JUDGE STAYS DRUG CHARGES

More than five years after he was charged with drug related offences in a
massive undercover RCMP operation, Patrick (Paddy) Tyrone Roberts walked
away from court without any charges following him.

Supreme Court Justice Alison Beames issued a judicial stay of proceedings
on all charges against Roberts on Nov. 26, citing Roberts' right to be
tried within a reasonable length of time had been violated.

"It's equivalent to an acquittal," said Roberts in a telephone interview
from Vancouver. "In the 62 months since my arrest there had not been one
word of evidence offered against me in court. Let's put it this way, when I
was charged, no one even dreamed George W. Bush would be president."

Roberts was charged in connection with an alleged drug smuggling operation
between Canada and the U.S. which also led to the arrest of members of the
Martin family, who lived in Malakwa and Salmon Arm. Roberts was alleged to
have conspired to import and export marijuana and to have flown shipments
of drugs to Washington State in a private plane.

"I never said I was innocent and I'm not saying I was guilty. What I am
saying is that there was no evidence on which to charge me. There was
nothing but a theory," Roberts said.

Calls to Crown Counsel Peter Eccles were not returned by press time.

In August, two members of the Martin family, Donald and Damyen, were both
sentenced to terms of house arrest after pleading guilty to conspiring to
export marijuana to the United States.

Colin Hugh Martin, the former owner of Better Bodies Health and Fitness in
Salmon Arm, is still awaiting trial on similar charges. RCMP used extensive
surveillance including wiretapped phone conversations and informants to
gather evidence about the drug ring.

One of the U.S. distributors who co-operated with authorities claims the
Martin organization provided him with 1,350 pounds of marijuana and in
return were paid approximately $2.5 million.

The Martin case has been the subject of much controversy, especially in
regards to an RCMP payment of more than $400,000 to a Malakwa cocaine
dealer who was acting as an informant for police. The payment is said to
have been made because the police or Crown counsel inadvertently revealed
the name of their confidential informant to defence lawyers and some of the
accused.

The case was also the subject of an April 2001 episode of the CBC's Fifth
Estate news program. The program examined the role of the U.S. government's
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Canadian drug investigations.

Roberts, an outspoken advocate for the legalization of marijuana who ran as
the Shuswap candidate for the Marijuana Party in 2001, says of the 16
people charged in connection with this case, 11 have had their charges
dropped or stayed.

While the case was underway, Roberts visited Ireland for a university
reunion. On the trip back to Canada, he wound up incarcerated in a Dutch
jail pending extradition to the U.S. to face charges there. Roberts was
eventually released from custody without the U.S. proceeding with the case
against him.

"I thought this would be fun and a chance to advocate for the legalization
of marijuana through the court case, but it all just turned into a nightmare."

Roberts was in Vancouver Friday meeting with lawyers, saying he hopes to
initiate a lawsuit against the RCMP over the way they handled his case.

"This has cost the public over a million and a half dollars and for what?
I'm trying to make the police accountable for this."