COMPASSION CLUB VOWS TO KEEP PROVIDING POT

A network of ill people will carry on the work of Universal Compassion
Club - the cultivation and distribution of marijuana to seriously ill
people - now that criminal drug charges have put its founder out of
action.

Calgary police charged club founder Grant Krieger - who has multiple
sclerosis - with cultivation and possession of marijuana for the
purpose of trafficking after finding two pot plants on Aug.25 in a
back yard in the northwest community of Bowness.

United (sic) Compassion Club spokeswoman Nona Czayka, 37, who has
fibromyalgia, said she and her 40 fellow club members find that the
illegal drug alleviates their suffering.

`No one is going to be asked to put themselves at risk by cultivating
or distributing pot in their homes,' said Czayka.

`That's too much of a risk. I just can't allow our clients to put
themselves out like that.'

Krieger, who launched the Calgary branch of the compassion club in
June and linked it with similar clubs elsewhere in Canada, was
released recently on bail from Calgary Remand Centre.

He promised the Court of Queen's Bench that he will not distribute the
drug, though he will continue using it.

Police said they spotted the plants when they went to the Bowness home
to charge him with breach of probation in connection with a previous
trafficking conviction.

Investigators later raided the house and found more under cultivation,
police said.

Czayka said she and her fellow medicinal pot users now are `more
determined than ever' to keep the fledging club alive.

`We're being staffed by the sick and dying,' she said. `We will
continue to take care of the sick and dying no matter what.'

Det. Pat Tetley, a drug expert with the Calgary police drug unit, said
the police gives lawbreakers no slack.

`We enforce the law. We cannot be philosophical about that.' he
said.

Krieger said he has given up the battle while the criminal charges
remain before the courts.

'I will not cultivate,' he said. `I will not distribute. I have given
my word.'

Krieger has asked for a trial by a Court of Queen's Bench judge and
jury.

A trial date will be set on Oct.13 at his next court
appearance.