MARIJUANA CHALLENGE UP IN SMOKE

By Kim Westad (TC Staff)

Hemp honcho Ian Hunter lost the battle Monday to decriminalize
marijuana, but he says he's far from out of the war. "The decision
wasn't entirely unexpected," Hunter said after B.C. Supreme Court Judge
Montague Drake turfed his constitutional challenge to several drug laws.

The 35yearold head of the B.C. Hemp Council has long lobbied for
changes to the laws that criminalize cannabis and magic mushrooms. Being
charged last summer with possession and cultivation of marijuana and
possession of mushrooms gave him a platform to challenge narcotic laws
under the Charter of Rights.

Hunter argued that sections of the Food and Drug Act and the Narcotic
Control Act were contrary to several sections of the charter, including
religion. Drake said Hunter's arguments were largely outside his
control, being political, not legal.

"It was an elaborate plea of confession and avoidance," he said of
Hunter's five day argument, much of which he called "massive irrelevant
matter". Hunter's submissions ranged from an obviously researched
97page legal argument, to telling the judge about his religious
conversion to marijuana use in a field.

As for Hunter's argument that smoking marijuana is an integral part of
his religion as a minister in the Mission of Ecstasy, Drake was having
little of it. Cannabis is the tree of life, Hunter argued, and as such,
has great spiritual value in his church. Smoking is a part of his
religion.

But, said the judge, such use is an unlawful act. "A religion condoning
the commission of an indictable offence is no religion at all, as far as
the Charter of Rights is concerned," said Drake. The judge also noted
Hunter had testified it wasn't mandatory for church members to smoke
marijuana, though Hunter hadn't come across any who chose not to inhale.

Hunter goes to trial before a jury Sept. 8. He says jurors as young as
14 the average age people first smoke marijuana should be allowed,
to combat the generation gap he says is part of the stance against
decriminalizing marijuana. The older generation approves of alcohol and
cigarettes, he said, but not marijuana.

Hunter is philosophical that change may take some time, "The system we
have now has been rolling along for decades." He says charging "40,000
people a year is a major part of the justice system. They are putting
people through to fill up cells and court time. It has become an
economic power base." Hunter says there are some 2,500,000 cannabis and
hemp users in Canada. "The have jobs, businesses and include lawyers,
politicians, accountants."