MARIJUANA COURT CASE TURNS INTO CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERN

Maccan-Area Man Tells Court Law Does Not Exist

AMHERST - A Maccan-area man who says marijuana cures cancer admitted
Thursday he grew marijuana on his property, turned it into an oil and
distributed the oil free of charge to people fighting a variety of diseases.

However, Ricky Logan Simpson, 57, told the jury hearing his Nova
Scotia Supreme Court trial on three drug charges that he should not
be considered a criminal because the laws forbidding the possession,
growing and distribution of marijuana are unconstitutional.

Mr. Simpson faces charges of possessing less than 30 grams of
marijuana, possessing less than three kilograms of cannabis resin for
the purpose of trafficking and unlawfully producing marijuana.

The charges were laid following an Aug. 3, 2005, raid on his Little
Forks Road property that netted 1,190 plants with a street value of
between $400,000 and $800,000.

"What am I doing in this court, and what right does the RCMP have to
terrorize the public with a law that does not exist?" Mr. Simpson,
who is representing himself, told the jury during his testimony.

He read his entire testimony from an 11-page document. He explained
he first began using marijuana to treat post-concussion syndrome
after prescription drugs failed. The marijuana "did more for me than
all of the pills prescribed to me by my doctor," he said.

A subsequent brush with skin cancer that he cured with hemp oil, and
the curing effects it had on dozens of people who used his product,
along with different scientific publications, convinced him that
marijuana was a "miracle, cure-all drug," he added.

He criticized his doctor for failing to get him a licence to possess
and grow medicinal marijuana, saying the physician refused to even
discuss the medicinal value of marijuana.

Mr. Simpson testified that he had not hidden his efforts to help
people with his hemp oil. He said that over a four-year period he
brought "the miracle cure of marijuana" to the attention of the
police, the medical community, two different federal ministers of
health, local politicians and the media.

All of them ignored him, he said. He was particularly miffed at the
Canadian Cancer Society, which ignored his request to evaluate his
cure for cancer.

"The cancer society runs from the cure to cancer; they're not running
to cure cancer," he said. And greedy pharmaceutical companies and
physicians don't want this cheap medication getting into the hands of
peoplebecause it would hurt their bottom line, he said.

The trial is scheduled to continue Monday when the Crown presents
rebuttal evidence. It is expected the jury will begin deciding Mr.
Simpson's fate next Tuesday.