MEDICAL POT ACTIVIST TO GET NEW TRIAL

Supreme Court Quashes Alberta Conviction

OTTAWA -- A medical marijuana crusader from Alberta will get a new
trial on drug charges after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled
unanimously Thursday the judge in his 2003 trial had reduced the
jury's role to a "ceremonial" one.

In a 7-0 judgment, the top court said Grant Krieger of Calgary was
deprived of his "constitutional right" to a trial by jury when the
judge in the case directed the jury to find the accused guilty of
possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking. It quashed
Krieger's conviction and ordered a new trial by jury.

"The trial judge's direction was not a 'slip of the tongue,'" Justice
Morris Fish wrote on behalf of the court. "His purpose and words were
clear. In effect, the trial judge reduced the jury's role to a ceremonial one."

Krieger, who uses marijuana to help cope with multiple sclerosis,
said he was overjoyed by the ruling and prospect of a new trial, and
is confident a "jury of his peers" will find him not guilty.

Krieger, 51, was charged in 1999 after police seized 29 marijuana
plants from his Calgary home.

A jury acquitted him after a 2001 trial, but the verdict was quashed
by the Alberta Court of Appeal.

In 2003 Krieger was tried again. He confessed to providing marijuana
to others in medical need, but defended his actions on grounds he had
no choice other than to break the law to ensure a reliable supply of
pot for patients who have a federal exemption for marijuana use.

Before leaving the courtroom, the judge directed jurors to convict,
and said they were "bound to abide by that direction." He rejected
two jurors' requests to be excused on religious grounds and grounds
of conscience. The jury subsequently returned with a guilty verdict
- -- upheld in the Alberta Court of Appeal.