OWNER OF MARIJUANA CAFE SENT TO JAIL

Woman Sentenced To 17-Month Term For Drug Trafficking

VANCOUVER - With the sun streaming through the atrium windows of the
B.C. Supreme Court building in downtown Vancouver, Carol Gwilt
embraced a half-dozen supporters yesterday before walking inside to be
sentenced for trafficking in marijuana.

A little over an hour later, in a windowless courtroom, the former
owner of the Da Kine cafe was prevented by a court sheriff from even
shaking the hand of a friend as she was led from the prisoner's box to
be transported to jail to serve a 17-month sentence.

Madam Justice Catherine Wedge imposed the sentence after she accepted
a joint submission from the Crown and the defence. Ms. Gwilt has 15
months remaining in her sentence as a result of credit for time served
in 2004 before she was granted bail.

Ms. Gwilt, 39, was also required to forfeit $60,000 that was seized in
a Sept. 9, 2004, police raid of the east Vancouver cafe and another
$11,000 found during her second arrest a week later. The cafe was
closed after the raid.

Ms. Gwilt, who worked with mentally handicapped adults before her
involvement with the Da Kine, was sentenced after convictions on two
counts related to marijuana trafficking and two counts of possession
of proceeds of crime.

Crown attorney Paul Riley told the judge that while trafficking in
marijuana is considered less serious than in so-called "hard drugs,"
it would send "the wrong message" if Ms. Gwilt were not sent to jail.

"Trafficking in illegal substances is not tolerated," the prosecutor
said. Mr. Riley said he accepted that Ms. Gwilt is remorseful, but if
she continues to disagree with the prohibition against marijuana, she
should express it through "pro-social" means.

More than 20 Vancouver police officers were involved in the raid on
the Da Kine, which openly sold marijuana, one day after the provincial
solicitor-general criticized city officials for having a "ho-hum"
attitude about the cafe.

Jason Gratl, Ms. Gwilt's lawyer, wanted to submit background
information about the city's views of the cafe, but Judge Wedge said
it was not relevant to the court proceeding. "I am bound by the
provisions of the Criminal Code on sentencing," she explained.

The material that was not accepted by the court included comments from
three Vancouver councillors in 2004 that revoking the business licence
of the Da Kine was a very low priority.

Six days before the raid, a Vancouver police spokeswoman said that
investigating grow-ops and organized crime was more important to the
department.

The belief that marijuana consumption is tolerated in Vancouver to a
greater extent than in other cities is "as plain as the proposition
that the Earth is round," Mr. Gratl said in court.

After the sentence was imposed, he said he agreed to a jail term for
his client because it was in the accepted range of penalties normally
imposed for this type of marijuana offence.

"It is a question of law," Mr. Gratl said. "If it were a question of
feeling, she would be out here with me."

Ms. Gwilt said very little outside court before she was sentenced
other than she was prepared to go to jail. She will celebrate her 40th
birthday next month in custody.

The friends who attended court yesterday were visibly upset.

"The law is the law, yet they bend it for people all the time," said
John Shavluk, the director of a pro-marijuana group called End
Prohibition.

"If Carol Gwilt deserves to be in jail, we all deserve to be in jail.
I have never met a more compassionate person."