WHERE THE WEED IS AT IN COURT

Smoke You In Court

Canadian judges are once again being asked to go where politicians
obviously can't - to the bottom of the marijuana issue. In the
process, a triumvirate of the hardest of Canada's hardcore marijuana
militants is taking - and being taken - to the courts. Vancouver seed
salesman Marc Emery, who compares himself to Gandhi and Martin Luther
King, is the enfant terrible of the marijuana movement. U.S.
authorities want him extradited to face a possible life sentence for
selling marijuana seeds to Americans, which apparently is not a crime
in this country. (While there is some talk of mounting a major public
awareness campaign on his behalf, last week the ever ostentatious
Emery further endeared himself to would-be supporters by calling
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler "a Nazi-Jew.")

Meanwhile, well-known cannabis crusader Grant Krieger, of Calgary, is
going to the Supreme Court. An MS sufferer, Krieger was convicted of
trafficking in 2003 after admitting he supplied marijuana to the
terminally ill. The judge instructed the jury to convict, but
Krieger's lawyer, John Hooker, says the jury should have reached a
conclusion on its own, ergo the conviction should be overturned.
"Maybe this will be the start of the change," Krieger says. "That's
the only reason I'm in court. The laws have to change to help the sick."

Last week, a Montreal judge found federal Marijuana Party founder and
current card-carrying Liberal Marc Boris St-Maurice guilty of simple
pot possession. He was arrested and charged last year at Chez
Marijane, a members-only cafe operated by the Bloc Pot. Undercover
narcs joined the Bloc to gather evidence, which defence counsel Julius
Grey contends is both unacceptable practice and outright infringement
of constitutional rights.

This is his fourth marijuana conviction, but instead of receiving a
$300 fine, St-Maurice says this time he should've gone straight to
jail. "Clearly," he says, "I'm an incorrigible recidivist with no
chance of rehabilitation. The law does not act as a deterrent for me,
so what else is left but to remove me from society?"

"If anything,' he adds, "this further exemplifies how important it is
to change our marijuana legislation."

All three cases will keep lawyers busy for years, while Canadian
taxpayers foot the bulk of the bill.