GROW-OP OWNER PLEADS FOR HOUSE

OTTAWA (CNS) -- Judy Ann Craig, a former realtor with a golden touch
for gardening, will try to convince the Supreme Court of Canada
tomorrow that being forced to forfeit her North Vancouver home for
running a marijuana grow-op is extreme punishment for her crime.

The 58-year-old horticulturalist contends that running a small-scale
operation, mainly in her basement, should not warrant the same harsh
penalties imposed for large, sophisticated businesses controlled by
organized crime.

Craig, who says she started growing marijuana at the urging of an
HIV-infected friend a decade ago, pleaded guilty in 2003 after police
seized 186 marijuana plants.

She received a conditional sentence and a $115,000 fine, but since
she had no other assets and owed $250,000 in unpaid taxes from her
ill-gotten earnings, the court ordered the forfeiture of her small
two-storey home. It was valued at $460,000 at the time of her 2005 sentencing.

The B.C. Court of Appeal, in ruling against Craig, said she was the
operator of "a successful commercial operation that grossed over
$100,000 a year."