UP IN SMOKE

Waiting in Canada for asylum in Cuba, the New Jersey Weedman is confident
that he could argue out of existence the anti-marijuana laws in the Garden
State.

If only he was given a chance.

"I didn't get a fair trial. I have a right to choose my defense. I have a
right to legal assistance. I chose to challenge the laws with the jury and
I am entitled to assistance from counsel to do this," said New Jersey
pot-legalization activist Edward Forchion.

Calling The Trentonian from an undisclosed location in Canada, Forchion
said he will find out today whether officials will grant him asylum in Cuba.

He also expressed conflicted emotions about his Canadian jaunt, declaring
that he dearly missed his wife Janice and his five children: King, Daeja,
Ajanea, Maria and Chanel.

"I'm a little stressed out and all. I don't know whether I made the right
move or not," Forchion admitted over the phone.

The practicing Rastafarian, who stunned onlookers in March when he lit a
joint in the chambers of the New Jersey Assembly, faces a sentencing
hearing Friday for charges on conspiracy and possession of marijuana with
intent to distribute.

Authorities allege that Forchion was part of a group that had shipped 25
pounds of marijuana to a business in the Bellmawr Industrial Park.

In Oct., 1998, Forchion was indicted on the conspiracy and possession
charges related to those allegations.

Forchion pleaded guilty in state Superior Court to these charges but
subsequently filed a motion to retract the plea.

With Friday's sentencing hearing, Forchion could face up to 10 years in prison.

However, he argued that he will not officially become a fugitive from
American law enforcement until Friday.

Forchion said that he will think about his next move after he receives the
result of his asylum request from officials of Cuba, which he made last week.

"If nothing else, they took it seriously, I'll tell you that," he said.

He added that he also made requests for asylum in several European
countries and is waiting for a response from those governments as well.

Forchion's argument for asylum is simple: He was denied a fair trial when
officials denied him the right to use a legal defense known as "Jury
Nullification."

In this process, a defendant indicted of charges outlined in a newly
enacted law can argue to a jury that the law is bogus.

Forchion's argument was given support by a July 20, 1999 editorial written
by Haddon Heights-based attorney David Marcos Ragonese -- who also stressed
in the editorial that he did not approve of Forchion's lifestyle.

In that editorial, Ragonese wrote of "jury nullification" that "it is an
indispensable political right in a free, self-governing republic."

Ragonese wrote later in the editorial that "jurors serving in New Jersey
Superior Court are left in the dark regarding their power and right to pass
on issues of law and fact in criminal prosecutions."

Admitting that whileconsitutions of only three states (Maryland, Georgia
and Indiana) explicitly protect "the right and power of juries to nullify
the law," Ragonese argued that "I would agree that the New Jersey
Constitution implicitly recognizes jury nullification and commands that
jurors be instructed regarding their proper function."

Even Camden's Assistant Deputy Public Defender Deborah C. Collins admitted
to the power of "jury nullification" in a June 3, 1999 letter to Camden
County Judge Ronald J. Freeman.

"Jury's power of nullification by finding guilty defendant not guilty is
unfortunate but unavoidable power that should not be advertised, but to
extent constitutionally permissible, should be limited; efforts to protect
and expand jury nullification are inconsistent with real values of system
of criminal justice," Collins wrote.

Forchion argues that the Camden Public Defender's Office should have
allowed him and assisted his efforts to use jury nullification against New
Jersey's anti-marijuana laws.

He argues that New Jersey's zero-tolerance pot policy is unrealistic given
national trends of growing acceptance towards marijuana use for medicinal
purposes -- which he said is legal in over 35 states.

"New Jersey marijuana laws, and the extreme prison sentences they
prescribe, don't match up with the crime, nor with scientific fact or
evidence."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.