POT SMOKER FEARS ABUSE IN U.S. JAIL

An American wanted on marijuana charges says she'll become a sex slave
to prison guards and pimped around to male cons if she's extradited to
the U.S.

Renee Boje was in Ottawa yesterday to plead with Justice Minister Anne
McLellan to remain in Canada.

She's seeking refugee status.

The 30-year-old advocate of medicinal pot fears she'll be raped and
sold for sex if convicted on federal charges of drug manufacturing,
distribution and conspiracy.

SEX SLAVE

The charges in the U.S. carry a sentence of a mandatory minimum of 10
years to a maximum of life in prison -- considerably longer than in
Canada.

She says when she was originally charged in 1997 she was
strip-searched 15 times over a 72-hour period -- sometimes in the
presence of male guards who "probed their tongues at me and made other
degrading gestures."

Boje came to Canada in 1998 after the U.S. charges were briefly
withdrawn. While in B.C., where she now lives, the charges were
reinstated. She notes Canadian laws are friendlier when it comes to
marijuana and that Canada is embracing the idea of using marijuana to
ease pain and suffering. She smokes pot to ease the pain of migraines.

Citing Amnesty International reports that prisoners in the U.S. are
raped and tortured by male prison guards and sold to prisoners for
sex, Boje fears being a caged woman.

"Some unbelievable and terrifying things go on there and that's what I
would face if I was to go back to the United States," she said at a
news conference.

Her Canadian lawyers are arguing for her to remain in Canada on three
fronts: Abuse of women in U.S. prisons, disproportionate length of
sentence, and inability to secure a fair trial because her co-accused
cut deals with prosecutors to testify against her.

McLellan is expected to make a decision this summer.