JURY CLEARS THE AIR IN MEDICINAL-POT CASE

Twelve ordinary Calgarians had the courage to do yesterday what our federal
government has been unable or unwilling to do for years.

The 11 women and one man who formed the jury at Grant Krieger's trial found
the 46-year-old Calgary cannabis crusader not guilty of possession of
marijuana for the purposes of trafficking.

It was a remarkable finding considering Krieger himself took the stand and
admitted that not only did he grow the 29 marijuana plants seized by police
from his Bowness home on August 25, 1999, but that he regularly sells
marijuana too.

And still the jury didn't find him guilty.

Some compassion-challenged individuals reading this might wonder what that
mostly middle-aged group of women were smoking in the jury deliberation room.

Oh, if only it were that easy we'd get a truckload of the stuff and pass it
around Parliament Hill, because after only seven hours of deliberations and
just two days in trial the jury made the only morally right and decent
decision possible.

Parliament, on the other hand, has been grappling with the issue of
medicinal marijuana for more than a decade.

Essentially, the jury accepted the "defence of necessity" presented by
Krieger's lawyer, Adriano Iovinelli.

In his entertaining closing arguments, Iovinelli stated: "This is the first
time I've ever said this before a jury: 'My client did it.' " But, as
Iovinelli pointed out, it's the reasons why Krieger grows and sells
marijuana that are important.

Krieger, 46, suffers from multiple sclerosis. For years he followed
doctors' directions, took a cocktail of pharmaceutical drugs, got sicker
and sicker and wound up in a wheelchair in excruciating pain.

His condition got so hopeless, his pain so overwhelming, he attempted
suicide in December, 1994. It was then another ill friend suggested he try
marijuana, and the relief was almost immediate. Within weeks he was able to
walk again, he could see better, his hands stopped shaking and that
ever-present pain subsided.

His wife, Marie, and their children, Lindsay, 22, Adam, 21, and Ryan, 19,
all got teary eyed when the "not guilty" verdict was spoken by the jury
forewoman.

It has been a long battle for all of them. They have all witnessed Krieger
being lead away from their home in handcuffs and being slapped with
criminal records for doing what he feels he must do -- and that is pursue
the best quality of life he can for himself and his family, and help
alleviate the pain and suffering of people in similar circumstances to him.

Grant Cluff, 53, is one such person. Like Krieger, he too suffers from MS.
And just this past April, he too was at the end of his rope and attempted
suicide.

The former high school teacher was in a wheelchair suffering from seizures,
spasms and excruciating pain.

Luckily for him, the woman who lives two doors down the hall from him and
his wife also has MS. When he returned from the hospital after his suicide
attempt, she put him in touch with Krieger.

"Now I have hope," said Cluff, who walked -- albeit shakily -- into the
court yesterday using just a cane.

"Grant Krieger is a courageous man who has saved so many people from so
much pain and misery it's incalculable. I know that he has saved lives
because he has saved mine."

During her charge to the jury, Justice Darlene Acton directed the 12 to
consider what was the lesser harm -- avoiding selling marijuana, or selling
it and leaving dozens of people to suffer in agony.

Acton, who presided over the Dec. 11 landmark ruling in which Krieger won
the right to grow and cultivate marijuana, pointed out the absurdity of the
federal law that gives ill Canadians the right to possess marijuana but no
legal outlet in which to buy it.

"When faced with a choice between two harms, our law requires us to choose
the lesser harm," she told the jury.

They did. Justice won.