LEGAL POT SMOKERS TO BENEFIT FROM CONCERT

Burlington marijuana crusader Alison Myrden said she was hoping to raise
both money and awareness at a benefit concert at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern.

The famous Queen Street bar was to play host last night (Thursday) to
groups like the A-cups, Sticky Rice, J.P. Wasson and the headlining act was
Burlington's own Breathe.

Myrden is one of 292 people across Canada legally entitled to possess small
quantities of marijuana to ease her pain. She suffers from a form of
multiple sclerosis, and smoking the drug provides her relief from a
constant stabbing pain in her face.

"If I don't have it then I need massive amounts of morphine," said Myrden,
who has gained headlines across Canada for her campaign to make it easier
for pain sufferers to legally obtain marijuana.

While legally permitted to possess and smoke small quantities of pot, she's
also frustrated at having to buy from street dealers and, this past
weekend, her elderly mother provided her with $300 to help keep her
supplied. Thursday's benefit concert, which was to be attended by many
members of the media, was designed, in part, to draw attention to what she
calls a ridiculous situation.

In addition, Myrden was hoping to raise money for her friend Jim Wakeford,
an AIDS sufferer who has been arrested three times for growing and
supplying marijuana to other ill patients.