TRIAL DELAY 'SUSPICIOUS': MARIJUANA PARTY LEADER

MONTREAL -- The head of the Marijuana party is more than a tad suspicious
that his trial on possession and trafficking charges has been delayed until
next year.

Marc-Boris St-Maurice, 31, was scheduled to stand trial yesterday along
with Alexandre Neron, 21, after charges were laid following a police raid
of the Compassion Club in Montreal earlier this year. But St-Maurice told a
news conference he found out last week that the Crown had sought a delay in
the case. It will now go ahead next Feb. 19.

"We suspect that there's a certain amount of political fear of having the
marijuana issue debated in court during an election campaign," St-Maurice
said inside the courthouse.

"We feel the timing is somewhat suspicious because the adjournment is ...
during an election campaign."

But St-Maurice stopped short of accusing anybody of political interference.

"We think it's lack of political courage to address this issue during a
campaign.

"It (the issue) is perceived as something that's politically embarrassing
or maybe political suicide. But I think that is only because our leaders
are a little bit out of step with the people."

James Brunton, a Crown prosecutor with the federal government, argued
yesterday there were solid legal reasons for requesting the delay.

"Mr. St-Maurice and Mr. Neron had served a motion on the provincial
attorney general saying that they would attack the constitutionality of
certain aspects of the law that prohibits the trafficking of marijuana,"
Brunton said. The federal government needs time to study that development,
he added.

St-Maurice and Neron have said they were merely helping people suffering
from AIDS or cancer who provided medical prescriptions to show they needed
marijuana to relieve pain.

And St-Maurice said all the delay will do is hurt these people. "The sick
people who need access to medical marijuana - some of these people are
dying. And election or no election, they can't wait another six months."