MEDICAL POT USER SEEKING PAYMENT FOR DOPE SEIZURE

$19,250: Carlisle Files Suit Against Police, City of Abbotsford

Pot activist Brian Carlisle had his medical marijuana seized by the
Abbotsford police.

Now he wants compensation.

Carlisle, 35, has filed a suit with the B.C. Supreme Court against the
police and the City of Abbotsford, claiming payment for the seized
pot.

Carlisle has a Health Canada exemption to use and cultivate medicinal
marijuana to treat his symptoms of AIDS, hepatitis C and glaucoma.

On Jan. 6, Abbotsford police raided a Bradner Road property of
Carlisle's friend and fellow marijuana activist, Tim Felger. There,
they uncovered 2,090 marijuana plants.

The pot was confiscated, but Carlisle was permitted to retrieve 25
plants he was growing on the property for his use.

He's suing for $19,250 in compensation for an additional 1,925 grams
of dried pot also seized.

Carlisle is allowed to possess 150 grams, to store 1,875 grams and
grow up to 19 indoor and five outdoor plants under Marijuana Medical
Access Regulations.

Abbotsford police Const. Shinder Kirk said yesterday that police tried
to ensure Carlisle was accommodated after serving a warrant on the
property at Bradner Road. When police became aware some plants legally
belonged to Carlisle as a medical marijuana user, they permitted
retrieval, Kirk said.

"We are extremely understanding of the need for medicinal marijuana
for certain individuals that have gone through the proper channels of
being licensed," Kirk said. "But at issue here, in addition to those
25 plants, there were more than 2,000 plants."

It's the second time that Carlisle, a criminology student and former
law clerk, has brought a case against police for confiscating his dope.

In a January 2003 ruling, Madam Justice Linda Loo ordered Hope RCMP to
return plants and equipment taken from Carlisle's former home in Hope
in June 2001.

Carlisle publicly expressed his outrage at the time of the seizure,
arguing in the media he had followed protocols. He suggested in
interviews that other users were also growing crops on Felger's property.

Felger and an associate were arrested during the Jan. 6
search.

Felger was charged with production of marijuana, possession of a
controlled substance and breach of an undertaking (this is his third
such charge in recent years.) His case will be heard in April.

In the interim, Carlisle must find a new location to cultivate his
supply of medical marijuana, since local bylaws state electricity must
be cut after discovery of a grow-op.

Carlisle doesn't want to grow his supply in his own house because of
his fear of grow-rips.

A group of thieves invaded his former home in Chilliwack in September
2004.

Carlisle ran a compassion club in Chilliwack, the Holy Smoke Healing
Centre, for almost two years, helping up to 81 people, before it was
shut down in 2004.

He ran for mayor of Chilliwack in 2002 as the sole opponent to
incumbent Clint Hames, but lost.

Carlisle is not the only B.C.-based medical marijuana activist to have
his cannabis successfully restored through the courts.

In January 2003, provincial court Judge Dan Moon ordered Sechelt RCMP
to return grow equipment and three-quarters of a pound of marijuana to
medical-user Steve Kubby, after police seized 154 plants from his home
in April 2002.

Kubby suffers from adrenal gland cancer. The U.S. native, who moved to
Canada in 2001, won his case despite the fact he was only granted his
medical marijuana exemption after the raid.