POT SUIT BROUGHT TO BRING INSIGHT

Pio says he wants police in B.C. to better undferstand medical marijuana

Don Pio is authorized to smoke marijuana, and he wants every sheriff
and police officer in B.C. to leave him alone.

Six months after his arrest for carrying pot into the Kelowna Law
Courts, the 35-year-old Kelowna man is suing the provincial sheriffs
service and the RCMP. He claims authorities humiliated him and made
him suffer by depriving him of his medicine.

Pio is allowed to light up to control his nausea, and he wants people
in uniform to stop harassing him, he said.

"I want the peace and freedom that come with having an authorization
card, and access to my medication when I want it without having to
deal with obnoxious security guards who are wasting my time by
calling the RCMP when I'm not doing anything wrong."

Pio has a medical condition that requires him to smoke pot every
half-hour or so to control his shaking and nausea.

He had marijuana on his breath when he followed his wife into the
courthouse in November. Staff smelled it and alerted the sheriffs,
who made him empty his pockets. He showed them a dozen joints and a
medical-marijuana licence that Health Canada had granted him based on
his doctor's prescription.

The sheriffs handcuffed him, put him in a van and drove him to the
RCMP detachment. He vomited there for about an hour as officers
checked the card's validity. An officer apologized and released him
with his marijuana.

Since then, police officers and security guards have chastised Pio
for "medicating" in public, he said. He's authorized to use marijuana
anywhere people smoke cigarettes.

"I'm not doing it to offend anybody or cause grief. I'm doing it
because I don't want to take morphine or Percocet," he said. "I want
them to realize there have to be changes made. I'm not going until
changes are done."

Pio claims he suffered bruising, anxiety and excessive vomiting
during his November arrest. He's suing for his injuries, lost wages,
loss of earning capacity and other damages.

He wants the RCMP and sheriffs to receive training so they treat
legitimate marijuana users appropriately, he said.

The next step is to open a dialogue with authorities, said Pio's
lawyer, Claire Abbott, who filed the writ with B.C. Supreme Court in Vernon.

"We want to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen again," she
said. "He requires medication to control his symptoms. Preventing him
from doing so puts him in harm's way."

The case is one of the first of its kind in Canada. About 4,800
Canadians carry a medical-marijuana exemption licence. As many as 200
live in the Okanagan, said Scott McCluskey, a licensee in Kelowna who
advocates for others like him in the Valley.

"In the nine years this program has operated, no sheriff's department
or police force has engaged in any training on how to recognize these
licences," he said.

No one from the B.C. Sheriff Service or the Attorney General's
Ministry would comment on the lawsuit because it's before the courts
and any comments could become part of the court proceeding, said
spokeswoman Linda Mueller.

The ministry said in November it was working to prevent future
misunderstandings. Court Services was to advise all sheriffs in B.C.
to contact Health Canada directly "so we can avoid this happening
again," said spokesman David Townsend.

Calls to RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon were not immediately returned Wednesday.