POT CLUB ADVOCATE RUNS RISK OF ARREST

Pot Laws In Limbo

Fred Pritchard continues to thumb his nose at authorities by claiming
to send medical marijuana through the mail to clients of the Windsor
Compassion Club, despite the fact it is illegal.

Windsor Police are taking a hard line against this activity -- at
least publicly.

"If he were to provide marijuana to somebody he stands the likelihood
of being arrested and charged," said Staff Sgt. Ed McNorton. "It's
still against the law to possess and sell marijuana."

But Canada's laws regarding the distribution of medical marijuana have
become so fuzzy Pritchard may get away with it.

Aaron Harnett, a Toronto lawyer and expert on Canadian marijuana
legislation, says if the Windsor man is running a compassion club --
even for seriously ill or infirm people who have the legal right to
smoke marijuana under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and
Substances Act -- he is trafficking and indeed guilty of an offence
under the Criminal Code.

"But Pritchard may very well have an argument in court," Harnett said.
"If he is providing pot to people who have no other way to procure it
and can convince a judge he is committing a necessary evil to fill a
gap left by the current legislation, he may have a case."

Last year Harnett won a precedent-setting case at the Ontario Court of
Appeal.

The court declared the prohibition on the possession of marijuana in
the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to be "unconstitutional and of
no force or effect," but suspended that declaration until July 31 to
give Parliament time to amend federal legislation to comply with the
Charter.

Simply put, that means marijuana laws remain in limbo.

"Unless the government redrafts the law, the possible consequence is
that people will not be busted for the personal possession of pot,"
Harnett said. But until a decision comes down, Pritchard's activities
remain illegal.

"He runs the risk of arrest, of having his product seized and spending
time in custody," Harnett said.

That's the way the Windsor Police see it.

"Until new legislation is in place he is committing an offence," said
Staff Sgt. Dan Woods. "Nothing is finalized yet and until it is, he is
in trouble."

Pritchard told The Windsor Star he began the local chapter of the
Compassion Club in November to provide medical pot for sick people who
have the legal right to smoke it but aren't able to obtain it
themselves. Under current legislation, clients under the Section 56
exemption are caught in a Catch-22 situation: they are allowed by law
to smoke it but there is no legal supplier of pot. These clients
either have to grow it themselves or designate another person to grow
it for them. The grower is not allowed to have more than three
clients. Compassion clubs, which sell marijuana to anyone legally able
to purchase it, remain illegal under current laws.

Pritchard calls these limitations absurd. He says he gives pot away
free to four out-of-town clients, but he wants the legal right to grow
it cheaply on an industrial scale for anyone who needs it and has the
doctor's note to acquire it.

"What is an elderly person to do if he is suffering nausea from
chemotherapy and needs medical marijuana," Pritchard said. "Grow it
himself? How is he going to do that? It's the equivalent of making
someone grow bread mould to make their own penicillin."

Pritchard said those infirm who have never had contact with marijuana
before would have a difficult time finding someone to grow it for them.

He is being encouraged to keep up the fight by pot activists,
including Jim Wakeford of Toronto. Wakeford, who suffers from AIDS,
was instrumental in softening the marijuana laws when he won an appeal
to cultivate small amounts of pot and smoke medical marijuana.

"Pritchard should hang in there strong and know he's not alone," said
Wakeford. "We'll get these laws changed."

But Wakeford was busted for the third time Friday, charged with
possession, trafficking and had 199 plants seized from his Udora home.