POT USER EVICTED FROM COURTHOUSE STEPS

A St. Catharines woman evicted in a dispute over medical marijuana has
been told by police to move her courthouse vigil -- and her makeshift
home -- elsewhere.

Kelly Kirby, a medical cannabis user who was locked out of her
apartment by the city after police found plants growing inside, has
spent most of the past week living outside the Robert SK Welch
Courthouse in protest. Monday, though, she and a group of supporters
planned to move to Montebello Park after police asked her to leave.

Niagara Regional Police on the scene Monday said regular visitors to
the courthouse were growing uneasy with Kirby's vigil and they'd been
asked by the Ontario Attorney General's office to move her. Her
belongings had been piled in a shaded area by the courthouse's
entrance, with a bench made up as a bed, surrounded by protest signs
decrying her lockout.

"They threw her out on the street," supporter Mike Thomas of the group
Dads for Marijuana said. "Now they're throwing her even further out on
the street, if that's possible."

The fight has drawn the attention of medical cannabis supporters
online, said St. Catharines native Matt Mernagh, who was at the centre
of the court case that saw Canada's medical marijuana program declared
unconstitutional. He said some form of rally to support Kirby could be
coming soon.

Kirby, who is in her 40s, was locked out last week along with her son
and fellow resident Terry Tout, who has terminal cancer. She spent
about a week camping out at the courthouse before being asked to move.

It's taken a toll, Thomas said. He said Kirby hadn't slept in three
days as of Monday morning.

"I see a woman that's under severe mental duress," he said. "I see a
family that's been torn apart over a legal prescription medication.

"She's in a lot of pain. A lot of pain."

Kirby showed a Standard reporter a medical marijuana licence last week
with an expiration date of August 2011. She said she didn't have a
grower's licence, but claimed her doctor told her to grow her own.

NRP Sgt. Todd Anderson said the Attorney General's office asked that
Kirby be given the boot, though he said she and her supporters had
been well-behaved.

"She was afforded the opportunity to be here, to get out here
message," he said.

But "other people that have a lawful right to use the building are
starting to feel uncomfortable."

He said staying at the park should pose little problem so long as the
protesters stick to the rules.

Mernagh, who had charges of marijuana production and possession
against him thrown out in a landmark ruling in April, said discomfort
is the whole point.

"The idea is to make the people uncomfortable because they made (her)
uncomfortable when they evicted (her)," he said.

Now living in Toronto, Mernagh said he's followed Kirby's situation
online. So are many others, he said, adding that he expected action.

"I see, sooner than later, something happening in front of the
courthouse," he said, though nothing had been set up yet.

He said small cannabis-growing setups in home bedrooms aren't really a
problem, though large-scale commercial ones would be.

Tout, who said his health keeps him from joining the overnight vigil,
chafed at Kirby's eviction. He said she wasn't causing trouble and had
kept the area clean.

"We're still here in the street and treated like we're not worth
(crap)," he said.

"I can't sleep at night because I'm worried about her."

He stressed that there's a difference between using cannabis
medicinally and smoking it recreationally. The vigil, he said, is for
the former.

"I think doing it to get high is stupid," he said.

"People coming around just to get high in this environment defeats
what we're trying to do."

Mernagh couched the vigil as a potential win for medical
marijuana.

"I think what she is doing is, she's out there fighting and people are
watching online," he said.

"Any time they're paying attention, you're winning."