UNGLAMOROUS MS PATIENT DENIED HIS GOLD

Ross Rebagliati kept his medal, but Grant Krieger fears losing his family.

Both men made the headlines because they smoked pot, but that's where any
similarity between them ends.

You see, Krieger is not one of the beautiful people. Rebagliati is. And the
difference in the way they've been treated is not a pretty commentary on
our social mores.

"When Ross won the Olympic gold medal in Japan, I realized we live in a
double standard.Canadian officials said it's only a little bit of pot so
give him his medal," Krieger said.

"If it's only a little bit of pot, why have I got charges against me?"

Why, indeed?

It's because the Preeceville, Sask. man is no fair-haired boy on a snazzy
snowboard. He couldn't climb onto a snowboard even if he wanted to. Grant
Krieger has multiple sclerosis and he smokes pot to relieve the symptoms of
the disease he's been battling for 20 years, a disease which so ravaged his
quality of life that a few years ago, he tried to kill himself with an
overdose of sleeping pills and Demerol.

"I couldn't breathe. I couldn't swallow and I shook so bad. I had to wear a
damn diaper. So I took those pills and I really didn't want to wake up.
When I woke up in the hospital I thought, 'I'm alive and I don't want to be.'"

He credits marijuana with making him mobile again. No more canes, crutches
or wheelchair. His incontinence is under control and he can venture out
without fear of embarrassment. Not long ago, this 43-year-old man who was
once bedridden and yearning for death, enjoyed a picnic at Banff with his
daughter and even climbed a small hill.

"Tell me my quality of life hasn't improved!" he says with relish.

He ran afoul of the law when he lit up a joint last June on the Calgary
courthouse steps i support of another man who uses pot for medicinal purposes.

Krieger's case is still before the courts but there's another side to his
story that has nothing to do with legalities. It has to do with hypocrisy
and how willing we are to forgive the foibles, illicit as they may be, of
the people we put on pedestals. We are not in the habit of putting the
disabled on pedestals and we do not forgive them their disabilities.

So badly did we need Ross Rebagliati to be our hero at Nagano that we
rushed to make things all right for him. No one rushes to make things right
for the Grant Kriegers of this world.

Krieger doesn't care about partying hearty and getting high. He just wants
to be able to get through his day. He doesn't even believe pot should be
legalized except for carefully regulated medicinal purposes.

Meanwhile, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada keeps a cautious
distance from the controversy. Dr. Bill McIlroy, the society's medical
adviser, was unavailable for comment but his Toronto office has issued a
statement saying there is no scientific basis for using marijuana to treat
MS and no controlled studies have been done, although anecdotal reports
indicate it may be useful in a few cases.

A nurse at the Foothills Hospital MS Clinic says doctors there won't
discuss it.

Krieger, who plans to move to Calgary soon, realizes he's fighting a lonely
battle, but he's not about to throw in the towel.

"Cannabis is a drug I won't let go of," he says. "It's done more for me
than any pharmaceutical." It's also caused him more grief.

"They raided the house and charged my wife with possession. And my daughter
went off the deep end over this. She's a law student and she can't live
with me because she could get charged, too, if they raid us again. They're
busting up families -- but Ross got his medal."

Contact Naomi Lakritz at (403) 235-7134.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski