LUDWIG HAS EXPLANATION FOR SEIZED MARIJUANA

Environmental activist Wiebo Ludwig says there are innocent
explanations for the explosive chemicals, marijuana and books on
terrorism that RCMP seized in a recent raid on his Trickle Creek farm.

Like the small amount of potassium nitrate, for example. That was
leftover from when his son-in-law made play rockets with his eight
children, Ludwig said on Saturday.

A book called Disruptive Terrorism, found on his nightstand, was a
gift from a professor emeritus at the University of Alberta, he said.
"I was going through it out of curiosity."

Other chemistry books are used for home-schooling children at the farm.

As for the 75 grams of marijuana found stored in an irrigation shed,
that's used for pain control for his goats when they give birth. "To
make it easier for them," he said.

One of his daughters also uses marijuana to control pain during menstruation.

"We're not pushing marijuana, but we thought we'd try it," Ludwig
said. "These plants don't belong to the government. They were given
by God to mankind. If people want to abuse them, that's another
thing. They (the government) should deal with the abusers, not
tighten things up for everybody."

Ludwig, his family and the family of Richard Boonstra live on a farm
north of Hythe in northwestern Alberta, about 40 kilometres from
Tomslake, B.C., where a series of bombs have damaged oil and gas
pipelines. He has a long-standing fight with oil and gas companies in
the area and argues their wells have poisoned his animals and caused
several women to have stillbirths.

RCMP presented a warrant to search Ludwig's property on Jan. 8,
stating they had reason to believe evidence could be found on the
farm. They said DNA evidence tied him to two letters sent to
newspapers about the Encana bombings. They were looking for
computers, printers, audio-visual equipment and stationery as well as
boots that could be linked to the attacks, and bomb-making materials,
specifically explosives stolen from oil and gas work sites across the
Alberta-B. C. border.

Ludwig was arrested the day RCMP served the warrant, but he was
released after 24 hours. No charges have been laid against anyone
living in the compound.

Almost 150 officers took shifts combing the property for four days.
They also seized several boxes of guns and knives that Ludwig said
are used by the family for hunting and tracking in the woods just
north of the farm.

Ludwig said he was surprised at the number of "inert" items RCMP

took from the farm. Their final tally included office supplies, pens,
diaries, cassette tapes -- (including those featuring the music of
Lord of the Dance and MuchMusic), various lengths of copper wires and
pipes, five mostly entry-level chemistry textbooks and one on electronics.

Some of the items were the same of those taken and returned in a
search 10 years ago, he said.

"Why take all this other stuff? What's the point?" he said. "They
just load up box after box of stuff. It all gets published and your
privacy is hung out to dry on the public clothesline. It's
ridiculous, but that's where we're at. We're in this together."

The pellet guns his children use have been returned, along with the
hunting knifes and crossbows, he said, and police promised his
computer and printer would be returned within days.

He said he has been told other items will be returned within the next
two or three weeks.