MEDICINAL POT MISSING

Toronto resident Bill Palmer wants the cops to return his bag of pot -- and
he's got a federal court order backing him up.

But yesterday, Peel Police told the HIV sufferer, who can legally puff for
medicinal purposes, they can't give back what they no longer have.

The medicinal weed had been sent to Palmer gratis by a Western Canadian
compassion centre and was handed over to cops after seizure in May,
beginning Palmer's four-month court battle to retrieve his parcel.

"I couldn't afford a lawyer and it took me months just to find out what I
needed to do," Palmer said.

Palmer, 37, said he was relieved on Tuesday when a judge finally granted
him the court order he sought. However, his hopes of recovery were dashed
when a Peel officer told him his weed had been given to someone else.

Police said they mistakenly gave Palmer's pot to Jim Wakeford, who won the
right to possess, cultivate and use marijuana to treat his illnesses in
May.

Det. Ian Calder said Wakeford and Palmer received similar packages from the
same centre at the same time, but Wakeford won his court order earlier and
ended up getting a double dose. It's a scenario that Wakeford discounts.

"That is not true. It was only mine that I got back," Wakeford said
yesterday. "I think what they're doing to (Palmer) is appalling."

Calder conceded it's an unfortunate situation created by a law that allows
Palmer to possess marijuana but doesn't allow anyone to send him any.