POT CASE BASED ON MEDICAL NEED

The lawyer for one of several people arrested during Friday's police
raid on the Up in Smoke Cafe is considering a constitutional
challenge of his client's marijuana charges.

Peter Boushy said his client, who suffers epileptic seizures as well
as a thyroid gland disorder, uses marijuana for medicinal purposes.

He hopes to build a case around his right to the relief that
marijuana can provide.

"An argument could be made that people like (my client), who use
marijuana from medical needs, should be exempt from criminal
prosecution," the Hamilton criminal lawyer said yesterday.

The 21-year-old Hamilton man was one of 10 people charged with
marijuana offences.

About 12 officers burst into the King Street East cafe around 5 p.m.
and executed a search warrant.

Two staffers and a Niagara man were arrested for possession and
trafficking and taken into custody.

Six people were charged with possession and released, while another
woman was charged with breach of probation for being on the premises.

The raid came a day after around 400 people gathered outside
Hamilton's City Hall for the Free Pot Smoke Out. Police watched as
organizers of Thursday's rally distributed about 600 joints, as well
as lighting up a "15-gram cannon" or $100 joint.

No arrests were made. Sergeant Mike Webber said police did not want
to ignite a confrontation at the protest and were working on
identifying some suspects.

Contacted on the weekend, vice and drug branch detective Bob Gauvin,
who was at the raid, could not confirm whether the charges or warrant
were linked to the protest.

He described people at the cafe as "very co-operative and polite."

Matt Mernach, one of the three people taken into custody, said, "It
was one of the most intense things I have ever gone through."

The Up in Smoke Cafe opened its doors in August 2004.