LEGAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATE FLEES TO CANADA TO AVOID PRISON

Edward Forchion, a Browns Mills man who has campaigned to legalize
marijuana, has fled to Canada to avoid a jail sentence for possession
of the drug.

Forchion, 36, left the United States last weekend and has sought
asylum at the Cuban Embassy in Canada, he said in a phone call to the
Courier-Post. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 1 in Superior
Court in Camden.

"I can't just walk into jail," Forchion said Wednesday.

Forchion ran unsuccessfully this fall for a Burlington County
freeholder's seat and the 1st District congressional seat.

He said he arrived Wednesday at the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa, bags in
hand. The embassy denied his verbal request for asylum and asked him
to put it in writing.

Forchion pleaded guilty to conspiracy and marijuana possession but
filed a motion to retract his plea.

He could be sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, but he can apply to
the state's Intense Supervised Probation program, which could allow
him to be released under strict monitoring after serving about six
months of his term. Without the program, he would be eligible for
parole in about 30 months.

Forchion would become a fugitive if he does not show up for his Dec.
1 hearing, said Greg Reinert, spokesman for the Camden County
Prosecutor's office.

"As with all cases, if the defendant fails to appear on his
sentencing date on Dec. 1, the prosecutor will move to revoke bail
and begin proceedings to have any posted bail forfeited and to seek
to have that defendant extradited from any jurisdiction he is hiding
in," Reinert said.

Forchion pleaded guilty in September, saying he wanted to be out of
jail to see his children. His children were not with him in Canada,
he said. He remains committed to legalizing marijuana in the United
States, he said.

"I don't hurt anybody. I should be allowed to smoke," he said.