JUDGE SENDS MESSAGE WITH GROW-OP SENTENCE

Mark John Evanishen's claim that he grew 124 marijuana plants in a
former rural schoolhouse to meet his medical need to smoke one ounce
per day was "far-fetched and beyond belief," a provincial court judge
found Thursday.

Judge Robert Jackson found Evanishen, 35, guilty of producing
cannabis marijuana and cannabis resin and possession of marijuana for
the purpose of trafficking.

Jackson handed Evanishen a sentence of two years less one day in
jail, saying he imposed a term at the longer end of the possible
range to address the need for general deterrence.

The defence, which included expert opinion evidence from a man who
has twice been convicted of growing cannabis in similar operations,
did not raise a reasonable doubt about Evanishen's commercial intent,
Jackson said.

The charges were laid after a Feb. 23, 2005, police raid at the
former school near Mayfair, 110 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.

Evanishen was living in one of the classrooms and tending to a
"multi-stage growing scheme utilizing specialized equipment and
methodology to effect a continuous cropping operation," Jackson found.

Jason Hiltz, the defence expert, said the setup was "low end." It
lacked fans, reflective, light-enhancing material and adequate
temperature and humidity controls, he said. He thought the operation
would produce a maximum yield of one and a half ounces per plant.

The Crown's expert, RCMP Cpl. Christopher Thomas, testified the
plants were more likely to produce a minimum of three ounces each. He
said the plants would produce enough marijuana to provide a heavy
user -- one who smoked one gram per day -- with a supply to last 22.8
years. The harvested plant has a shelf life of about six months,
after which it loses half its potency, Thomas had testified.

Evanishen said he smoked an ounce of pot per day, about 28 times as
much as Thomas considered heavy use, to treat ailments, such as
epilepsy, back problems and migraines, resulting from five auto crashes.

If it took Evanishen five minutes each to roll and smoke a joint, he
would spend about six hours per day rolling and smoking joints, Jackson found.

Crown prosecutor, Wade McBride, has said that if Evanishen needed the
marijuana for medical purposes, he should have applied for a medical exemption.

Jackson said Hiltz's evidence didn't prove there was no commercial
operation. The judge also noted that the defence evidence showed
there were conventional medical treatments for the ailments and no
evidence any doctor recommended Evanishen use marijuana.

Although police did not find Baggies, scoresheets, cash or
cellphones, as are often associated with trafficking, they also did
not find any cigarette papers, even though Evanishen claimed to smoke
40 to 50 joints per day, Jackson found.

Defence lawyer Mark Vanstone asked for a sentence of time served,
saying Evanishen's head injuries may have affected his judgement.

Jackson said such clandestine grow operations continue to be a
problem across Canada, where criminal convictions for the offence
continue at a steady rate.

"The public has to know these grow operations won't be countenanced,"
Jackson said.

Evanishen will receive double credit for 10 months on remand, which
leaves him with four months left to serve. The two years less one day
sentence was attached to the trafficking conviction, while producing
marijuana attracted a 12-month concurrent term and producing resin
garnered a 90-day concurrent term.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited or restricted
firearm related to a double-barrel, sawed-off shotgun police found in
the schoolhouse, three counts of possessing marijuana on two other
occasions and breaching an undertaking to the court. Sentences for
those offences are to be served concurrently.

Evanishen will be prohibited from owning a firearm for 10 years after
he gets out of jail and all of the grow operation-related property is
forfeited to the Crown.

The owner of the school, David Holmes, also will be served notice
that the property is to be forfeited as well, Jackson said.

Evanishen had said Holmes, who is his uncle, did not know Evanishen
was growing the marijuana but thought he was simply living there and
taking care of the building.