satisfied myself that I would try a bottle." He contacted the owner, ordered a 90 capsule bottle and, seven days later, his package arrived. After taking the supplement for three days, Rodger's wife noticed a change in him. His was standing straighter and was pain free. His blood pressure went down as did his cholesterol levels. Since then, the only time his pain returned was when he ran out of the large, dark gel capsules and had to wait for the next shipment. 'not the pot or oil' In June, Rodgers decided to become a distributor. He now has about 30 clients. One of those customers, Calvin Badcock, is a former electrician forced to stop working due to the arthritic pain. He wound up distributing Med Marijauna after having similar results with the gel caps. He's quick to point out that Med Marijuana is not a cure to his arthritis and as soon as he stops taking it, the pain returns with a vengeance. While not everyone understands it's just the oil from the compressed plant Rodgers and Badcock distribute and sell , there have been no inquiries from the police. "We're perfectly legal," Badcock says.

"I have all my information handy to me at all times. They (police) can contact Halifax and Ottawa and confirm that medicinal marijuana is legal. It is not the pot or oil for smoking. It's an oil that's considered a nutritional supplement." "The way they (the owners of Med Marijuana) explain it is it's a perfectly formulated health alternative." Rodgers stresses that before considering taking the product, your doctor should be consulted. But with the introduction of Med Marijuana into his life, he says he's resumed his daily routine. "It's returned to the norm," he says. He and Babcock are the only distributors for Med Marijuana in Newfoundland and Labrador. And while there are some who think it's just another gimmick, Rodgers and Badcock swear it works for them. "We're in our 50s," Rodgers says. "We're not a couple of teenagers trying to make a drug deal." For more information, e-mail: kkielley@theexpress.ca