POT GROWERS SAY DRUG A SACRAMENT TO THEIR RELIGION

REGINA - Two convicted marijuana growers who claim pot is the "tree of
life" referred to in the Bible are appealing their six-month jail sentences.

"Cannabis marihuana is a sacrament to my religion and a focal point of my
culture," Darryl Kenneth McGregor, who refers to himself as "Brother,"
states in a notice of appeal filed recently with Saskatchewan's top court.

Both he and Charles David Scott, who calls himself "Reverend Brother" in
the court documents, say their sentence is "unjust and unreasonable." The
Crown is also appealing the sentences, arguing they are not fit and should
be increased.

No date for hearing the appeals has been set, but Scott is seeking a
"speedy hearing as I am suffering by the moment." The 29-year-old said he
uses marijuana for medicinal purposes to help him cope with manic depression.

McGregor, 26, and Scott, who are priests in The Assembly Church of the
Universe, were charged after a police raid on a Dysart-area farm in October
1999 turned up 490 cannabis plants. The pair pleaded guilty to possession
of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and unlawfully producing a
controlled substance.

At their sentencing in Fort Qu'Appelle provincial court on Feb. 5, Scott
raged against the judicial system and the RCMP while quoting from the
Biblical Book of Genesis.

Scott was proclaimed British Columbia's "Aryan Nation Man of the Year" in
1995 by an Idaho-based white supremacist group. He later publicly renounced
his racist links before moving from the Okanagan to Dysart, just north of
Regina, in the late 1990s.

In documents sent to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, the men claim their
sentence is unconstitutional and "based upon a perception of social evil
rather than fact or law."