CRUSADER WANTS POT OUT OF CLOSET

Mission is to educate public about positive side of
weed

For years, Don Baxter has seen his favourite plant dragged through the
dirt. Now he's helping cannabis turn over a new leaf.

With a new consulting business and a head full of legal strategies,
the 44-year-old St. James resident is on a mission to bring marijuana
the attention and use he says it deserves.

"Cannabis insulates you -- it gives you a feeling of being at one with
yourself," Baxter said. "It not only has value as a medicine and
intoxicant, but it has commercial value as a plant."

What began five years ago as a way to ease his work-related pain has
become a full-time endeavour. Baxter's company, Cannabis Consulting,
provides answers on the plant's uses, benefits, risks and legal issues.

The legalities surrounding cannabis and marijuana -- its dried leaves
and flowers -- can be confusing. While it's against the law to grow or
sell dope, it's legal to possess cannabis plant stocks -- as long as
the tops have been removed.

'HORRENDOUS STINKWEED'

Baxter scoffs at the notion the plant known sometimes as "horrendous
stinkweed" is truly illegal, and says the country's founding fathers
back him up.

"If you believe that the written Constitution is the law of the land,
it's not illegal -- it can't be illegal," he said. "It's a plant. God
made it, and Canada is built upon a Constitution that recognizes the
supremacy of God."

The former auto mechanic challenged the law last September. He hoped
his trip to a police station with a cannabis plant would bring his
fight to grow and use the weed to a jury. But two months ago, just
days before a preliminary inquiry, the Crown dropped the case without
explanation.

Baxter believes prosecutors backed down in fear the courts would have
shown the drug law to be "eminently corrupt." His disappointment
continued when the police kept, then destroyed his plant, a move he
claims was illegal.

"I think he's going about it the right way," said friend Mike Bridges.
"If he believes in something, he'll stick with it."

Baxter is continuing his fight and appealing to anyone willing to
listen -- even Queen Elizabeth, who responded in February.

"I have a letter from Bucking-ham Palace," Baxter said proudly. But
that letter, written by a Palace spokeswoman, advised him to turn his
attention to the governor general.

Now he's clinging to the faint hope that Adrienne Clarkson will change
the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act through an
order-in-council.

Until then, Baxter hopes to promote the plant to schools, seniors'
groups, businesses and through his book, The Truth About Marijuana.