PROBATION IN BHANG CASE

A 46-year-old Halifax man got a conditional discharge and six months'
probation yesterday for something he believed was a cure for a stomach
ache.

John Price van Rooyen was arrested and strip searched April 8, 1998,
by customs officers at the Halifax International Airport when he tried
to bring a small plastic bag of herbal medicine called bhang he bought
in India into Canada. As it turns out, the herb was low-grade marijuana.

"I guess you're going to have to be a little bit more careful with
what you bring into this country," said Bedford provincial court judge
William MacDonald.

The herb was not for smoking, but did contain some THC, the active
ingredient in marijuana, said federal Crown attorney Mark Covan.

It was "more of an herbal remedy than anything else," said Covan. And
van Rooyen, who pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana, "was
co-operative with officials."

An herbalist in Rajastan told van Rooyen bhang would improve his
appetite. He took it by the spoonful because he was losing weight
rapidly in the heat of India.

Covan told the court he supported the discharge because van Rooyen
likes to travel and a criminal record would cause him hassles at
border crossings.

Van Rooyen had been travelling for about three years and had just come
back from Amsterdam when he was busted, said his lawyer, Ann Copeland.

"He forgot to declare it," said Copeland of the bhang.

"He was very tired and not thinking particularly clearly."

The dividing line between marijuana and industrial hemp is .3 per cent
THC. While van Rooyen's bag of bhang was never tested, "we believe it
is in the industrial hemp range," she said.

"He knew there could possibly be THC in the stuff," said
Copeland.

Outside court, van Rooyen said he could have been fined $1,000 and
been branded with a criminal record.

"Coming down to this is such a relief," he said. "Everybody has some
bad luck along the way; it doesn't make me a criminal and that's the
critical thing."