I SMOKE MARIJUANA CONSTANTLY

Retired Lawyer Tackles The Law On Driving Under Influence Of Drugs

Rick Reimer was a prominent criminal lawyer in Pembroke. Then he was
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Mr. Reimer uses marijuana daily to cope
with the effects of his illness and intends to use an impaired driving
charge to scrutinize the law's approach toward marijuana and its impacts on
life.

As Canada inches closer to softer marijuana laws, a retired Killaloe lawyer
is asking the courts to rule on the murky issue of driving while under the
influence of cannabis.

Rick Reimer intends to use an impaired driving charge to scrutinize the
wobbly approach of legislators toward the use of marijuana and its impacts
on daily life.

In a case that begins in a tiny courtroom tomorrow, he is both the accused
and defender.

Mr. Reimer, 47, a prominent criminal lawyer in Pembroke until his
retirement two years ago, uses marijuana daily to cope with the effects of
multiple sclerosis. He was diagnosed four years ago and, in November 2000,
was granted a Health Canada exemption to use the drug for medicinal purposes.

"I smoke marijuana constantly, from morning until night," said Mr. Reimer,
estimating he smokes about 10 to 12 joints a day.

On Feb. 11, he was pulled over on Highway 60 as he made his way toward
Pembroke at about 11 a.m. on a clear, sunny morning that followed a fresh
snowfall.

He was stopped by an OPP officer near Round Lake Centre for allegedly
weaving about the road. Mr. Reimer displayed some of the classic signs of
impairment: slurred voice and unsteady gait.

Those are precisely the symptoms of his disorder, he says. The smoking of
marijuana, he argues, actually makes him a better driver.

"There's no doubt whatsoever that I am not impaired in any way, shape or
form by marijuana smoking, any more than a tobacco smoker would be," he
said yesterday.

One of the central issues in the trial promises to be the inability of
police officers to assess precisely -- at the roadside or in the station --
the level of impairment caused by marijuana smoking.

Unlike the test for alcohol, there is no quick and easy method to determine
levels of THC in a driver's system. And unlike alcohol, THC, the active
ingredient in marijuana, stays in the body for long periods.

Mr. Reimer hopes to use the criminal trial to expose what he considers the
government's hypocritical attitude toward the legal use of marijuana.

The unusual court case comes the same week Justice Minister Martin Cauchon
said he intends to proceed with legislation, likely to be introduced by
April, that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

"If Cauchon comes down with decriminalization, you're going to see all
kinds of situations where cops pull over drivers," said Mr. Reimer. "There
is no way for the officer to gauge what level of THC, if any, is in the
bloodstream of the driver."

Mr. Reimer said the federal government has failed to deal with these
issues, just as he thinks it has bungled the matter of medicinal marijuana.

"They should have been thinking of this 20 years ago. Instead, they buried
their heads in the sand and now they've been dragged kicking and screaming
into it and they've been caught with their pants down."

As a defence lawyer, Mr. Reimer defended dozens, if not hundreds, of
impaired drivers. He is so well-known in the justice community in Renfrew
County that an out-of-county Crown, Mac Lindsay of Ottawa, was brought in
to prosecute.

Mr. Lindsay declined to discuss the case in detail yesterday, except to say
he would be calling the arresting officer and a toxicologist.

Proving the effect of marijuana on a driver -- at least to a criminal court
standard -- has been difficult. In Eastern Ontario during the last eight
years, there have been two well-known failures, blamed on holes in the
Criminal Code.