PROTESTER GOES TO POT

Demonstration Ends After Health Canada Approves Marijuana

ROBERT Brown smoked a big, fat doobie last night -- and he did so legally.

After spending two damp and dreary days protesting on Parliament Hill, the
43-year-old victim of hepatitis C got permission yesterday from Health
Canada to get stoned.

"I'm going to go home and hug my wife and then I'm going to smoke my face
off," Brown said just seconds after receiving approval via cellphone from
Health Canada. "I'm feeling pretty sick but I'm feeling pretty good."

Health Canada tracked Brown down yesterday on the Hill with some help from
the RCMP. A grinning Sgt. Ken MacLean found the ill man sitting with a
friend in the pouring rain, protected by an oversized umbrella.

The sergeant happily handed his cellphone to the demonstrator. On the other
end of the line was Dr. Robert Peterson, associate director-general of the
therapeutic products program.

Brown's sickly face grew bright as Peterson told him his application had
been approved.

"God bless you sir, and have a good day," Brown said before bidding the
doctor goodbye and breathing an audible sigh of relief.

For the past 12 months, Brown had been trying to get consent from Health
Canada to use marijuana as treatment for his illness. He took to the Hill
after getting tired of waiting.

Yesterday, Brown became the 20th Canadian to get permission since the
government made its announcement last spring to start clinical trials of
marijuana. In the meanwhile, the government is allowing patients to apply
for exemption from prosecution.

Health Canada said Brown's two-day protest didn't influence its decision but
may have helped expedite the man's application, already in its final stages.

"Obviously the fact that he was out in the cold and getting sicker probably
lent it to gathering the last bit of information (faster)," spokesman Jeff
Pender said yesterday.

Brown is hoping the government approval will help him in June, when he's
scheduled to go to trial on charges of possession, cultivation and intent to
traffic. Police raided his Beachburg-area farmhouse in December 1998.