MARIJUANA ACTIVIST SUES CROWN, JUDGE TO START HIS TRIAL

A former Marijuana Party candidate charged with drug offences wants to nip
the court proceedings in the bud by suing the judge and Crown attorney
before the case even begins.

Faced with the suit, Judge Patrick Curran delayed Michael Ronald
Patriquen's preliminary hearing yesterday so he could get a lawyer.

"I'm sure you can appreciate the uncomfortable position I find myself in,"
Curran told Crown attorney James Martin, who is also named in the suit.

Curran said he was "startled" when he was served with notice of action last
week.

"Obviously, I need counsel in these circumstances," he said.

Patriquen says Canada's marijuana laws are unconstitutional therefore
Curran doesn't have jurisdiction to preside over the case.

He filed a notice of action against Martin and Curran at Nova Scotia
Supreme court last week.

Patriquen, who ran as the Marijuana candidate along with wife Melanie in
last fall's federal election, was arrested Feb. 28, 2000 and charged with
growing and selling marijuana.

'Last-Minute Stall Tactic'

He's also asking for an order to prohibit Curran - or any other provincial
court judge in Nova Scotia - from taking any further proceedings against
him. He wants the court to reimburse him for the costs of the lawsuit.

Martin's frustration was evident yesterday. He called Patriquen's action a
"last-minute stall tactic" and advised Curran to proceed with the inquiry,
during which he planned to call 15 witnesses.

He said if the inquiry doesn't go ahead this week, it will take another 10
months to get a new court date.

"You can't allow an individual, on their own behalf, to thwart this
process," he said.

Patriquen, an active pot advocate, started a 24-page free weekly called The
Hemp Times last January. The tabloid features national news on weed
activism and a page on the "misery" caused by cannabis prohibition.

During yesterday's court proceedings, defence lawyer Warren Zimmer said
it's for an appeal court to decide if his client has taken the wrong
approach by suing the judge.

"A notice of action should be taken as a suspension of this court's
jurisdiction," he said.

Curran said he "couldn't even consider" dealing with the matter until he's
spoken to his lawyer and postponed the proceedings until this afternoon.