JUSTICE GONE TO POT

How very sad it is to see Grant Krieger, whose sole motivation was
compassion for suffering people, give up the fight. And how utterly
appalling that it was the justice system that mercilessly hounded
Krieger into quitting.

Tired of fighting and deeply in debt, the medical marijuana activist
formally agreed last week never to grow or distribute marijuana again.
The agreement came after 13 years of court battles on trafficking
charges, one of which landed in the Supreme Court, which found that a
lower court judge had wrongly instructed a jury to find Krieger guilty
and thus ordered a retrial.

Krieger, 54, wasn't interested in decriminalizing marijuana for
recreational use. His battle was a purely humanitarian one -- he just
wanted to see people who were struggling, like himself, with multiple
sclerosis, or cancer, epilepsy and other diseases, have the kind of
relief from their symptoms that he had. Marijuana literally saved his
life after he hit rock bottom and attempted suicide by overdosing on
Demerol and sleeping pills years ago. "I couldn't breathe. I couldn't
swallow and I shook so bad. I had to wear a damn diaper. So I took
those pills and I really didn't want to wake up. When I woke up in the
hospital, I thought, 'I'm alive and I don't want to be,' " he told the
Herald in 1998. When he began taking marijuana, he no longer needed a
cane, crutches or a wheelchair.

Although the federal government grows marijuana for medical users,
Krieger argues that the quality is no good.The contract to grow the
marijuana is held by Prairie Plant Systems Inc., a privately owned
plant biotechnology firm, and the plants are grown in a section of
underground mine near Flin Flon, Man. Krieger also says accessing the
marijuana is very difficult because doctors are averse to prescribing
it as a treatment. According to Health Canada, people can apply to use
the government's supply, to grow their own or have someone else grow
it for them.

Krieger should not have had to fight the justice system and his
disease. Multiple sclerosis is a full-time battle in itself. The
justice system

Can claim a victory, but it is a terribly hollow one.Nothing is going
to stop sick people from obtaining marijuana if it eases their
symptoms, and so they --along with Krieger--will now turn to criminal
drug traffickers to get what they need. How, then, has justice been
served? Krieger's friend and fellow MS sufferer Jordan York calls
Krieger a hero. Indeed. No other word better describes this true
humanitarian.