POT ADVOCATE VICTIM OF VIOLENT BURGLARY

A Chilliwack man with a licence to grow medical marijuana says he's
never going to grow it again, after he was tortured and almost killed
in a violent home invasion last week.

Brian Carlisle told MetroValley News he was bound with his own
bedsheet, beaten with a rod, pepper-sprayed and hit with a stun gun
repeatedly, after at least five people broke into his residence
looking for a mature marijuana garden garden that didn't exist.

"They were so well-organized and had walkie-talkies. They tortured me
and enjoyed it," he said.

"They were posing as police as they came through the window, but when
I heard the sound of the tape ripping, I knew it wasn't cops."
Carlisle would not disclose his location, but says he's suffering from
lacerations, bruises and several broken bones in his face.

"I'm just relieved my children were not harmed," he
said.

His wife, Shannon, was tied with tape and suffered bruises from
punches when she wouldn't obey demands for silence.

"While tied up in the sheet, I was hit with a long metal rod. I
managed to turn over on my back and they started with the Taser. They
held the Taser on me until the batteries ran out or I was
unconscious," he said.

He begged his assailants not to tape his mouth, saying as an asthmatic
with a deviated septum, he would suffocate.

"One of them said, 'Good, then it will be quicker,'" he said. "But the
worst thing to deal with was the pepper spray. They sprayed me from
head to toe and it was like I was on fire."

Carlisle said all he ever wanted to do was secure a safe supply of
medical marijuana for sick Canadians in his years of medical pot
advocacy, but the risk of "grow rips" and the associated violence are
ones he said he's no longer willing to bear.

"I never wanted to grow marijuana, or be a farmer, all I ever wanted
to do was law," said Carlisle, who has spent the past two years
working as a law clerk in two different firms.

"I worry that everyone who grows pot will have this happen to them.
People like me are being dealt a death sentence every day that
(federal health minister Ujjal) Dosanjh doesn't do something to secure
safe medical marijuana."

He said there's just no way to ensure the safety of one's family and
so he's making the decision not to grow again.

"Police are seeking the public's assistance to identify the
assailants," Chilliwack RCMP Cpl. Sean Sullivan told MetroValley News.

Forensic identification investigators were on scene the night of the
crime to gather evidence, but no arrests have been made yet, nor have
any suspects been identified.

The home invasion on Storey Avenue was called in at just past 1:30
a.m. on Sept. 1.

Carlisle said that after he regained consciousness, he managed to get
his hands free and then slip over his fence into the next door
neighbour's yard to try to get help for his family.

He was bleeding from his face and eye and couldn't see, and said
neighbours were too afraid to open their doors to him in the middle of
the night.

At least one neighbour heard him scream that it was a home invasion
and to call 911.

"If someone breaks into your house and takes control of you, it all
happens in milliseconds," Sullivan said.

"You can only imagine what it is like to be overpowered and held
against your will."

He said it's more of a phenomenon elsewhere in the Lower
Mainland.

The officer said it's tough to track down evidence in home invasions,
which are "a fairly rare occurrence" in Chilliwack.

"We rarely see it out here. There's no specific offence attached to
this crime other than break, enter and theft, with assault, and it can
be with or without bodily harm," Sullivan said.

Carlisle said he collapsed in the street, which is where police found
him when they showed up about 30 minutes after they were called.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call RCMP at
604-792-4611 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477.