MEDICINAL MARIJUANA OPERATION BROKEN UP IN RCMP RAID

AIDS Patient Weeps As Mounties Smash Drug-Growing Equipment

A marijuana-growing operation that provided a steady discount supply
to AIDS and cancer patients was raided by police yesterday, forcing
the region's terminally ill users to buy their medicine on the street.

The raid came shortly before 10 a.m., when about 10 RCMP drug agents
stormed a rented basement apartment on St-Denis Street in Vanier, a
hydroponic site maintained by maintained by Aubert Martin, operating
as a business under the name Canna Pharm Canada.

RCMP agents seized 178 plants and growing equipment and arrested Mr.
Martin, a key supplier in the region's underground medicinal marijuana
network.

Mr. Martin's arrest marks the end of a supply to a small circle of
AIDS and cancer sufferers who smoke marijuana to ease their pain.

Jean Charles Pariseau, 32, an AIDS patient who smokes marijuana on the
advice of his doctor, cried softly as RCMP officers smashed the
equipment located directly below his apartment.

The bust means people like Mr. Pariseau must now buy marijuana on the
street from "common criminals."

"If I have to buy on the street I won't know what I'm getting and that
scares me," Mr. Pariseau said. "I don't think people understand how it
helps me. It helps me eat and it helps me to forget that I am sick and
dying."

Mr. Pariseau began smoking marijuana after a prescribed diet of
appetite stimulants and nauseau drugs failed to keep down the 30-odd
pills he takes to help him digest food.

But the marijuana, according to him and his physician Dr. Don Kilby,
finally revived his appetite. He gained about 10 kilograms and his
life expectancy was extended three years.

"I don't know what I'm going to do now," he said yesterday.

Mr. Pariseau appeared tired and frail and he grew so weak by noon that
he took a seat in his wheelchair. His fight for a government permit to
smoke pot for medicinal purposes gained national attention in 1997
when he was arrested on possession charges.

It is widely known in Ottawa's drug community that Mr. Martin, who has
20 years of marijuana growing experience, refuses to sell to anyone
other than AIDS and cancer sufferers.

Mr. Martin is also known to sometimes supply marijuana for
free.

"He's just a good guy who wants to help out sick people," Mr. Pariseau
said.

"It's not a debate for us. The legislation is still there for us to
enforce," said Cpl. Marc Richer.

In the afternoon, RCMP also raided a branch site of Canna Pharm in
Hull, where they seized more equipment such as lamps and
humidity-control devices and 160 plants.

In all, RCMP estimate the seized marijuana has a street value of up to
$4.2 million. This is calculating by estimating that the 338 plants
could have yielded between 340,000 and 850,000 joints that could have
sold for up to five dollars each.

Mr. Martin and two unidentified men were arrested on charges of
production of cannabis.

All three were released on a promise to appear in court to face
production and possibly trafficking charges, police said.

The raids come just two weeks after the federal government announced
plans to conduct human clinical tests to see if smoking marijuana can
reduce pain in terminally ill patients.

When Health Minister Allan Rock announced the plan, he said the tests
should not be seen as a step towards legalizing marijuana.

Though he acknowledged anecdotal evidence that the plant can ease pain
in terminally ill patients he said there are no scientific facts
supporting such claims.