Nova Scotia Ordered to Fund Poor Couple's Pot Operation

Nova Scotia's government has been ordered by a government panel to help out a disabled couple who say they're too poor to grow their own medical marijuana. The Canadian province's Income Assistance Appeals Board ordered the Department of Community Services to provide the couple with $2,500 in up-front costs and a further $100 quarterly to cover expenses such as lighting, the National Post reports.

The couple both have licenses to grow marijuana for their own use and are allowed to keep up to 25 plants. But they say they can currently only afford to keep six and often run out of marijuana. The woman suffered debilitating injuries in a car crash, while the man has glaucoma and a blood disorder. In a similar case last year, Nova Scotia's Supreme Court ordered the province to increase financial assistance to a woman suffering from chronic pain and nausea to help her afford medical marijuana. (More Nova Scotia stories.)