JULIUS GREY TAKES POT LONG SHOT

Pot's Grey zone

Reform of Canada's pot laws may be back on the table, but they're far
from the front-burner. Out on the hinterland, however, the heat is
definitely being turned up.

One potentially explosive case is that of Marc Boris St-Maurice of the
federal Marijuana Party and a high-ranking member of Quebec's Bloc
Pot. He was busted at the Bloc's Cafe Maryjane last March, his eighth
such arrest, but this one differed in a deja vu kind of way.

Without exception, Cafe patrons were required to take out membership
in the Bloc. This included undercover cops who surreptitiously
infiltrated the cafe to snare pot smokers in flagrante delicto.

We've been here before. Sort of.

In the late 1970s, the MacDonald Commission of Inquiry found that the
RCMP had infiltrated political parties in the search for "terrorists."
In so doing, they violated one of the tenets of democracy, which holds
that citizens must be free to associate without having their every
move and thought under police surveillance.

Boris is taking that argument to court and he's bringing some heavy
artillery in the person of Julius Grey, the pit bull of Canada's
constitutional lawyers.

"At first he [Mr. Grey] was lukewarm to the whole marijuana issue,"
said Boris, "but his eyebrows raised when I mentioned that [Cafe
Maryjane] was the office of the Bloc Pot, and that the police joined
the party to gain access to the office to investigate."

"His exact words," recalls Boris, "were 'very interesting.' Then his
eyes lit up."

At an appearance last week that Mr. Grey was unable to attend, he
provided a letter of intent to represent the case, which Boris
dutifully presented to the court and three surprised Crown
prosecutors.

"After much whispering and mumbo-jumbo, we set December 3 as the next
date to discuss motions, deadlines and other nuts and bolts," said
Boris. Stay tuned and keep those roach clips at the ready.