GATOR TED'S MEDICINAL POT DISPUTE HEADS TO COURT

BURLINGTON - Gator Ted's is going to court to ask a federal judge to
resolve a conflict between strict liquor laws governing the restaurant
and a medicinal marijuana smoker's right to light up.

The four-year-old dispute - between Ted Kindos, owner of the Guelph
Line roadhouse, and Steve Gibson, who smokes marijuana to manage pain
for a neck injury - is headed for the first of eight days of hearings
before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario starting June 8.

Before then, Kindos's lawyer, Gary Graham of Hamilton, will ask the
federal court to direct that Gibson's federally issued medicinal
marijuana permit be revised so his use does not compromise Gator Ted's
liquor licence.

"We want an order that the permit only be used in a way that complies
with provincial liquor licence laws," Graham said.

Gibson, who suffered a neck injury in a 1989 industrial accident, is
one of 3,000 Canadians authorized to use marijuana to control pain.

Gibson complained to the Ontario Human Rights Commission in 2005 he's
been discriminated against because he is disabled after Kindos asked
him not to smoke marijuana outside the restaurant's front door.

Patrons complained about the smell, Kindos said.

Kindos was ready to settle with Gibson, pay him $2,000 for mental
anguish, arrange sensitivity training for staff and post a sign saying
the establishment accommodated medicinal smokers.

But he changed his mind after the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of
Ontario warned that use of a controlled substance in areas the
restaurant controls, including parking, put his liquor licence in jeopardy.

So Kindos decided to fight rather than settle, despite the fact the
upcoming hearing could cost as much as $60,000. As Kindos sees it, he
either fights or Gator Ted's Tap & Grill loses its licence and closes.

Gibson said he believes the federal court will rule the law covering
medicinal marijuana will trump provisions of the Liquor Licence Act of
Ontario that conflict with it. "The liquor law will have to be changed."