POT PARADE MARCHES THROUGH NELSON

THE WEED CRUSADE: Local marijuana advocates take to the Heritage City
streets on Sunday, spreading the word about legalization

Nelson resident, Sarah Bergeron finds relief from her rheumatoid
arthritis pain by using an herb. The only problem is that herb is
illegal to grow, possess and sell.

That's why she organized Nelson's first annual Marijuana March that
saw about 50 local marijuana legalization activists parade down Baker
Street and Vernon Street to City Hall on Sunday.

Bergeron grew up around parents who smoked marijuana for relief from illness.

"My dad has epilepsy, that's why he uses it," she said. "My mom has a
lot of knee pain and thyroid problems and she uses marijuana too. But
neither of them are on the government status.

"I myself just realized about three and a half years ago that I have
rheumatoid arthritis. It's really bad. My knee gets all swelled up."

Until then, Bergeron had only used marijuana recreationally. But once
the pain began, she started looking into the drug for its medicinal purposes.

"I started to use it all the time and realized the benefit," she
said. "I got a little further into the ways to make me not so
'sleepy' like a typical recreational user. I didn't want to be a
stoner. I wanted to get deep into the facts of medicinal use and how
good it really is for us.

"That helped me uncover how wrong the laws [around marijuana] are
because me, my mom and dad and so many other people I know aren't
criminals. We shouldn't have two years in jail if we have some plants
because we're growing for ourselves in our house."

Bergeron said she hoped the march would help send a message to
younger people that marijuana prohibition is an unjust law.

As they marched through town on Sunday shouting 'free the weed,'
bearing signs reading 'No Prison for Pot' and 'Free the Holy Smoke
Four,' Nelsonites joined marijuana advocates from across the country
and in 300 cities around the world in protest of pot prohibition.

On that same day the Canadian federal government announced it would
be sending its tough-on-crime legislation back to the Senate, which
could see mandatory minimum sentences of six months for anyone caught
growing as few as five marijuana plants.

It's a bill the Conservative government has been trying
unsuccessfully to make into law since 2007, but with the balance of
the Senate tipped toward the Conservatives now, the bill will likely
become law in the near future.

But still they smoked pot openly in front of Nelson City Hall on
Sunday without a police officer in sight.

Bergeron feels the new law, if enacted, will do little to decrease
crime in Canada.

"It just creates way more crime, and I believe they [the government]
know it," she said. "They make money off of private prisons and all
those people jailed for non-violent crimes are fairly easy prisoners
to deal with.

"I'm absolutely disgusted with these new laws. It's just younger
people getting put in jail more often and getting put into gang violence."

Nelson Police Department chief, Dan Maluta said he did not want to
weigh in to the marijuana legalization debate or comment on the
potential impacts of the new federal law.

Maluta did say that local police were not even aware that the event
was taking place and that it was essentially a "non event" from his perspective.