GOV'T-APPROVED DOPE GROWER WANTS POLICE TO GIVE HIS DRUGS BACK

Kamloops - An approved medical marijuana user who lost his cannabis
and growing equipment to an RCMP raid will be in court Monday seeking
the return of everything taken.

Carl Anderson said he filed his application Wednesday after he went to
the RCMP detachment to get his stuff back. He said he found his
equipment in bad shape and refused to sign for it, claiming it is unusable.

Anderson's home was raided by the RCMP's drug section in May, even
though the man is permitted by Health Canada to grow and store
marijuana. Police said they seized 145 plants and more than six
kilograms of marijuana as well as growing equipment, lights, timers,
weigh scales and Anderson's computer.

Officers said Anderson had too many plants and too much product on
hand. They believed he was trafficking and dismantled his entire operation.

Anderson disputes that claim, saying he has never sold drugs to
anyone. He also says he was not violating his permit and did not have
more plants or dried cannabis than allowed.

The federal Crown did not pursue charges against Anderson, saying only
the decision not to proceed followed "a review of all the circumstances."

Anderson said the RCMP eventually returned about 800 grams of
marijuana to him, even though he is entitled to possess three times
that amount.

Anderson, severely injured in a car accident years ago, says cannabis
is the only substance that relieves his severe headaches.

His doctor gave him a prescription for marijuana. Regular use allows
Anderson to live mostly pain-free. He doesn't smoke the drug, he says,
but mixes it in olive oil so he can ingest it orally.

He says he is now almost out of his "medicine."

"And that's why I'm going to court," he said. 'This is my life and my
health. I have very little (marijuana) left."

If the RCMP can't return actual marijuana to him, Anderson said he
will seek compensation in lieu. He estimates the value of the dried
product, the live plants and recently cut plants, and the growing
equipment at roughly $50,000.

"Replacement value," he said.

Neither officers with the RCMP's drug section nor lawyers with the
federal Crown could be reached for comment.