MARIJUANA CRUSADER NOT GUILTY

Judge Acquits Ex-Lawyer Found Smoking Drug In Car On Impaired Driving
Charge. Uses Cannabis For Multiple Sclerosis

PEMBROKE -- A colourful advocate for marijuana use was acquitted yesterday
on one of the rarest charges ever laid in a Canadian courtroom.

Rick Reimer, 48, a retired lawyer living in the Ottawa Valley town of
Wilno, was found not guilty of impaired driving caused by smoking marijuana.

He was openly smoking marijuana when he was pulled over on a snowy county
road outside Killaloe on Feb. 11, 2002, and continued to puff away while he
was interviewed by police.

Upon hearing the verdict, the teary-eyed litigant, who had defended
himself, immediately kissed his girlfriend, Tammy Lewis, then quickly
received a congratulatory handshake from assistant Crown attorney Mac Lindsay.

"I'm very happy," Mr. Reimer said outside court, firing up a half-smoked
marijuana cigarette. "(I'm feeling) the euphoria that I used to get out of
marijuana."

For three days, a courtroom has heard contradictory evidence about the
impairing effects of marijuana on drivers in general and on Mr. Reimer in
particular.

It has also heard first-hand about the difficulty police officers have in
determining whether, and to what degree, a marijuana smoker's driving is
impaired.

Both the judge and the Crown, with 35 years experience, said they'd never
seen an impaired charge laid solely on the basis of marijuana.

Mr. Reimer's case was also complicated because he suffers from multiple
sclerosis and its symptoms -- slurred speech, shaky gait, loss of balance
- -- resemble the typical signs of intoxication.

Ontario Court of Justice Judge Bruce MacPhee ruled there was reasonable
doubt as to whether Mr. Reimer was impaired that day.

The Crown was unable to present any evidence about the exact level of THC,
marijuana's active ingredient, that was in his system.

The judge was also presented with starkly different versions of the effects
of marijuana on a typical motorist.

Mr. Reimer testified he has been a regular marijuana smoker since the age
of 14 and now smokes about 12 joints a day to cope with his illness.

He vehemently denied that using cannabis has any impact on his driving,
except possibly to make him an even safer, more cautious motorist.

An expert toxicologist, however, testified that THC does impair driving
ability, though the extent is not fully understood or easily measurable.

However, he was unable to offer any reliable evidence about Mr. Reimer's
condition that day.

Mr. Reimer made no secret that he wanted to use his trial as a means of
focusing attention on the need for a national debate on more sensible
marijuana regulation.

In his closing arguments, he said the whole trial had placed unreasonable
demands on the police, the Crown and the judge because Canadian legislators
have not equipped them with the right tools or level of scientific information.

"What I'm hoping will happen is more debate on that issue and, through a
democratic process, our government will look at what kind of a law, if any,
we need and what kind of investigative tools the police need.

"These are all issues around marijuana that have been ignored for 30 years
and that's got to stop," he said.

On that morning, he was headed to Pembroke when his Jeep Cherokee was
followed for five kilometres by an OPP officer.

He noticed the vehicle narrowly crossed the centre line about five times.

When he was stopped, Mr. Reimer emerged from the vehicle smoking a joint,
his third of the day.

The former criminal lawyer, retired since October 2000, possesses a Health
Canada exemption to smoke marijuana to alleviate the symptoms of MS.

He admitted no physician has prescribed marijuana to relieve his symptoms.
Mr. Lindsay introduced documents suggesting the U.S. national MS society
does not recommend marijuana as a beneficial treatment.

Judge MacPhee made it clear it was difficult for police to distinguish that
day between the symptoms caused by the MS and those that might be due to
drug use. It was not his duty to sort out whether Canada's drug laws are
fair or in need of political remedy, he said.

The issue before him was clear-cut, he added, and dealt narrowly with
whether Mr. Reimer was impaired. He noted that Mr. Reimer was "manifestly
indignant" at being pulled over and did not agree to a reasonable request
from the OPP for co-operation.

Mr. Reimer explained during the trial he spends his waking hours under the
influence of marijuana, doing everything from plowing snow, chopping wood
and hosting a community radio show.

The difficulty for the court, the judge said, is that it has no "baseline"
to compare Mr. Reimer's behaviour with and without the presence of marijuana.

He made for a flamboyant figure in the courtoom. Wearing clunky winter
boots with red laces and a rumpled suit, Mr. Reimer relied on a verse from
Bob Dylan during his arguments and regularly smoked up during court breaks.

He also called his girlfriend and two other friends as defence witnesses,
each testifying to their own regular marijuana use.

Mr. Lindsay said he would have to consult the supervising Crown attorneys
about the possibility of an appeal.