MERCHANT CONTESTS CHARGES

At least one local storekeeper who was busted for selling drug-related
paraphernalia and literature intends to challenge the charges by arguing
that his constitutional rights have been violated.

A six-officer drug unit from three police forces-the RCMP, the OPP and
Kingston Police-used search warrants to seize rolling paper, hash pipes,
scales and marijuana magazines from three stores. The raid took place Jan.
7.

The joint-forces squad seized merchandise from Erehwon Trading Co. on
Princess Street, including a key chain with a picture of cartoon character
Foghorn Leghorn urging people to roll a joint, said owner Bill Stevenson.

Erehwon Trading Co. has been open for about five years and Stevenson has
owned similar stores in Kingston since 1981. He said the recent raid was
the first since he opened for business.

Stevenson, 40, said the lion's share of his store's merchandise is music
related-from CDs to rock T-shirts-and the seized items represent about two
percent of his inventory. "They also seized all of our hemp related
material" he said. Items seized included hemp wallets, handbags and pencil
cases.

"[They seized] basically anything that had a piece of hemp on it, anything
that they loosely determined paraphernalia." He said the Criminal Code
lacks a clear definition of what constitutes drug paraphernalia. "The law
needs to be challenged."

Toronto lawyer Alan Young said that Section 462.2 of the code suffers from
"vagueness and overbreadth." The section defines an "instrument for illicit
drug use" as; "Anything designed primarily or intended under the
circumstances for consuming or to facilitate the consumption of an illicit
drug."

OPP Det. Glenn Holland said the drug enforcement unit raided the businesses
after receiving complaints from parents who found their teenagers with
paraphernalia from the stores. [Stores] shouldn't be running around selling
this stuff to kids," Det. Holland said. "It forms an impression on them."

A key issue to be debated in court will revolve around the drug-related
literature seized by police from at least one of the stores, including
copies of 'Cannabis Canada' and 'High Times'. In a 1994 civil case, an
Ontario judge ruled that including literature under the Criminal Code
section covering drug paraphernalia violated the Constitution's protection
of freedom of expression. That decision effectively removed 'literature'
from the offence.

Stevenson said he was reading the details of the decision aloud from one of
the magazines before one of the officers seized it from his hands. "I told
the police several times but they insisted on taking the books as well" he
said. Det. Holland acknowledged the court decision, and said that selling
the pro-marijuana magazines on their own would not be an offence. But
"along with the other items, then the literature is supportive of the
charges."

Young, who argued the case that changed the law, said by seizing the
literature, police "have clearly violated my potential clients'
constitutional rights." The other two stores charged are Off The Wall and
Western Rock. As of yesterday, not all the stores had decided whether to
join the constitutional battle.

Another city store owner, Dylan Maxwell, said he is joining Stevenson's
fight to have the Criminal Code section declared unconstitutional. Maxwell,
co-owner of a hemp clothing store called Kingston Hemporium and another in
Montreal, said he is collecting donations from the region's hemp stores to
help fund the group's legal defence. Ottawa's Crosstown Traffic has already
donated $500, Maxwell said.

The maximum penalty for being convicted of Section 462.2 for the first time
is $100,000 and six months in jail. Stevenson is to appear in court to face
the charge on Feb. 24.