DEFENCE IN N.B. POT TRIAL SEIZES ON OTTAWA'S SLOW RESPONSE TO MEDICAL NEED

SAINT JOHN, N.B. - Ottawa's slow and cautious response to requests for
medicinal marijuana has become an issue for the defence in a New Brunswick
drug trafficking trial.

Final arguments were made Wednesday in the trial of Lynn Wood, co-owner of
the Cannabis Cafe in Saint John, N.B., who has been charged with two counts
of trafficking in marijuana. Wood's lawyer, Richard Northrup, said the
Cannabis Cafe is a compassion club where customers have to sign a sworn
declaration or produce a doctor's certificate stating they need marijuana
to ease a medical condition.

Northrup said past trials of compassion clubs in Montreal and Victoria have
ended with the proceedings stayed because it was clear the federal
government has failed to adequately supply marijuana for medical purposes.

He asked Judge Murray Cain of the Provincial Court to do the same thing -
stay the proceedings or find Wood not guilty.

The judge is expected give his verdict next week.

"The federal government's way of dealing with the licit supply of marijuana
is inadequate," Northrup said.

"The remedy the courts have applied has been to stay the proceedings, which
means the court says, 'we heard the evidence but we're not going to make a
ruling'."

A court decision in 1998 directed the federal government to set up a way
for patients who had tried all other treatments, without success, to get
legal access to marijuana.

The federal government's cannabis access program, established in 2001, is
frequently the target of criticism because of its slowness to respond to
requests for medical marijuana.

In 2004, the government received over 300 applications and registered 65
people.

Northrup said a total of only 771 Canadians have been cleared to possess
medical marijuana in the past four years.

Northrup said Wood, who runs the Cannabis Cafe with her husband, was simply
filling a community need that Ottawa has failed to address.

But Crown prosecutor Nicole Poirier said compassion had nothing to do with
Wood's operation, which is still open in Saint John although it no longer
offers its infamous marijuana menu.

"This was a store, making money," Poirier said, noting the cash from
marijuana sales was kept separate from the cafe's other products, such as
clothing.

"It was in business not to provide marijuana to people who were ill. It was
there to provide marijuana to make money."

Poirier said the cafe was a popular hang-out for teenagers.

She said one 15-year-old boy, who became a compassion club member, spent
about $2,000 at the store even though he had no medical problems.

"There were no safeguards," Poirier said.

City police raided the cafe in April, 2004, and charged Wood with
trafficking. They raided a second location several doors away from the cafe
in June, 2004, and charged Wood again.

During the trial, several members of the Cannabis Cafe testified they
bought marijuana at the operation to ease pain from various medical conditions.

One witness said it took him three years to get a permit for medical
marijuana from Ottawa. He said he still turned to the Cannabis Cafe because
of the quality of its product.

The cafe sold marijuana at less than the going street price. As well, Wood
kept meticulous records of the members and the type of marijuana they found
best for their conditions.

"These are not the kinds of things a drug trafficker would do," Northrup said.