POT ACTIVIST MAY GO TO JOINT

WINNIPEG -- Jurors took less than one hour yesterday to convict a
Calgary medicinal pot activist of drug trafficking.

"As far as I'm concerned, all the marijuana laws do is suppress sick
people," said a dejected Grant Krieger following the verdict.

Jurors convicted the 54-year-old Calgary man of trafficking in
marijuana, possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of
property obtained by crime.

Krieger was arrested Jan. 4, 2004, after Headingley RCMP pulled his
car over and found half a kilogram of marijuana in the trunk and
nearly $4,000 in cash.

Krieger -- who suffers from MS and is legally allowed to possess
marijuana for his own consumption -- told police he was delivering the
marijuana to a Winnipeg "manager" for re-sale to other ailing or
terminally ill pot users.

Krieger's admissions to police -- which he did not contest -- left
jurors little legal room to acquit him, outside of a nullified verdict.

Justice Shaun Greenberg told jurors to set aside whatever sympathy
they might feel for Krieger in determining his guilt or innocence.

Under Canadian law, medicinal marijuana users must receive a doctor's
approval before receiving government clearance to legally possess and
consume marijuana. Users have three ways to obtain marijuana: Grow it
themselves, buy it from a government endorsed seller, or directly from
the government itself.

Krieger said yesterday's legal setback has drained his will to
fight.

He's scheduled to be sentenced sometime next year.