THC IN COOKIES WAS MINIMAL, COURT TOLD

Analysis performed on cookies seized from marijuana activist Ted Smith
indicates they contained too little active ingredients to have any
effect, court heard Wednesday.

"Basically my opinion is you probably couldn't get an effect, based on
the deductions I have made," testified David Pate, a pharmaceutical
chemist with a background in plant biology specializing in cannabis
and its contained substances.

The pony-tailed and long-bearded Pate was testifying as a witness for
the defence in the B.C. Supreme Court trial of Leon (Ted) Smith, 36.

Smith is facing a charge of possession of tetrahydrocannabinol (the
substance commonly known as THC) for the purpose of trafficking.
Earlier testimony indicated police arrested Smith on Nov. 15, 2002 and
seized 383 cookies, weighing an estimated 40 to 50 pounds.

Officers were moving in after reading an article in a Victoria weekly
newspaper which said he was planning to give away marijuana cookies at
a demonstration that day. According to the author of the article,
Smith was a committed member of a Victoria compassion club.

According to one police witness, Smith, when asked after he was
arrested, said he used about two ounces to make the cookies.

Analysis from Health Canada was also entered as evidence to show the
cookies contained THC.

But Health Canada analyst Brian Taylor said Wednesday his test results
were not based on an analysis of the cookies. Instead, he analysed an
oil stain on the paper bag containing the cookies, assuming it was a
good indication of what was in the cookies.

But Pate took issue with that assumption saying any oil in the cookie
would have leached out the THC artificially concentrating it.

Pate deduced -- based on the lab tests Taylor used to analyse the
stain -- that the concentrations eventually discovered were very low,
anyway.

Such low concentrations mean the THC could have come from sources
other than marijuana.

THC can be found in a number of legal hemp products, such as hemp
grown for fibre, seeds sold as food, or oil used in cooking, he added.

"It could be some form of THC derived from any number of sources,"
said Pate.

"It could be anything from marijuana to oil you bought at the grocery
store, hemp oil," he said.