POT 'CLUB' TO OPEN HERE

LYNN HARICHY AND HER HUSBAND WILL HANDLE THE LONDON OUTLET

TORONTO -- "Marijuana clubs" in London and Toronto -- as well as six
similar outlets across Southern Ontario -- plan to openly sell pot to
medicinal users.

In a bold move they know will put them on a "collision course" with the law
and possible life sentences for trafficking, pot activists held a news
conference Friday to announce their grand opening.

"We are not a band of back-alley drug dealers looking to make it big," said
Neev Taiero, involved with the Toronto club, Medical Marijuana Resource
Centre (MMRC).

"MMRC exists because we believe that people are suffering unnecessarily."

The 50-member club has worked in the shadows for almost two years but will
be openly affiliated with similar non-profit clubs starting up in London,
west Toronto, Mississauga, Oakville, Guelph, Peterborough and Kitchener,
said operator Warren Hitzig.

Members will be restricted to those with doctors' letters confirming they
have cancer, AIDS/HIV, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis,
paraplegia/quadriplegia, epilepsy, glaucoma and intractable pain, including
arthritis.

But those with letters proving they have any other diseases alleviated by
pot intake, as well as anyone over 65, can also get the free memberships,
Hitzig said.

Each location will keep less than 30 grams of pot on hand and will deliver
orders to members, charging "much less" than the street value of about $90
for seven grams in Toronto and as little as $50 for the same in London.

Osgoode Hall law professor Alan Young said the clubs fill the gap between
the user and a recent Ontario court ruling -- now under appeal -- that the
government can't deny medicinal marijuana to Toronto epileptic Terry Parker.

"(But) any way you slice or dice it this is probably an illegal activity .
. . an act of civil disobedience," said Young, who has received no response
to his letter to the federal officials asking them to negotiate with the
clubs.

The London location will owned by Lynn Harichy, 36, a multiple sclerosis
sufferer whom Young will defend in April on charges of pot possession, and
operated by her husband Mike.

London police Friday showed no sign they'd break with past practice in
dealing with the new outlets, if established in London.

"We're dealing with people who have their own agenda, which is to legalize
the use of marijuana," London police Sgt. John O'Flaherty said Friday.
"They've just jumped on the medical bandwagon to further their own cause."

IN LONDON

Medical Marijuana Buyers Clubs of Ontario will be opening a club in London
by late March. London hemp shop owner Pete Young, a "vocal supporter" of
the buyers' club, said anyone interested in joining can pick up an
application at his shop, Organic Traveller, at 343 Richmond St. Potential
members must have their doctor complete the application. Young estimated
there are "a couple of hundred cases" of patients who use marijuana as a
medicine in the London area. The club's location has not yet been set, but
once it has, Young said, he is hopeful club officials can "open a dialogue"
with London Mayor Dianne Haskett and the London police. For more
information, call Young at 432-4367. -- Julie Carl, Free Press Reporter