U.S. WOMAN HELD IN B.C. ON 1972 DRUG CHARGE

The long arm of the law reached back 31 years to nab a middle-aged American
wanted on a Canadian marijuana charge from 1972.

Ilene Schecter, a 52-year-old mother of two, was arrested last month trying
to enter B.C. at the Peace Arch crossing.

She is in the Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women.

"It was a total shock to us and our children," said her husband Gary
Rosenzweig. "It just threw our whole life out of whack.

"We have two children in college right now. She's had no charges. She's
lived as a clean citizen, a teacher, a mother, just a normal life."

Schecter was 22 when she was arrested in 1972 at Toronto International
Airport with a kilogram of pot. She received a mandatory minimum seven-year
prison sentence for importing the drug.

After serving 14 months, Schecter was on a day pass in 1973 and walked
away. She's been on the lam ever since.

She and her husband, a drug and alcohol counsellor, had no problems with
the law until her past caught up with her on Sept. 18 as they drove to
Vancouver from their home near Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The couple are members of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, which uses
marijuana as its sacrament. Believers say it is as valid and necessary as
wine is to Catholics during communion.

The couple were considering moving to Canada so "we could practise our
religion a lot more freer knowing that Canada has a much better attitude
toward marijuana than the U.S."

Abbotsford lawyer Sarah Rauch, who is representing Schecter, said Schecter
is in jail "because she's been detained on a charge from 1972."