ACTIVIST PANS POT LAWS

Mayoral Campaign Begins In West Nip.

Michel Ethier walked out of the North Bay courthouse, stood in the
afternoon sun and celebrated his freedom in a style befitting a pot activist.

"This tastes good. I love it," he said, savouring a joint offered by
a supporter after being released from custody Tuesday.

Ethier filed his papers from jail to challenge incumbent Joanne
Savage and newcomer Claude Arcand for the mayor's job in West
Nipissing during the Nov. 13 municipal election.

Ethier's campaign began as soon as he stepped outside.

"I'll do my best to put an end to prohibition of cannabis in West
Nipissing," he said.

It's been more than four months since "Rev. Ethier" - head of the
Church of the Universe, a religion that uses marijuana as a sacrament
- - has tasted the weed that kept him locked up at the North Bay Jail
longer than needed, he admits, because he wanted to make a point.

Ethier, 49, pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing 140 grams of
marijuana two years ago - about the same weight as a tin of tuna; drained.

He was sentenced to time served and released. The plea was the last
breath in a dying case that saw the judge throw buckets of legal
precedents at Ethier and drown arguments that his rights were violated.

Ethier took the case to trial to challenge the search warrants that
led to his arrest.

The law when it comes to marijuana doesn't look like it's going to
change anytime soon, said Ontario Court Justice Gregory Rodgers,
referring to recent reports that the Conservative government plans to
eliminate a $4-million medical marijuana program that researched the
impact of pot on Canadians who are ill.

Ethier has raised legitimate issues during the trial about
alternative uses of marijuana and how Canadian law prevents people
from accessing it for medicinal use, the judge said, noting there's a
price to pay for taking a stance contrary to law.

"Your freedom is very precious. You should be very careful what you
do with your freedom and what you trade it for," Justice Rodgers told him.

"I'm this close to hanging up my skates," Ethier answered, holding up
his fingers and grinning under his disheveled beard.

Still wearing jail-issued blue shoes outside, Ethier said he spent
time with his grandson at a beach near his Sturgeon Falls home and
expected to do more of that this summer instead of doing time.

"No money in the world can replace any of those lost days and the
things I could have done," Ethier said.

He has a string of arrests involving marijuana and has often
challenged the charges, saying they violate his religious right to smoke it.

Among his followers who hugged and greeted him outside the courtroom,
were two men licensed to smoke marijuana for medicinal use, and
others who said they use it illegally because of the red tape to get
permission.

"A joint is better than taking a pill or a needle," said Ruby
Ouderkirk, adding family doctors are reluctant to broach the issue
and force patients to see specialists.

"People's attitudes change with time," added a hopeful Jim Hoad who
was arrested alongside Ethier.

Hoad's charges were dropped after a federal Crown failed to show up
for his preliminary hearing.

Court heard police found a 40-hectare marijuana grow operation and
had search warrants to conduct surveillance at Hoad's former
residence on Highway 64.

Police saw Ethier drive onto the property and hide a bag under the
hood of his car. Highway patrol was alerted, stopped Ethier about 30
minutes later in Sturgeon Falls and found the pot.

Ethier argued through his lawyer, Frank Falconi, that police didn't
have a warrant to search the car.

There's a longstanding rule, the judge said, that police powers
include the right to search an accused person and his surroundings at
the time of the arrest.

Falconi also argued police had a search warrant for still cameras
hidden in trees at the grow op, but not the cameras used to tape
Ethier's visit.

Ethier has no reasonable expectation of privacy even though he wasn't
the target of the police investigation, the judge said, adding police
still witnessed the visit without the surveillance equipment.