MAN CAN RENEW POT-GROWING LICENCE

ST. STEPHEN - An Elmsville man can see the end of his legal travails
following proceedings in St. Stephen provincial court.

Judge David Walker handed Adam Troy Dickerson, 28, a conditional
sentence of six months for growing and possession of marijuana. He
will serve the sentence in the community, rather than in jail, as
long as he abides by the terms of the conditional sentence order,
Walker ruled.

The conviction will not prevent him from renewing his licence from
Health Canada to grow marijuana for medicinal use, the judge
determined. After consulting with each other during a break, federal
Crown prosecutor Peter Thorn and defence counsel Joel Hansen agreed
that Dickerson could still renew his medical use licence despite this
conviction.

The RCMP charged Dickerson with the two drug offences, plus unsafe
storage of a firearm, after searching his home in October 2008. He
pleaded guilty.

On Hansen's advice, he later applied for a permit to grow and use
marijuana for pain under the federal Marijuana Medical Access
Regulation. Dickerson suffers from spondylitis, a disorder of the
vertebrae.

Health Canada granted the permit, but the rules don't allow people
convicted of designated drug offences after getting these licences to
renew them. The Canadian court system doesn't enter convictions,
technically, until sentencing - after Health Canada granted Dickerson
his licence.

Hansen argued that Walker should stay the charges to prevent what he
called an "absurd" outcome.

Until the federal government enacted the medical use regulation,
judges sometimes stayed drug charges to allow people to use marijuana
medicinally, both lawyers and the judge agreed Tuesday.

With the regulation in place, judges should issue these stays far
more rarely, Thorn argued. Walker agreed. He declined to issue a stay
in this case.

The designated offences for refusing to renew medical use permits
don't include production and simple possession, Walker said. A
trafficking offence would have been another matter, he and the
lawyers agreed.

With no evidence before the court on whether Dickerson grew the
marijuana for recreational use, medicinal purposes or for
trafficking, the court must give him the benefit of the doubt, Thorn
conceded.

He argued for a jail sentence, but didn't object to Dickerson's
serving it conditionally in the community.

"We have a gentleman who was growing a substantial amount of
marijuana," Thorn said.

The RCMP seized 125 grams or marijuana plus 38 plants. Dickerson's
medical user licence allows eight plants, Thorn said.

"The message is: Look at the regulation, see your doctor and do it
the right way," he said.

In the conditional sentence order, Walker ordered Dickerson attend an
assessment and, if ordered, take counselling for addiction issues and
exploring alternatives to pain control.