POT SMOKER FIGHTS BAR BAN

A man who uses "medical marijuana" to deal with pain from a neck
injury he suffered in Mississauga nearly two decades ago is appealing
to the Ontario Human Rights Commission for the right to smoke up in
front of a Burlington sports bar he frequents.

Steve Gibson thinks the owner of the bar should let him smoke joints
in the same spot outside the business where tobacco users spark up.

Gibson, 42, said he has suffered debilitating pain in his neck for
19 years. In 1989, he was hit on the head by a box of heavy vinyl
siding while working at his job in Mississauga. He damaged two
vertebrae and could not work for a long time.

"I have a spinal cord injury. It creates severe pain and muscle
spasms. I've seen neurosurgeons but they haven't been able to help,"
said Gibson. But marijuana eases the pain, said the Burlington
resident, who received a medical certificate from the federal
government four years ago allowing him to smoke pot for medicinal reasons.

Ted Kindos, the owner of Gator Ted's Tap & Grill, simply wants
Gibson not to smoke his pot close to the front doors of his Guelph
Line restaurant.

"This issue isn't about Gibson any longer," said Kindos. "The
(possible) precedent (ruling) is they are going to be able to smoke
this stuff anywhere they want -- inside or outside (public places)."

Kindos said the legal bills he faces may put him on the brink of bankruptcy.

"I was trying to be a nice guy and went outside (the bar) to smoke
but it wasn't good enough for him," Gibson said.

"He wants me outside his bar by 100 feet. I just want to be treated
like every other (tobacco) smoker," whom he says are often within 10
feet of the bar's front doors.

"They're out there killing themselves (with tobacco cigarettes) and
I'm taking medicine," added Gibson. If I have to be 100 feet away
from everybody else's property, I'd be pretty much grounded to my house."

The two men are locked in a battle that has been before the Ontario
Human Rights Commission for about two and a half years. The case has
seen three mediation sessions without reaching an agreement and has
now been sent for eight days of hearings that begin May 12.