EX-ADDICT SEEKS OK TO SMOKE MARIJUANA

PEMBROKE, Ont. -- There was a time when Robert Brown smoked pot because he
liked it. Now he smokes it because he has to.

The Beachburg-area man smokes up to 40 joints a day. He says he has no
choice. Brown has hepatitis C, a degenerative disease of the liver.

He knows the disease or its complications will one day kill him, but he's
trying to slow its progress. Pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea are part
of his everyday life. Some drugs bring on severe depression, others have
caused hallucinations.

The drug that has proved better than any other at controlling these side
effects is cannabis.

But now Brown and his wife face charges of possessing and cultivating a
narcotic, charges that could send them to jail.

It's a bitter irony for a man who managed to turn his life around 12 years
ago.

Brown, 43, was a heroin addict by age 13. He quit the drug at 17 only to go
on to alcohol and cocaine.

A dozen years ago he ended up in jail. Eventually, he managed to kick his
addictions and rebuild his life. He got a job and settled down.

Three years later, he was diagnosed with hepatitis C. He doesn't know how
he got it.

He had to quit his job, but opened a woodworking shop in his yard, where he
could make furniture, birdhouses and wooden toys when he had the energy. As
his business thrived, his health declined.

``About five years ago, I started to get pretty sick,'' he recalled.

After exhaustive tests and treatments, his doctor suggested he try
marijuana -- smoking it to control nausea, eating it to regulate his
bowels, and applying a marijuana tincture to the lesions on his face.

``I said, `Bud, do you have any idea of the fight I've had to be sober and
straight? That stuff is what I've been trying to get away from,' '' Brown
said.

He resisted. But he continued to get sick. When he was 37, a doctor told
him he probably wouldn't live to see 40.

``I got terrified. I got absolutely terrified, and I started smoking pot,''
he said.

Brown saved what he could from his disability pension and bought a
hydroponic set to grow his own.

He smokes as many as 40 joints a day and eats marijuana cookies, pancakes
and nanaimo bars. The treatment helps control the symptoms, he says.

Last December, police raided his home and seized his marijuana and growing
equipment.

The Browns have yet to enter pleas to the charges, and expect to be back in
court in late August.

In the meantime, Brown continues to grow and smoke marijuana.

Ottawa recently announced clinical trials for medicinal benefits of pot.

But until the results of those tests are in, Canadians who apply to Health
Canada for exemptions from criminal prosecution for growing and using
marijuana are being assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Brown has applied for an exemption. Prosecution, he says, would be a waste
of government money.

``Can they put me in jail without endangering my life? If I'm incarcerated,
will they give me the treatment I need?''