'I KNEW THEY WOULD BE COMING'

OPP Raids Business Of Man Who Helps Users Of Medicinal Marijuana

RENFREW -- In February 1993, Ed Sweet, on a clean and sober morning, began
a new stage in his life by nearly ending it. He flew wildly over a bump on
a snowmobile, landing 30 metres away with a broken back, a severed spinal
cord and a rattled cranium. He was in a coma for three weeks. When he woke
up, his trade as a drywaller, 18 years in the making, was over.

Mr. Sweet, now 42, learned to live in a wheelchair, went back to complete
his Grade 12, and cast about for new prospects. Turns out permanent
paralysis wasn't a great resume addition.

So, with the help of a job counsellor, Mr. Sweet was able to sneak into a
government program aimed at helping the disabled back to work.

With $1,200 a month in government assistance for the first year, he was
able to open Sweet Hydroponic Gardens, a hydroponic shop operating on the
edge of town near the tourist information booth. And, to relieve the spasms
in his atrophied legs, he smoked marijuana -- and grew it too -- in his
home. He doesn't attempt to hide this illegal conduct. "The day I opened
the door on this place, I knew they would be coming," Mr. Sweet said last
week. Oct. 4 was the day.

Mr. Sweet said about a dozen police officers, some holding rifles and
wearing bullet-proof vests, burst into the front and side doors of his
business at about noon, as he worked behind the counter.

As an officer read from a search warrant, others fanned out through the
store, photographing item after item. After a thorough search, they seized
his daily supply of marijuana, some photographs of flowering plants and a
book about hydroponic growing.

When he was told his home would be searched too, he handed over the keys
and told the officers where to find his little grow operation. There, they
found 10 marijuana plants, only three of which had any value, Mr. Sweet
said. He did not know it at the time, but OPP drug squad officers, on the
same day, had raided a residence in town and shot a man in the stomach.
They weren't playing around.

In the intervening month, Mr. Sweet has not been charged with any offence,
though the name of his business has been bandied about in news stories.
Ever since, he has stewed, even writing an open letter to the Renfrew
Mercury, rallying support.

"I don't think it's right for them to search my business and try to ruin my
reputation," said Mr. Sweet, who is married with a teenaged daughter.

"This has nothing to do with my business. I've put my house on the line to
open this business. I'm here six days a week, eight hours a day. "Smoking
marijuana has not hurt me in any way, shape or form. I am not a bum."

The OPP drug squad declined to comment on the matter, except to say charges
are pending.

Mr. Sweet feels like a man caught between colliding -- if not outright
hypocritical -- government initiatives on the use of medical marijuana.

In July 2001, Health Canada made it legal for marijuana to be used in
"compassionate" cases, such as for those suffering from serious illnesses.
Applicants had to obtain a licence, however, and a second licence to grow
their own supply.

Among the categories for compassionate relief are terminal illnesses, AIDS,
multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, some types of cancer, severe
forms of arthritis and epilepsy. A declaration from at least one specialist
is also required and the physician must first attempt "all conventional
treatments."

However, the largest malpractice fund in Canada sent a letter a year ago to
60,000 physicians with a stern warning: doctors could expose themselves to
lawsuits and disciplinary action if they prescribe marijuana without
detailed knowledge of the drug's risks, benefits and dosage.

Such information, the Canadian Medical Protective Association was quick to
add, is not available, putting physicians in an impossible position.

Barrys Bay lawyer Rick Reimer, who has an exemption to use marijuana for
his multiple sclerosis, said the federal government has simply tossed the
"hot potato" into the laps of Canada's doctors.

"They, in turn, are acting in a predictable way by saying 'we're not going
to make that decision'." He also said the number of legal plants assigned
to an individual with a licence is ridiculously low, far below the number
required for a steady supply.

As a result, he estimated about 90 per cent of the medical marijuana being
used in Canada comes from the black market. Mr. Sweet has about 15 clients
who have licences to use marijuana for medical reasons. He says it's his
job to help them grow better weed, so the patients can have a reliable
supply of medicine. He can't get his own licence, however, because he can't
find a physician to approve its use. The alternative is a prescription drug
that makes him lethargic.

"What? You have to be terminally ill?" asked Mr. Sweet. The icing on the
cake, for him, was a call about two years ago from an official in the
office of Allan Rock, then Canada's health minister, looking for
information about the hydroponic growing of marijuana for medical users.

Here he is providing advice to federal policy makers on how medical users
can grow marijuana, helping the same people grow it, needing it himself,
running a shop set up with government funds, and getting busted on the side.

"I've learned a few things from being in this chair," said Mr. Sweet. "I
don't think I'm in the wrong."