MARIJUANA CRUSADER CONVICTED

Prison Will 'Kill Me,' Man With MS Says

A medical marijuana crusader with multiple sclerosis says he will
likely die in prison now that a Winnipeg jury has found him guilty of
selling pot to clients across Canada who suffer from chronic pain or
terminal illnesses.

"I'm ashamed to be a Canadian," Grant Krieger, 53, said yesterday
after a jury found him guilty of trafficking.

The Calgary resident said the verdict shows how little the country
cares for the sick and dying and represents a wasted opportunity to
make a statement.

"They had a chance to change the law," he said.

"It's a victimless crime they've convicted me of. Now they're gonna
kill me when they put me in jail."

Krieger admitted he broke the law but was seeking to be acquitted on
sympathetic grounds.

Jurors took only about 30 minutes to reach their unanimous guilty
verdict.

Krieger is expected to be sentenced early in 2009 and remains free on
bail.

"I know I didn't have a legal ground to stand on, but they're
penalizing the sick," Krieger said.

Krieger - who runs the Grant W. Krieger Cannabis Research Foundation
of Canada - has been battling progressive MS since 1978 and said his
only relief comes from smoking and ingesting cannabis.

He admitted selling pot to dozens of people across Canada but insisted
there is a major difference between him and a garden-variety drug dealer.

Krieger said his many customers suffer from chronic pain, disease and
even terminal illness and have come to him looking to improve their
quality of life.

The Crown's case against Krieger was simple - although he had
permission to possess pot for his own medical reasons, he didn't have
permission from the federal government to sell marijuana.

There is a program in place to distribute the drug to those who get
special clearance from doctors, but Krieger said the whole system is
flawed.

He said most doctors are afraid to make such a declaration. And
Krieger criticized the federal government for the quality of their
drugs, which are produced in Flin Flon in northern Manitoba.

"It's grown in a dirty mine shaft," Krieger told jurors.

He said the drug is overly processed and diluted by the time it gets
to those in needs, mitigating the relief it can provide.