HOLY SMOKE SENTENCE WILL IMPACT FUTURE TRIALS

Pot Advocates Swear Off The Weed After House Arrest Sentences, Local
Lawyer Says This Could Be The Trend In Future Cases

The outcome of the sentence appeal for the Holy Smoke trio will play
a role in future sentences, according to Don Skogstad, lawyer for the three.

Alan Middlemiss, Paul Defelice and Kelsey Stratas were given
conditional sentences of house arrest last Wednesday after a panel of
three supreme court judges decided that sentences of eight to 12
months in a federal prison were too much.

The three were handed the lengthy prison sentences after being
convicted of drug trafficking through sales of marijuana from their
now-defunct downtown Nelson store, the Holy Smoke Culture Shop.

But the appeal judges found the sentence handed down at the Nelson
Courthouse to be too great because the judge failed to take into
account their promise to continue their advocacy through legal means
and that he put too much weight on prior marijuana convictions the
three had acquired decades ago.

Skogstad said their six to nine-month house arrest sentences that
resulted from the appeal will be significant in future cases.

"There's now a legal aspect to it that's significant," Skogstad said.
"That's the fact that Justice Chaisson's ruling explains and supports
the concept of house arrest for any offense.

"It will be used as a case on any charge that house arrest is
available; to support that house arrest should be granted more
readily than is has been up to now."

Skogstad added that the house arrest sentences are a best-case
scenario in the case.

"It's as good as we ever could have expected or hoped for, there's no
question," he said.

For their part, the three men are incredibly happy to have been
spared jail time in the Kamloops Regional Correctional Facility -
even if it means limitations on their freedoms here at home,
including no alcohol or drug use for months.

"Taking a break from cannabis is a good thing," Middlemiss said.
"It's probably the easiest drug in the world (to quit). It's not like
tobacco or alcohol. It's not addictive."

"In my mind, if I'd have been locked up in Kamloops, there's no
alcohol or pot there either," Defelice added. "I'd rather be at home
not doing pot or alcohol."

Despite being disallowed from having any association with marijuana,
Middlemiss and Defelice say they plan to continue their advocacy for
marijuana legalization through legal means such as work with
marijuana for medicinal use.

"I will keep my advocacy within the law from now on," Defelice noted.
"I'm at an age where I don't really want to go to jail."