SEIZED POT RETURNED TO USER

REGINA (SNN) -- A Regina medical marijuana user has his plants back.

Tom Shapiro was at Regina police headquarters Thursday collecting the
21 marijuana plants seized by officers last month following a delay
in the renewal of his licence to grow pot.

Shapiro arrived at the station armed with a court order for police to
return the property to him.

"I feel great having it back," he said. "It's a success story here
all around. Hopefully it protects us in the future. For people who
are legally entitled to grow it and possess it, (I hope) that it
should never happen to them that the police should walk in and
disrupt their life and their health."

Returning seized drugs is a first for Regina police officers, who
handed over two large bags of dried marijuana plants to Shapiro.

In early February, police officers searched Shapiro's home, seizing
marijuana plants and growing equipment. He was charged with
production of marijuana under the Controlled Drugs and Substances
Act, but later saw the charges dropped and his equipment returned.

Shapiro said he doesn't have any animosity toward the police, and
blames Health Canada for telling him he could grow marijuana while
waiting for the renewal of his medical marijuana licence.

He has held a licence to grow pot for the past five years to control
the nausea he experiences as a side-effect of AIDS.